Last Days with Kara

Wednesday: We had two more days with Kara and we tried to make them fun, but Wednesday turned out to be a dud. We thought about going on the boat and doing a bit of fishing, but due to a miscommunication on Chris' and my part, we ended up not doing ANYTHING all morning. When Hannah went down for her nap, Kara, Caleb and I did a little bit of shopping with our main goal being that we wanted to buy a Slip'n'Slide. No Slip'n'Slides that we could find (boo!) so we headed back home and the kids played outside in the regular kiddie pool. (And put the hose sprayer to good use, I might add!) Kara spent the evening with my mom (they had dinner and saw a movie) and by that point, I'm sure Kara was glad to do something without little kids around!! :)

Thursday: Kara really wanted to go the Mall of America, which is a classic Minnesota destination. So, on Thursday morning, the kids and I hit the mall as soon as it opened so the kids could ride on some rides.

Kara went on the biggest roller coaster all by herself. It's called "Sponge Bob's Rock Bottom Plunge" and it goes straight up and down and upside down. She was very brave!!


This is her car WAY up on the top of the first hill!


We saw a few characters this time, which we've never seen before. Caleb isn't much for people in costume, but since Hannah has a HUGE crush on Diego, she was more than willing to have her picture taken with him.


(I know that her face doesn't look extremely excited to be next to Diego, but after we stepped away from him, she kept saying "Buh-bye!! Buh-bye, Gego!!" and waving. For me, no tears = a great experience with costumed characters!) :)

She was also ready to ride on some rides when her brother didn't want to. She rode on the train with Kara (while Caleb ate some popcorn) and even rode on the carousel, which is always fun for the whole family.



Caleb and Kara tried a few rides that Caleb has never been on before. I think having Kara here boosted his self-confidence!! :)



After a couple of hours, we got some caramel apples "to go" (Kara's had Reese's Pieces on it) and headed to Minneapolis to have lunch with Chris. We went to:


Kara mentioned that she went to a Hard Rock store while on vacation with her family a couple weeks ago but had never eaten there. So, we ate there, which was fun (and very low-key since it wasn't busy at all). We didn't get a chance to shop at the store, since Caleb put on his crabby-shoes after lunch, but maybe we can do more Minneapolis things next time she's in town.

Jon and Stef came over for dinner this night and took Kara back home with them. We'll see her again on Saturday and Sunday but for now, she's enjoying NOT having two kids constantly pull her in two different directions! :)


Awww....Cute!