After months of planning, the mommy & me mini-vacay was underway!
Before I knew it, it was time to pack not only clothes, but plenty of snacks, books, toys, DVDs to appease Mads for 3 different flights. Can you take a guess at what she didn’t really need after all? Yup, the portable DVD player. When I did pull it out to watch Finding Nemo or Little Einsteins, all she wanted to do was play with the swivel monitor or press the eject button. Fabulous.
Our flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul was uneventful. Mads fell asleep during take-off and slept for half the flight time (nice!). It was nice and warm when we arrived, so I was happy to escape the roller coaster weather of the Bay Area. We stopped at Liberty’s Frozen Custard – a cute garage turned ice cream shop – to pick up an after dinner treat. My dear friend D took us through Tangletown (clearly not gridded streets like SF) and we had arrived at our home for the next few days. Surprisingly, Mads felt right at home and before we knew it, Mads & Viva were playing off each other, sharing (or not sharing) toys, books and snacks. No rest for the weary…as soon as were settled we walked to D&A’s new home and stopped at the playground on the way home. Mads met a cute little, girl, Liv, with whom she played follow the leader while Viva was swinging on the swings.
On our first full day in Mpls, D and I took the girls to the Minnesota Children’s Museum. We spent the morning grocery shopping, visiting the doctor, riding a bus, playing with water, exploring the forest and jumping around in the toddler play area of the museum. Sigh…to be a kid again.
grocery shopping at the children’s museum
We headed back home and something unexpected happened. Mads went down for her nap in the pack n play, willingly. Nap. Pack ‘n play. WILLINGLY. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do with myself. So while they napped, D took me on a bike tour of the three lakes near her house: Harriet, Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. Now, I hadn’t been on a proper bike ride in like 10+ years and though it was mostly flat, I was in for it. Part one of the midwest peepshow occurred during this ride. Not expecting to be bike riding, I hadn’t packed any “athletic” clothing, so I hopped on A’s bike in my low rise Sevens and I’m convinced that most of Mpls has seen my crack. Lovely. Just lovely. Only a vanilla milkshake at The Malt Shop would make me feel better about exposing my a** to most of Mpls.
After dinner playtime at Lake Harriet beach
Day 2, Mpls: We spent most of the day in the Linden Hills neighborhood. It really is a cute neighborhood. We stopped first at a children’s bookstore, Wild Rumpus. This place was probably the most perfect place for kids. Plenty of books with caged pets/animals throughout the store. It was difficult to get Mads to leave once she saw the meow. I won’t give the special secret away, but the bathroom is a must see! We then bought lunch at the Linden Hills Co-op and ate it at the Lake Harriet bandshell before jumping on the Minnesota Streetcar Museum.
Later that afternoon we hopped into the non-minivan and drove out to White Bear Lake, hoping to have a picnic dinner. Instead, we had a Cup & Cone dinner in the car. Believe me, I am not complaining. We dined on hoagies, hot dogs and soft serve ice cream…in the car. Mmm…soft serve.
Day 3, Mpls: We rallied relatively early and headed out to Como Zoo for the first part of our day. The highlight for Mads were the animals. The highlight for me was the cheese curds. Yummmmm. Before we left the zoo, D and I decided to take the girls on the carrousel. Mads and Viva ponied up and seemed to enjoy sitting on their horsies. Yeah. Once the music started and the carrousel got going, Mads started screaming bloody murder while I held her for the duration of the ride. Viva told her mommy that she was “all done” after a minute, and D, too, had to carry Viva for the duration of the ride.
Our last morning in Mpls, we visited Viva’s preschool and stopped here to get a strawberry-rhubarb scone before we made our scenic way to the airport.
Thanks Minneapolis – it was fun! Chicago, here we come!
To be continued…
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