Recently, my son and I got the opportunity to finally go visit my brother who is now living in Minneapolis. It was quite the change up from our usual rural, and rustic, adventures and a welcomed change!
My brother and his girlfriend have the cutest apartment downtown St. Paul. They are located right by a farmers market so Wyatt and I were able to come home stocked with fresh veggies. (Super score for our week)!
Since we wanted to avoid the heat we decided to check out the Mall of America, which believe it or not, I have never been to. I was curious how the excursion would go with all the Covid regulations but it went very well! The only issue was waiting in lines so that stores could maintain their limits of people.
We started at Build-a-Bear. Wyatt was extremely excited about this (since he doesn’t think our town has one 🙊). It was a unique experience to go through. You pick your animal first. We may have gone a bit overboard. Wyatt got a Pikachu and Minion. I got a generic bear, and my brother got a Green Bay Packer bear. Once you have your animal picked they stuff it for you and do a cute little heart ceremony to add the heart inside the animals. You can also add sounds. Next you can pick clothes. Despite explaining that Pikachu doesn’t wear clothes we ended up with a t-shirt for him and the bear and the signature bibs for Kevin the minion. While a fun experience be prepared to drop some $$ here.
Next we hit up the Crayola Store. This is a great store for kids AND adults into coloring. You can pick out crayons, markers, modeling clay, kits etc. We both walked out of here with some goodies!
By this time it felt like we had walked miles so time to fuel up! There are tons of restaurants to choose from but we wanted to give Wyatt a cool experience so we went to the Rainforest Cafe. I mean where else can you eat with animals roaring and storms rolling though! Yes you read that correct, while dining the lights periodically dim and thunder claps and lightening flashes. Have I mentioned the food is delicious as well?? The roasted veggies I had are still on my mind!
Lastly, we couldn’t pass up a chance at the LEGO Store! I have a decent love/hate relationship with legos. I love that Wyatt enjoys playing with them (even if he sometimes needs help building) but I HATE stepping on one buried in the carpet in the middle of the night. Regardless, we have been adding to our collection of legos and definitely took the opportunity to get a new kit. Jurassic Park of course!
To end the day we had a bonfire and grilled out on my brothers patio. Who knew you could have bonfires in the city! Ok, maybe it was gas and a “fake” fire, but cool nonetheless!
We had a great time visiting my brother and his girlfriend and Wyatt was definitely sad to go! Thanks for having us, and we will be back for more city adventures! ❤️
Wandering Momma 