Thank you all so much for your sweet emails, comments and facebook messages on my last post. I promise to update the story if and when we meet Dennis' family. He was such a sweet man- I feel I succeeded in telling the story that glorified God, and gave Dennis the recognition he deserves. I hope Dennis and Andrew's story touched even just one person enough to cause them to stop and think about how they can touch someone's life today and always!
Now... on to our road trip! The week after Christmas we were all still on break, so we decided it would be fun to take a little mini trip north once again to visit one of our favorite destinations! Minneapolis! My mom and I wanted to check out the after Christmas sales and my mom had a few more gifts to purchase which we thought would be fun to do afterwards and hit the sales!
Andrew was especially excited to ride the fly boat this time, since he has really gotten into the Wonder Pets since our last visit.
He had the time of his life! This was the first thing we had to do when we got there! The next stop was the Disney store! Andrew got one more gift from Ga Ga- a Cars 2 launch set that was on sale. Score!
Little miss isn't old enough yet to hit us up for toys! But she will be soon enough! The clothes are cute enough that we could spend our entire life savings just on clothes for her! Dangerous!
The most fun part for Andrew was staying in a hotel and getting to go swimming! We just wanted to have a relaxing time, so after we hit the Mall of America and IKEA, we headed to dinner and then back to the hotel to swim.
Even Kerigan got in the pool and enjoyed it! She wasn't too sure (it was a little colder than her bath water!) but it was actually heated pretty well so she could stay in for a bit.
Andrew's favorite thing- after his bath we all made hot chocolate in our hotel room- with extra marshmallows!
Andrew's new thing is acting silly when I try to take pictures of him. He thinks it is so funny! I usually laugh, until I get tired of telling him to say cheese, act nice, behave...over and over! Ha!
After a delicious breakfast at the hotel in the morning (we made our own waffles! Andrew loved it!) We went swimming some more...
You can see more of his silly antics! Ha! Seriously- this is what he does every time I tell him to say cheese!
I finally got a half-blurry shot of him in the whirlpool!
After we relaxed that morning, and packed up our things, we headed back to the MOA to catch the "train" (aka "light rail!") to downtown Minneapolis! This is something Ga Ga and Papa had been wanting to do with Andrew for a long time- they knew he'd love it! And he certainly did!
The light rail is just a tram type thing that goes on a little track across the city and stops periodically to pick up and drop off. Andrew thought it was just about the coolest thing ever. Ha!
Thanks for taking me on the train Ga Ga and Papa!
Craig insisted I take this picture! Ha!
Getting off the train and heading to Macy's!
There is Macy's on the corner!
The first stop at Macy's had to be the 8th floor display. This is one of my favorite things to do at holiday time. I have said this in previous posts, but when I was a little girl, we went to Minneapolis every year at Christmas time and my parents took me to the 8th floor. Every year they have a different theme, and then at the end is Santa! (Since we were after Christmas, Santa wasn't here... the ladies told us he went back to the North Pole!) But it was so funny because when I was little the REAL Santa was always here- in Minneapolis on the 8th floor. All the other Santa's were just his elves (my parents totally brainwashed me!) Ha!
This year's display (they've done the same for a few years now) was "A Day in the Life of an Elf," which I thought was quite appropriate since Andrew just really got into his Elf this year. He just loved the displays!
So much, that we went through it twice! The best part- it was after Christmas so there were hardly any people! In the past we've waited in 2 hour long lines all through the store to get up here! This was great!
And I could take all the pictures I wanted because no one was waiting for me!
The displays are so detailed... this is the Elf toy making room
I know... I have no words, either! Isn't she just a doll? She looks like she belongs in the elf toy factory!
My camera did something weird to Andrew's face here, but I still liked the picture!
This was Andrew's favorite scene- the barn with the reindeer! He was all concerned about where Rudolph was and he was not happy with my picture taking. He kept saying "No more pictures!"
I love this- the Elf mail room. I guess Andrew was trying to figure out if that letter was from him! Ha!
His favorite part was this little elf that spun around in circles!
The elf bakery! Yum!
Andrew acting silly...again! Just wanted to give you some proof that I was there! Ha!
Afterwards we headed down to the marketplace and surveyed all the yummy treats!
We picked out the best thing... Macy's sugar cookies! Oh my!
Heading back on the light rail! Andrew was acting silly in Papa's hat! Ha!
We had a great post-Christmas adventure! It's always fun to do something after all the craziness of the holidays.
