Category Archives: minnesota

Walnut Grove 40th Pageant

So, for our anniversary, Josh decided to surprise me with a random nerdy outing. Unfortunately for him, I talked him into giving me a hint and I accidentally figured out what the surprise was. Whoops! Due to my bookwormish tendencies since I was a child, we were heading to Walnut Grove, MN to see the annual pageant that is performed in honor of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  It’s a bit of a drive, and made for a late night as it is performed outside and doesn’t start until 9pm, but it ended up being a really fun day since we both appreciate a bit of cheese, but also history, and we of course both took plenty of pictures to share with everyone.

So, the first place on our list was at someone’s house. It was quiet and we weren’t sure if parking there would lead to us being tied up and hidden in a barn or an actual sod house. Turns out they actually have recreated sod houses (very few if any original sod houses remain).

It was extremely hot out, but we made the most of it.  It was actually not that hot inside the sod houses, and the main one was surprisingly nice.  Apparently at one point the owners actually let people sleep overnight as a fun B&B.

Lap of luxury.

 

Cozy, but not awful… it stays nicely cool in the summer and I imagine it warms up well in the winter months much as I imagined when reading the books.  Granted, we got a more realistic look at what most sod houses started out as with dirt floors and without plastered walls.

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An Afternoon at the Arboretum

You know what’s awesome?  Nice weather. The kids and I decided to enjoy some nice weather recently and go the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum.  We got a membership through Groupon and I have a feeling we’ll be going there a few times a month.  There are fantastic paths and trails to walk and it seems like there is always something going on.  When we went it happened to be a very popular weekend for weddings and I think there may have been two happening at the same time.  The kids wanted to hang around and watch one, but I convinced them that walking around might be more interesting.

We may be heading back tomorrow, but the kids and I haven’t decided yet.  So many choices!!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

InnerActive Play Area

Last weekend the kids and I needed to get out of the house for a bit, so I had the brilliant idea to take them to an indoor play area so we could be out of the chill and also go earlier in the day. Everything is at least 30 minutes away from us, but most indoor play areas are further. Thankfully, however, a couple have popped up in that 30-40 minute range and so off we went!

Honestly I wasn’t sure what to expect at 10:30 on a Saturday morning, but my heart sank a bit when we drove up and the parking lot was packed.  I took a deep breath and warned the kids that a lot of other people were there.  We managed to find a cubby to put our things in and off we went to brave the play area and people. Immediately Enzo and I shared a look and he said, “There’s too many people, Mommy.”  Phoebe was not bothered, though, and took off running.  Even she had a few moments of panic, though, when she couldn’t spot me right away after getting off the slide.

We got used to the amount of people fairly quickly and to my pleasant surprise it started clearing out and the amount of noise and activity was more manageable.  We all were more comfortable and Enzo and Phoebe were all over.  It’s a pretty cool place too.

I didn’t get pictures of everything, but there’s a fairly large play area with slides and climbing toys as well as the favorite of both kids – the bouncy pillow. Both kids spent a lot of time on the slides and were having a blast.

Eventually I convinced the kids to take a break for snacks, which we had brought, and had to promise several times that we weren’t going to leave right away. For almost $8 a kid I had already decided we’d be here for a few hours. There wasn’t enough seating at actual tables, but we found a bench to sit at over by another play area that was for toddlers.  Then we had to go bounce on the bouncy pillow, which admittedly was a lot of fun. I was probably one of only 2 or 3 parents who was openly enjoying it.  There was also a big basketball court and a smaller soccer “field.”  Enzo was hooked on shooting baskets and got 5 while we were there. He was so proud of himself.

I have a feeling we’ll be going back there, especially whenever the temperatures drop.  They have monthly plans and yearly plans which is also nice, but I don’t think we’d be there often enough for one of those. Maybe if we lived a little closer.  For an un-staffed place, I was impressed at how clean it was and how involved parents were with their kids. Hardly anyone on their phones (except to take pictures) and everyone was respectful, which was a huge win for me.

Week in Review – Mostly Just the Weekend

Happy Monday!

Linking up with Meghan from Clean Eats, Fast Feets for another Week in Review!

 

Random occurrences and accomplishments – this week there were few accomplishments, let’s just be honest.  It was a fairly typical week with extra sugar and treats in the mix thanks to V-Day.  As if the kids really need extra candy… or me for that matter.

  • We rented The Girl on the Train and didn’t finish watching it.  We probably would have watched the whole thing had Phoebe not decided to crawl into bed and watch it with us (not exactly kid friendly) but we had already reached the plot twist point and figured we’d turn it off.  I read the book when it first came out ages ago, and remember it being fairly good, but the movie was so sloooooow and just didn’t work for us. It should be noted, though, that Emily Blunt was fabulous as always. She’s great.
  • Phoebe has been on a major Sleeping Beauty kick lately (wanting to read the book every single night) so we watched the movie on Saturday.

  • On Saturday night we went over to my sister-in-law’s house for a gathering, which was fun. The kids are always up for hanging out with their cousins. I made fondue, and I’m going to have to do that more often… only I think with a smaller pot. I always forget just how much it makes and the recipes are enough for probably a dozen people eating copious amounts of chocolate.
  • We also went to the library Saturday morning. I had a book on hold, and the kids were happy to grab a few new books to read as well.
  • The best part of the week was the weekend because we were able to spend some time outside. Hello awesome weather!

I attempted to teach the kids how to play tag in between them riding various toys. Enzo got the rules, but Phoebe was a tad confused. Haha!  I definitely got in my workout, though!

  • There was some gaming to be had, though.  I even kicked the boys off the TV so I could play my game for a bit.  After all that running around and a late night on Saturday, the kids were more than ready to just chill on the couch for a while.

Happy Monday everyone!

Solitude on the Road

I’ve always loved going for drives in the car, mostly as the passenger, but I’ll gladly do the driving if it means being alone and recharging for a bit and possibly doing some exploring. One thing I miss from Colorado is that feeling of remoteness that I often had. I didn’t live in a big town or even that near a big city so it was very easy to drive a short distance and feel like there weren’t a lot of people around. It’s been a little more difficult to find that here nearer a big city without having to drive too far.  So, I had the idea to take day and do a lot of driving on a weekend and Josh said, why not stay the night somewhere so you don’t have to do all that driving in one day?  Sold!

I think everyone needs to be on their own at times, but as an introvert it’s a necessity for me.  I do often get quiet time each day, but it doesn’t always feel like enough, especially when one or both kids has trouble sleeping and that time is interrupted. Also, as much as I love the cats, Uzi has somehow become even clingier and the second I relax, he’s on my lap. There are times when I am just touched out – by kids, by cats, by everyone and everything and even my own skin feels like it’s too much. So, this time away was very much needed and overdue.  I drove… and drove… I think I spent about 10 hours in the car total?  I went with the intention of looking for birds and did find some, though, not as many as I had hoped.  I didn’t take any amazing photos, but I did find a very funny squirrel and most of all I found space to breathe deeply and in silence.

I mentioned in a previous blog post that I accidentally left my really warm clothes at home, so without my big hat and gloves I wasn’t able to do much of the wandering by foot I had wanted to do. It was around zero outside, and with just a light knit hat and gloves I didn’t want to wander too far.  The snow was crunchy so I managed to scare a deer or two and some other birds, but once I got farther away from a road (with barely any traffic) I just stopped and it was… perfect. I could hear birds even if I couldn’t see them, many of which I had never heard before.  I could hear the scurry of squirrels and what I imagine was another deer or two as the crunch of the snow was louder, but more delicate than my own trudging.  It was in that moment that I knew when we got our own cabin it has to be more remote. I need a place to recharge on a more regular basis.  I need my place, you know? Now if we can just find that perfect spot near a lake for Josh. Granted, my ideal place would be in the mountains, but I’ll take what I can get.