Last weekend we were so excited to drive down to Minneapolis to meet our good friend Bill, who was flying through on his way home from Iraq. What a great excuse to get out of town and take in the big-city-at-the-holidays sights! Only when I got back did I realize I'd taken a total of 6 pictures - and NONE of them were of Bill. Sorry, Bill! Now you'll just have to come back and visit again.... We had planned to leave on Saturday morning, but with (another) blizzard warning given for that time period, we scurried around all day Friday and left as soon as Haley finished with school at 3:00. We were so fortunate to beat the storm completely and had a safe drive - until we were within 50 yards of our hotel. Then suddenly the car started acting funny and felt like it was going to stall out. Rob spent most of the next day at the repair shop while the kids and I swam, hung out at the hotel, and ensconced ourselves in the nearby Barnes and Noble while the blizzard raged outside. I felt so very grateful that we had made it down safely; it could have been so much worse!
Before Bill got into town, Rob and I took turns venturing out into the pre-Christmas crowds to shop. He went to REI and several guitar stores; I hit the high-end Shoppes at Arbor Lakes down the road from our hotel. The kids spent a lot of time in Pottery Barn Kids - we'll take one of everything, please! On Monday we braved the traffic and went to the Mall of America, along with millions of other shoppers. The traffic was bad, the crowds were big, and I'm afraid Bill had to witness a major disagreement between Rob and I. But by the end of the day the kids had ridden the rides for hours, we'd made a few laps around the mall, and were stuffed from a most delicious dinner at Tucci Benucch to celebrate Bill's birthday. We were all tired from the weekend, but the kids had SO much fun with "Uncle Bill", and he spoiled them (and us) with gifts and attention. Thanks, Bill, for stopping in our chilly neck of the woods! We miss you already.I know this is a long post - more of a journal entry, really - but I have to mention how much we LOVED our hotel. We will stay there every time we go to Minneapolis from now on; we're calling it our "city house". It's the Staybridge Suites in Maple Grove, and while of course it doesn't compare to the grand old hotels in big cities, I absolutely loved it for its family-friendliness. It has a nice pool, a huge, free breakfast, a kitchen in every room, and our room had doors that closed off the beds from the rest of the room (so nice when you have little kids!). Not to mention that it was all decorated for the holidays and had several feet of snow outside. I'm not sure if all of their properties are this nice, but I hope so because we'll be looking for them from now on when we travel!
