Easter Weekend

This year Easter was not the same. My weekend did not consist of Easter egg hunts, nor did it consist of Good Friday services or sunday services at church.

Late yesterday afternoon I returned home from a very cold snowy Minneapolis with my parents. My dad had some business to do down there, so my mom, my aunt and I tagged along. Due to terrible roads on the way down and an extremely heavy trailer coming home, we spent a lot of time on the road. Coming home it took us almost 10 hours. Ridiculus. That being said, it was a nice little holiday with my parents. I think in my previous post I mentioned that I couldn't remember the last time I spent that much time alone with my parents. Usually I have my brothers along to take some of the attention away from me, but this time it was all focused on me and it felt kinda fun.

Friday late afternoon we arrived in Albertville to hit the outlet mall. I found a couple of good deals at Banana Republic, got a cookie press (which I am super pumped to use), a massive measuring cup which my mom said I had to get because everyone needs an 8 cup measure cup. Who knew? We got to our hotel across from the Mall of America close to 8:30pm. We were all very tired and super hungry and hit the bed fairly early to prepare ourselves for a full day of shopping on Saturday.

My dad had to keep driving to Des Moines for business early Saturday morning, so us 3 girls spent the day at the mall. It was wonderful. I love that place! I found some good buys at H&M, Abercrombie and Forever 21. My mom and I don't do a ton of shopping together - at least not over long periods of time, but we realized how well we shop together. My aunt on the other hand does not shop like us. We have a mission, we have somewhat similar taste and my aunt just doesn't fall into that category. We learned some lessons in patience as we waited outside many stores that did not interest us.


Growing up, my family spent a lot of time at the Mall of America - particularily in the amusment park. For the past 20 years or so, the amusement park was Camp Snoopy. However, when we arrived this weekend, Dora, Diego and the Backyardigans had taken over. Now, I honestly don't mind either of these shows and I admit I sit down with Cole and we watch them together. BUT... the rides were a little overwhelming. What happens when in 2-3 years down the road Dora and Backyardigans are not as popular anymore? Do they take away the rides and put in some other fad of the year? Seems like a waste of time to me, but I guess these characters is what attracts the kids, so you do what it takes to please them. Cole would have loved it though. I thought about him constantly as we walked through the park. Our favorite show to watch together is the Backyardigans, so I could not resist taking a picture for him.