Back from Minneapolis

Well hi again, everyone! I had planned to take you along on our Minneapolis vacation but I walked out of the house Sunday afternoon and forgot my laptop!

It actually turned out to be a blessing -- during the conference I did not have the distraction of email or instant messages, or work, and instead, I was free to chat with everyone around me. And I met so many fun and interesting people. It was great!

So back to the trip. Mom, Mazy, Bo and I left Des Moines at about 2 on Sunday. We made it all the way to Ames before Bo needed a bathroom break... For those of you who don't live here, that's 30 minutes... Then we stopped again 20 minutes later at the Boondocks truck stop, where I made him pee outside. And then he needed to stop again when we were in Clear Lake! We took a quick tour of Clear Lake so mom could see the lake and beautiful downtown area. I really want to find a cabin or house to rent sometime. It seems like such a fun place!

So from there we kept driving north. I had banned all technology from the trip -- no kindle, no tablet, no playing on mom or grandma's smart phones. Those boys had to read to entertain themselves, like in the old days!

We stopped once more at an outlet mall about an hour south of the cities. I went on a fast but furious summer clothing shopping spree -- new maxi skirt and top, new peasant skirt and top, and a new mid-sleeve shirt with ruffles at the neckline.

I took Mazy with me, and mom took Bo with her to the Nike outlet to find him a new pair of shoes. The little stinker left the house wearing his oldest shoes and I didn't realize it until one of the pee breaks.  Funny thing, we found him new shoes and then left them in the vehicle during the entire trip and he kept wearing his crappy ones!

It's getting late and I will write more tomorrow with some photos. Until then, here are some highlights of the trip:

1. Bo's nonstop, ear-to-ear enthusiasm for being on vacation, being in a hotel, going out to eat, being in a big city, not being in school and being 4 and on an adventure. Adorable.

2. Mazy's excitement over the floating boats of sushi restaurant. The phrase, "this is the best restaurant ever!" was used. He kept eating and eating and eating! When we were leaving, he walked over to the sushi chef and waved at her and said, "Thank you. It was really good." She was so excited and happy to have him say that! It was so cool to see the two of them talking to each other and bonding over a love of raw fish and rice.

3. Content strategy for three solid days! OMG, it was so awesome!!! I love content strategists. I love the Confab conference! It's seriously the greatest conference ever. It has a cake sponsor! Betty Crocker was there with awesome cake every day!

4. Minneapolis is such a pretty town. So many cool things to do in the summer months! It rained most of the time, but that's OK. We still explored a lot of places and had fun!

5. Riding the roller coaster at the Mall of America. Oh my. We went up the first big hill, and Bo said: "I want off! This isn't fun! I want off!" And Mazy said: "Mooommmmm, I don't think I like this." And I said, "You can't get off! Just be scared and love it!" And then I screamed as we went careening around a corner and shooting toward the ceiling. Holy crap, that was fun!!! By the end, both boys were shouting and yelling and applauding themselves for being so brave!

That's all for tonight. Photos tomorrow. Happy Friday!!!!