Adventure Day - Lake Harriet

The girls and I packed up the car with towels, lawn chairs, snacks, water and sunscreen and headed over to Lake Harriet this morning for a fun day in the sand. Lake Harriet is less than 9 miles from our house and I've been spending a lot of time there lately both for work and for fun. We ended up on the southbeach today which is a little beach in one of the busiest areas of the park. It was full of little kids and lots of nannies and Momma's. The girls stuck close to me at first afraid of the lake water after seeing a little bit of seaweed (it's been almost a year since they've been in a lake!) but after I went in with them at first they were fine and happily played building sandcastles and tossing mud. I enjoyed watching them play so gleefully in the water.

I'm slowly getting over my phobia of "city" lakes. I still MUCH prefer secluded up north lakes because they're so much cleaner but this is pretty ok and it's fun because how cool is it to have a beach in the heart of my favorite city!

Next week we'll hit up the north beach and have lunch at Bread & Pickel (it's fantastic local food at the Lake Harriet Pavilion).

This past week we've been out walking, playing at the best playgrounds, enjoying the sun, the water and our new area. Being so close to the city is awesome because there is SO much going on all the time and almost all of it is FREE! We certainly won't be bored this summer!

So if you want to come down, join us at the beach, one of the many splash pads and pools, eat the best ice cream, cupcakes and food and even watch a free concert or movie in the park we'd love to have you come along!

Adventure Day - MN Zoo!

My Mom and I brought the girls to the MN Zoo yesterday. To my delight it's only 15 minutes away! I hadn't been there for about 12 years and had forgotten pretty much all about it. What a great place! The girls have been to Como Zoo a couple times but now that we've been to the MN Zoo I doubt I'll ever walk through Como again!

We went early and it was chilly! We got there shortly after it opened and decided to hike up to the Farm first so the girls could see the farm babies. The baby goats were hilarious playing with each other and running and sliding across the floor. The girls loved seeing the cows, and pigs. They've always really enjoyed going to farms and love those types of animals. Adia asked that I give her one of the newborn pigs yesterday. When I told her I couldn't and that the baby would miss his mommy she sobbed crying, "please Momma! PLEASE! I want one of those babies! I want a real baby piggy!". She went on for a while and we negotiated getting her a piggy toy instead which she agreed, even though she ended up choosing a pink tiger instead! Last night at dinner again she said, "Momma I want one of those baby piggies. I want a real one!". Oyi.

Rasa loved the shark tank and the penguins the best. Adia said she loved the babies and the penguins the best. They both really enjoyed the monorail ride and being able to see the camels and bison. When Royce got home from work the girls were talking so fast about all of their favorite things he could hardly keep up.

My Mom, the girls and I always have a great time together! It makes planning stuff like this so much fun! What a difference between age two and a half and age three! I'm noticing it so much more every time we go out with the girls. It's so much more enjoyable with so few meltdowns, if any at all!