The Staycation

Loran took the days surrounding the 4th off so we could have a little staycation. We couldn’t decide if we were going to stay somewhere nearby at a hotel or stay home. In the end, we stayed home. We took a few little trips and found some fun!

The girls trying to Priceline their way into a waterpark.

“Guys look, I’m tall!”

First we started with a picnic at the nearby “High Tower”

After running some errands, we decided to stop in at the Children’s Museum. They were only open one more hour once we’d arrived so we just hung out in the Curious George exhibit, but it was fun and the girls were plenty busy.

A few days later, we were off to the Science Museum. We spent a fair amount of time outside playing with the water. Always a good time.

We had a lunch break at Cossetta’s – both girls tackled a slice of pizza larger than their heads. Needless to say, they had leftovers. However, I discovered that if I take pictures of them as they eat, they’re more than happy to take bites. That’s one way to get Lily to eat!

We spent some time at the YMCA, just hanging around – in Lily’s case. Ella has suddenly acquired some mean soccer skills. Perhaps we’ll have to sign her up for soccer this fall. We had fun kicking and dribbling the ball around. Lily showed off her impossible strength, Olympic style. We also did some swimming, where both girls have been enjoying the outdoor pool. Ella has been trying out the pool noodles and is becoming increasingly comfortable floating with them.

The entire week was unbearably hot. While we did go outside, it didn’t last long and we enjoyed every little bit we could get before retreating to air conditioning and hydration. On a Friday afternoon, we went to Stillwater to peruse furniture in the 100 degree heat. While out and about, we decided to detour over to Bayport to try a BBQ place we’d read about in the paper. (We still read the paper…sometimes!) While we were eating, a storm came through. Just rain and a bit of thunder but with it came a cold front! It was done raining when we left and the temperatures were just glorious! We drove through Stillwater on our way home and made a stop at Teddy Bear Park. We were just entering city limits from the south and Ella knew exactly where we were and that it was the home of Teddy Bear Park (we haven’t even been there this year!) and then proceeded to tell us to look for the “P signs” (for parking). Good memory. Stillwater, only a few miles away was dry. The ominous clouds and preceding heat must have scared everyone off because we were the only people at Teddy Bear Park. That has never happened. Ever. It was eerie. I was waiting for the zombie apocalypse to commence. It was also the first time in our history of going there that the girls tore in the gate and both clamored to get their photos taken with the stone bear sculptures. I’ve tried in vain for 4+ years to get decent photos of the girls at the park and it’s been a challenge every single time. This time, they couldn’t wait to ham it up with the bears. It was great!

 

 

While at the Science Museum, we had seen an exhibit that highlighted some of the many waterfalls around the Twin Cities. Last weekend, we thought it would be fun to go find some of the lesser known falls. We should have realized going into it why they are the lesser known falls…our trip was fun and beautiful. Number of falls we attempted to see: 3, number of waterfalls we ended up seeing: 0.

First up: Shadow Falls

Located near the campus of St. Thomas, in a beautiful park and trail overlooking the Mississippi.

Lily modeling her “Beeping Bear”

We could hear the falls, and knew we were close but just couldn’t get a visual on them. The flowers and river views were gorgeous though! Onto the next falls!

Next Falls: Hidden Falls (the name should have given this away)

We never actually found or heard these falls. Truth be told, we never left the car. We just couldn’t figure out which direction we would even go in to move toward the falls. Not to be deterred, we went for the slam-dunk.

Last Falls: Minnehaha Falls

The famous Twin Cities waterfall. How did we NOT see Minnehaha?! It’s right there, you don’t even have to walk into any woods to see it, there are paths that lead right to the falls. We didn’t see Minnehaha because apparently everyone else was. We could not find a parking spot within miles of the falls. It was crazy! Rather than walk miles or idle endlessly waiting for someone to leave, we cut our losses and headed out to lunch in St. Paul.

Funny enough, we picked a Vietnamese restaurant in the middle of the light rail construction mess on University, and who is sitting two booths away from us, but one of Ella’s friends from school! While we didn’t find any falls, we did find friends!