Oh my gosh. I cant believe it, but we had to go back to the Mall of America AGAIN today. Last night while Rowan was getting Foxy dressed, his shirt ripped. Everyone is telling me that Build a Bears are well made and that everything they make is high quality, but after my second time in as many days trekking out to that store to get something fixed....I am really questioning it! The employees (who are starting to get to know us by name!) felt really awful, and they exchanged the shirt right away. We managed to get out of the store without buying anything new too, so I am going to count that as a win.
When we finished up at the mall, hopefully for the very last time, we headed out to Lake Elmo Park. It's a 2,000+ acre nature reserve, but the kids and I were more interested in the playground area. Which was AWESOME. I suppose it has something to do with people here being snowed in for half the year, but when they get outside to play, they really know how to do it right. I have never seen parks anywhere else that are even half as amazing as the ones they have here. There were 3 huge play structures, swings, big sand pits, and tons of tunnels and bridges and climbing areas. The kids played for hours, and we all had a great time exploring the park.
The rest of the day was pretty laid back. After the park we came home for lunch, laid around the apartment for awhile, and went for a walk around the neighborhood and along the Mississippi. Which is still really cool to me - I never really thought I would see the mighty Mississippi river, and it is absolutely beautiful! Here are some shots of it from near the apartment that Matthew took when he first got here. This is my favorite, because it shows how pretty the area is:
These two pictures have a more industrial feel to them, because we are situated really close to downtown. This is a little island in the middle of the river called Raspberry Park:
This picture is facing East from one of the bridges that cross the river. That shiny black building in the background is where Matthew is working:
We still have a lot to see here, and are really looking forward to our last few days in this beautiful city!
When we finished up at the mall, hopefully for the very last time, we headed out to Lake Elmo Park. It's a 2,000+ acre nature reserve, but the kids and I were more interested in the playground area. Which was AWESOME. I suppose it has something to do with people here being snowed in for half the year, but when they get outside to play, they really know how to do it right. I have never seen parks anywhere else that are even half as amazing as the ones they have here. There were 3 huge play structures, swings, big sand pits, and tons of tunnels and bridges and climbing areas. The kids played for hours, and we all had a great time exploring the park.
The rest of the day was pretty laid back. After the park we came home for lunch, laid around the apartment for awhile, and went for a walk around the neighborhood and along the Mississippi. Which is still really cool to me - I never really thought I would see the mighty Mississippi river, and it is absolutely beautiful! Here are some shots of it from near the apartment that Matthew took when he first got here. This is my favorite, because it shows how pretty the area is:
These two pictures have a more industrial feel to them, because we are situated really close to downtown. This is a little island in the middle of the river called Raspberry Park:
This picture is facing East from one of the bridges that cross the river. That shiny black building in the background is where Matthew is working:
We still have a lot to see here, and are really looking forward to our last few days in this beautiful city!