minneapolis vacation - day two

sunday morning began our first fill day in minneapolis. we decided that we would find somewhere to buy bagels on our was to the minneapolis state fair. after the fair we came back to the hotel for some time in the pool before walking down the nicollet mall to the mississippi river. it was a very full day and i couldn't believe all the walking we did.

thankfully the hotel had nickelodeon and the cartoon network so the kids could almost have something to distract them when we were in the room. although mason enjoyed using the phones most of all. he would get a dial tone on the speaker phone and just walk away.

the state fair was incredible! there was so much to see and do. if the theme of the wisconsin state fair was temporary tattoos, the theme of the minnesota state fair was hats. madelyn (and mason) got hats everywhere we went. i think that the john deer foam hats were my favorite, but madelyn was pretty happy about her corn dog hat. the best part for us was a step-by-step farm to store interactive exhibit for kids (that is where most of the pictures in the slide show were taken).


madelyn liked 'stirring' the cranberries at the ocean spray booth. and was delighted that there was a kids workshop going on at the home depot exhibit. we took the bug catcher project to go since there was a long line for table space. and of course the ice cream with sprinkles was a great way to end her trip to the fair. we actually didn't see very many animals. it was a long walk over there and the crowd was getting crazy huge after lunch too. we decided that we had seen a lot and could head out. we were going to head to the como zoo after the fair but it looked like a lot of other people had the same idea (since it was just a mile away and is free). after driving over there at a crawl we decided to pass and try again on a different day.


both kids slept as we made our way back over to the hotel. daddy stopped to pick up some chipolte for a late lunch (i think it was around 2pm) since we didn't have a real meal at the fair. we tried to eat picnic style on the floor of the hotel room but mason just couldn't seem to figure it out and kept stepping on his food as he was trying to dip his chips in the guacamole - which he couldn't get enough of!

after lunch we took the kids down to the indoor pool. it felt so good to swim around a little after walking so much all morning. mason got tired of the pool and daddy took him to just walk around a little while madelyn and i soaked our tired feet in the hot tub. madelyn thought that the bubbles were pretty neat and even walked around the 'seat' a little. and then she went a little too far away from the side and fell into the middle of the hot tub. i jumped in my towel and snatched her right out. it actually didn't scare her as much as i thought it would. i think that it upset me more than it did her. she even sat on the side soaking her feet a little longer.

it was still a little on the early side so we decided to go for a walk downtown. madelyn stopped to pose with the statues in the hotel lobby on our way out. we were just a block off the nicollet mall which is a pedestrian road with shops and restaurants and decided to take a walk down to see the mississippi river. we walked down to the river and then stopped at a huge target to load up on snacks and drinks for a light dinner. somehow while we were walking madelyn managed to wipe out. there was no crack in the sidewalk or anything obvious to trip on, but i turned around and madelyn was laying on the sidewalk with one flip-flop off, her purse a few feet away, and her knee, thumb, and forehead were bleeding. i am still just baffled by how this could have happened. but leave it to madelyn to find a way to draw blood from her face (you will see a picture of her head in the next post).

we did get to the mississippi river and somehow managed to take this picture with everyone looking by ourselves. i am so happy that we were able to get a family picture standing on the bridge.


our sleeping arrangements changed sunday night. daddy took one for the team and moved over to madelyn's bed so that i could have more room for my belly. i think he got more sleep squished up with me. he said that madelyn was all over the place while she slept. thanks, daddy. love.