Category Archives: attractions

A Maze ‘n Farmyard

A few weekends ago we decided to go somewhere new with the kids, so after a little searching online, we found something we thought would be worth checking out. It was a risk being an hour away, but the A Maze ‘N Farmyard ended up being a lot of fun for the kids. We actually didn’t even see or do everything that there was to offer, which is always a good thing. I also didn’t take as many pictures as I thought I would… whoops!

One of the big attractions was all of the animals, most of which you are allowed to pet and possibly feed. Enzo got to pet goats and feed them a bottle, but he also got to pet a cow, some bunnies, and most importantly – Bambi. There was the sweetest little fawn that Enzo got to pet. Call me paranoid, but I decided to just look at the animals with Phoebe rather than risk her petting everything and immediately sticking her hands in her mouth. Oh! Don’t forget the huge house of birds. Enzo was a little skittish, but one of his favorite animal experiences was the house of parakeets – they just fly all around you, and amazingly we didn’t get pooped on.

This was also the first time Enzo got to go on a pony ride. He was excited at first, until he had to get on the actual pony, and then he didn’t want to, but Josh went ahead and put him on and after a few seconds he was okay and started to enjoy it.

It may not look like he enjoyed it, but he did go back to ride again!

Aside from the maze (which we didn’t go through) there is also a very large slide, which Enzo was excited about from a distance, but a tad reluctant about once they actually got to the top.

Enzo started fighting Josh about going down, so finally he grabbed him, and off they went! Enzo didn’t really warm up to it right away…

That’s right… a GIF! I’m entering new territory here. 😉 As you can see, Enzo had a death grip on Josh’s arm the whole way down. He apparently enjoyed himself, though, because all he wanted to do was go down again… and again… and again.

Phoebe and I enjoyed the nice breeze and watched Enzo enjoy himself on the slide, until Josh suggested that mommy take him down. Honestly? I wasn’t all that excited about it, especially when I got to the top with Enzo and looked down. I won’t lie… part of me really wanted to back away. I pictured legs getting caught and broken (don’t you know you aren’t supposed to ride down a slide with a child?!?) and potentially rusty metal pieces slicing through legs. I couldn’t let him down, though, so we went… and it was fun.

We wandered around for a while until the sky began to darken and the kids got cranky. Apparently there is an entire bounce barn with several bouncy houses and castles we never made it to, but I’m sure we’ll go again this Fall.

How about one more slide gif of Enzo actually enjoying himself? Glad you asked!

MN Landscape Arboretum

It’s been a few weeks now, but we recently went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum… for the first time since we moved to Minnesota. I don’t know why we waited so long to go, but there you have it. I finally decided to take advantage of a Groupon so we could visit them while they have their butterfly exhibit happening because I figured Enzo would enjoy that.

He enjoyed it, but not necessarily the butterflies. He wasn’t a big fan of them flying all around him and they made him a tad jumpy and skittish. So, we spent a little bit of time trying to get him to warm up to them, and allowing Phoebe to watch them while in the carrier on my back before heading outside.

We also made sure to grab a few packets of milkweed seeds to plant next year to hopefully attract some monarch butterflies to our yard. I tried to plant some flowers this year to attract butterflies and bees, but for some reason my gardening skills this year were not up to par.

We thankfully went to the arboretum on what turned out to be a fantastic day. It was a little cool when we first arrived, but then warmed up to the perfect temperature for walking around. There were also a bunch of really pretty glass sculptures everywhere, so part of our goal for walking around was to see them all.

At first I was worried that with so many people it might get crowded, but there was actually plenty of room (even with the stroller) and Enzo was able to easily walk on his own without us worrying about him running into people or vice versa.

Despite there not being much in the way for kids, Enzo didn’t seem to get bored at all. He really liked looking at the different flowers and loved all the different walking paths that took you by ponds and little waterfalls and through shady trees.

I really enjoyed the walking aspect as well, and getting to look the different plants and flowers. I wish I was a better gardener and could more easily create an amazing garden, especially seeing so many pretty plant varieties.

I still can’t believe it took us so long to go to the arboretum. I think we thought it might be boring, and never realized just what a pleasant place it is to go to, to simply walk around. We also brought a picnic lunch with us, which made it much easier with the kids. There were plenty of areas to spread out a blanket (as well as picnic tables), so we ended up eating first before we did any exploring.

I even purchased more Groupon tickets for us to use before the summer is over, or the early part of Fall. I’m a big fan of getting the kids outside and there really isn’t a prettier place in the area to do so. Might as well go at least one more time this year, right? If anything, it’s a nice change from some of our other destinations, and while it’s a tad spendy to go there on a regular basis, it’s nice for now and then.

To the Zoo!

We decided that since Memorial Day Weekend was 3 days long we should get out for at least one of those days, so we went to the zoo! We figured it might not be too busy if we went early enough on Saturday since a lot of people were also going to be camping. It’s actually much easier to go to the zoo when there a lot of other families rather than a lot of people without kids who for some reason think it’s crazy that so many people take their kids to the zoo and get pissy if you’re walking slow or are chasing down a toddler who no longer wanted to sit in his stroller.

We brought the barge so that way both kids would have the option of sitting in the stroller at the same time. I brought a sling as well in case Phoebe got fussy, but really enjoyed hanging out in her own special seat, especially when Enzo was sitting in front of her and she could reach out to hold the seat in front of her.

Enzo was a little bit of a grump, but Phoebe was very happy just checking everything out. We thought it might put Enzo in a good mood to try and ride a camel, and he got excited at the suggestion, so $10 later (ouch) he and Josh took a ride around on a camel. Enzo got a little scared at first, so Josh showed him how fun it is to make silly noises because of how bumpy the ride was, and he got more into it. Josh is actually recording Enzo making the silly noises (and not checking Facebook).

We did a fairly quick walkthrough this time around since Enzo was kind of having an “off” day, but did stop to see the otters and wolverine, which he thoroughly enjoyed before heading home. Since we renewed our membership it’s nice to feel like we can stay as long as we want, and it’s okay to only see a few things each time. I’m glad that overall the kiddos generally do really well on our little day trips, though.

It’s also the first time, though (at this particular zoo) that I kind of felt bad watching the animals. I never noticed how small some of the exhibits are and (maybe its hormones), I just felt a twinge of sadness as the lynx slept curled up in a ball next to the glass while small children tried to get its attention by making noise and banging. It all felt a little depressing, to be honest.

And now that I’ve completely ended things on a dismal note (whoops), if I ever win the lottery, I know I want to put some of it towards wildlife conservation. Anything helps, right? Hopefully if you visit your own zoos frequently you’ll educate yourself and see what ways you can help support your local zoo as well as support wildlife in general. There are so many simple things we could all do.

Date Night… er… Day

While I’m a lot more comfortable leaving Phoebe and Enzo in someone else’s care than I was when it was just Enzo, Josh and I don’t really go out on dates all that often. We have a few babysitters (in the form of family), but schedules don’t always coincide so more often than not we just hang out as a family on the weekend. Honestly? I’m okay with that. However, Josh and I have discovered that sometimes the easiest way to spend time alone is to just take a day off of work, drop the kids off at day care, and then do whatever the heck we want to. In February it ended up snowing on our day off, so after we went out to breakfast we went home, snuggled up with the cats, and watched ‘The Hobbit.’ Wild, right?

This month, though, we thought it would be fun to get out and go to a couple of breweries and hit up some antique stores, something we both enjoy as you never know what kinds of oddities you might stumble upon. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and I wanted to try somewhere we hadn’t been before, so we went to The Freehouse, which also happened to sort of be on our way to Stillwater. What better way to start the day then with a beer tasting, right?

The food was also really, really good. Mine was basically hash browns covered in eggs and cheese, and while that might sound boring, it was definitely not bland and I ate until I thought I would explode. The beer was also quite tasty, and we each found a combo that we enjoyed (out of 7 total). I’m usually not a fan of really hoppy beers, but apparently my taste buds have been changing as those along with the stout were my favorites.

It was a little chilly and overcast, but we bundled up and walked around Stillwater anyway stopping in at just about every antique store that was open, or at least as many as we had time for. I forgot just how big some of these stores are, and my wish list kept growing and growing at each one we went to. There was one in particular that had the most amazing furniture and suddenly my daydreams of owning a small home near the beach turned into owning a castle on the moors of Scotland. One can dream, right? Granted, each store also had its own share of nightmare inducing horrors such as one of the worst examples of taxidermy I’ve seen.

Those eyes will haunt me forever.

Eventually breakfast wore off, and we decided it was time to get more sustenance and libations. We hadn’t been to the Lift Bridge Brewery, so we headed over for one of their tastings and ordered pizza from a local place to deliver while we were there. I wish I could remember the name of the pizza joint because they had the most amazing garlic bread knots. Lift Bridge also had a fantastic stout, and after our tasting I tried out their root beer, which is equally awesome.

All in all, it was a day well spent, and now we’re just planning next month’s date.

Baby’s First Aquarium

This past weekend we decided we needed to get out of the house, and because the weather kept changing and said there would be thunderstorms, we called off a zoo visit and took Enzo to the aquarium at The Mall of America.

I think he was a little overwhelmed at first and just spent most of his time taking it all in – both people and animals. He was also getting used to his new shoes, which thankfully for us meant he didn’t try to run off. One annoying thing about the aquarium is the skinny walkways, however. I don’t recommend bringing a stroller, and despite how much people paid to get in – everyone seemed to be in a rush to get out, or on the opposite end, you had people going excruciatingly slow. One of Enzo’s favorite exhibits, though, was the jellyfish. He smiled a lot and liked watching the lights change colors.

The Octopus exhibit was also neat, and thankfully for Enzo, one was particularly active and fun to watch.

While the aquarium isn’t huge, it does have a cool tunnel that you get to walk through, which always seems to be the best part of any aquarium. Enzo didn’t seem all that interested, however, but did perk up when a mom with a little girl ended up next to us. Before I knew it, the stinker was blowing kisses and making friends, and could care less about the fish. He’s a charmer, that one. 😉

Overall it was a good day, and it’s so much fun to take him to new places and see things through his eyes and introduce him to new experiences. We can also always count on him to try and make new friends. We stopped at a couple stores after lunch (which he was a champ during even though it took forever for our food to come), and Enzo tried to leave with another family who had a bunch of kids. Ha ha. He wasn’t happy when Daddy grabbed him and told him he had to stay behind. He’s a social one, our boy.

Dino and Bunnies

Every day adventures