Minneapolis Visit

 My mother has officially lost all her children to the midwest.  Ryan and Grace live in Minneapolis now, about 3.5 hours north of us here.  The first time Ryan came to visit we joked that we lived on the same street.  He's about a mile from I-35 and so are we.  I gave him the directions and he said "That's it?"  In case anyone was wondering about coming for a visit, we're really, really easy to find ..... once you get to Iowa.

I had a 3-day weekend at school so I decided to head to Minneapolis for a quick overnight visit.  It's the kind of drive I NEVER would have made for a night living in Maine, it would have seemed so long.  Since doing the drive back and forth 5 times now at 1600 miles each way, a short jaunt to Minneapolis seems like I could do it for an afternoon.

Uncle Ryan brought us over to the UM campus to see where he goes to school, and wouldn't you know that the performing arts folks have an ampitheater?  What luck, as it's a great place to show off your latest song and dance routine.

Take a bow, Lucy.

And no trip to Minneapolis would be complete without seeing the spectacle at the Mall of America, right?  Ryan apparently spends a fair amount of time there, as Grace works at a couple of stores in the mall, but didn't bat an eye when I told him I'd like to see it.  I'd go back, too.  It was a vacation destination.  We didn't even get to the aquarium.

Idol fans, Scotty McCreery was there signing autographs.  And no, I did not wait in line for one.  (Took the picture for Mom, really, and she tells me she already has an autograph from the concert.)

Behold, the wonder of the indoor amusement park.  We walked by the aquarium then walked by the park and gave Lucy the choice.  Take a guess which one she picked to go to.

Lucy and me in front of the big kid swings.  Tickets are super expensive when purchased individually, so we gave her a one-ride limit.  The swings were the ride she picked.  These were the real deal, too.  No baby ride here.

This is Lucy's dance of joy when she found out she was tall enough to ride!  (You can see Uncle Ryan pushing the stroller in the background - a natural.)

Uncle Ryan kindly stayed with Baby J while we took to the skies.  The thrill of anticipation ....

This photo does nothing to show the ABSOLUTE TERROR Lucy experienced on the ride.  We look like we're having a nice time here, right?  Nope.  As soon as we started to swing she started screaming Stop! Stop!  Before the ride began, the kid working the controls came over the speaker to tell us if anyone needed the ride stopped to simply signal with your hand.  Visions of my father here, but my kid was not going to be the one to do it.  I had timed the ride while we were waiting (mostly to figure out how much we were paying per second of ride) and it was about a minute and a half, so I knew it would be over soon.  I say I didn't want to stop the ride, but I also didn't want Lucy's experience with something so grown up to be a total failure either.  So I squeezed her tight, we were in a double seat, and told her how brave she was and how proud Uncle Ryan was going to be. 

We made it!  Now that I look at it again, the picture of us might have been after the ride.  You would never guess the amount of screaming and shaking she did by the way she acted when the ride was all over.  She might have even mentioned going on it again.

Totally random but this is the LEGO store.  Those are all larger-than-life lego creations.  They were up on the roof of the store, though, so you couldn't touch them.  Probably for good reason, but I would have loved to see them up close.

And awww, thanks for having us Uncle Ryan and Aunt Grace!  Great hospitality, great company, and a great time. 

But ... oh Deer.  I'll get a couple of pictures up of what my car looked like after the trip home.