Yes, I'm terrible I know. It is now September and I am just getting around to getting to part 2 of our summer vacation.
So surprisingly the drive back to Minnesota went
extremely well. It was a little tight in the back seat but Belle did great with extra people. Those in the back seat just got a little extra
hairier.
So I'm trying to think back to the fun things we did with the girls. After driving up on Tuesday, we just hung out on Wednesday. We might of went out to eat but nothing too exciting. Thursday though, we headed to the cities. First up, the
MOA-Mall of America. Boy did we make numerous trips around that place...and boy is it big. And wouldn't you know, I think we each only came out of there with one bag. While there we went and ate at
Bubba Gumps, which has a great atmosphere-wasn't incredibly impressed with the food though. It was okay just not awesome :)
Also at the Mall we went to the Underwater Adventures which was pretty cool. I especially enjoyed the new jellyfish exhibit.
After the mall, we went to
IKEA, which is a pretty cool store,
especially if you are just starting out own your own and looking for some reasonably priced home furnishings and you have a small living place, just thought I'd throw that out there.
From there we watched our lives flash before our eyes as we almost got hit leaving the parking lot. Scared the
begeezous out of me, but Tony seemed pretty calm about that.
So, we didn't go to the cities prepared at all on where we were going to stay for the night and we really wanted to go swimming. Wouldn't you know the third hotel we checked had a pool and a king sized bed available. It took us a while to find three hotels but we did get to see some cool neighborhoods in St. Paul.
The swimming
experience was enjoyable to say the least and if anyone has seen my darling husband try to tread water you know why. He did manage to beat all of us in our races but I'm still sticking to the theory that he makes us laugh too hard and it's tough to laugh and swim at the same time.
The second day in the cities we weren't really sure what we wanted to do, and it turned out to be a rainy overcast day. We did want to go to St.
Paul's Cathedral though. This place was absolutely beautiful.
Everywhere you looked, there was something new to see.
From the Cathedral (we also drove past the State Capital building), Tony decided to give a driving tour of the cities. Granted this is list the first time we had been there our selves and he's giving us a tour... with no map referencing. We did drive past the University of Minnesota and we got to see a bunch more areas. After about 20 minutes of driving I start to panic b/c well 1, we don't have a plan, and I NEED a plan, and 2, we are lost. Finally I get out the trusty atlas and get us back in the correct direction(with a little map ready assistance from Tony).
After that we head to the Minnesota Zoo. Which by the way is a great zoo. Tons of animals, which a large majority of them being animals in colder climates..go figure. You won't find an elephant or giraffe at this zoo, but they some really cool exhibits.
After the zoo, we took the
scenic route back home. Everyone was pooped.
The next couple of days we just hung out. I'm really having trouble remembering everything we did, but I do know we played many hours of the farming game. One of the days the next week we went to the Freeborn County Fair. The fairs up here are nothing like the
Wabaunsee County Fairs....just ask my dad if you don't believe me. Anyway we went to the Love and Theft Concert and had a great time. I
thoroughly enjoyed watching the fiddle player....it's okay...Tony knows I love fiddle players.
All in all we had a great time with the girls up here. I hope we can do it every summer:)
I'll talk about Mom and Dad's visit and let Tony tell you about the trapping convention in some later posts.
Here's pictures of our lastest project. We repainted the living and dining room in June. It was a pretty easy project for the most part. We had to do some wall patching which was interesting because we have slightly textured walls known as orange peel but we found some KnockDown at Home Depot that gave the same affect. Other than that we just changed out the lighting, and removed the ugly, heavy, very large mirror!!! The only things left are to make some curtains and get a new couch and chair. 
