Last year, about this time, we spent a long weekend in Minneapolis. It was such a great trip, we decided to do a repeat this year. Our days were spent doing some repeat actives, and trying out some new things as well. When we pulled into town, the weather was beautiful, so we drove straight to Minnehaha Falls to stretch our legs and enjoy the beautiful park.
After the park and some dinner, we almost headed back to the hotel before noticing a couple walking down the street with an ice cream cone that looked too good to pass up. Turns out one of the places I had already planned for us to go was just down the street! Ice cream for everyone!
After joining in worship at Bethlehem Baptist Church on Sunday morning, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the Como Park and Zoo. We were extremely impressed with the exhibits and grounds for a donations-only admission.
The girls in the Sunken Gardens.
We had planned to skip the Mall of America on this trip and try out the water park, but after seeing the price of admission (good grief!!!), we opted for another trip to the middle of the mall to let everyone pick out a ride. Bridgette was excited to ride the carousel this year, and Gretchen chose to try out her first real roller coaster. I don't have any photos of us riding together, but she LOVED it and I love it that she loved it! =)
Minneapolis' "Sculpture Park" needs a little help. This was the extent of the sculptures.
One morning was spent at the Institute of Art where the kids and I worked on a scavenger hunt and found artifacts from periods of history we've been learning about while Ryan read and browsed at a slower pace.
Back to Victor's 1979 Cafe for a Cuban breakfast.
We spent our last afternoon at the Science Museum. We arrived just as the school groups were leaving from field trips and had the place seemingly to ourselves. Rooke was old enough to try one of the experiments: observing a cheek cell sample! I have vivid memories of doing that in the sixth grade and loved watching him try it out.
Gretchen may be on to something . . . =)
We had a little too much fun with the giant astronaut!
It's good to get away. We ate yummy food, did some shopping at Ikea, watched a few episodes of Little House on the Prairie, and overall enjoyed a change of scenery together.
