Oh, this was gonna be a good day! Originally we had decided to hit the Albertville Outlet Mall on the way home but I decided that it might be better to make the trip during the week instead. I am so glad we did. This was going to be a day with a lot of travelling so we made sure the DVD player was hooked up and ready to go at a moment's notice for overshopped children! First, we made our way over to Radio City. Inc, a store Jay wanted to check out. It was where he spent about 45 minutes talking to a gentleman about telescopes and their lenses, gaining a bit of understanding. He also bought his now-much-belated Father's Day and Birthday present! I was glad to let him shop. Just let the record show that he spent more in that store than I spent in any one store!! :)
After his shopping excursion, we headed to Albertville. On the way we got hungry so we found a Don Pablos and enjoyed some great Mexican food! All-you-can-eat Enchiladas! Oh, yum!
Upon arrival at the shopping mecca, we found stores we liked and shopped away! Surprisingly, we didn't actually buy that much stuff. I know, I know, something is wrong with that! But with all the kids in tow shopping just doesn't have quite the same appeal. However, the few things I found I really, really love. I bought a couple of feathered hair clips in black and white at Claire's plus I found the greatest earring holder ever! I love its bird cage styling and the ability to hold many, many pairs of earrings (well, maybe not of my earrings since they tend to be on the larger side!)
I found some really wonderfully sexy black & white shoes at Charlotte Russe that only cost me $20 and they are even comfortable! I bought some sparkly bracelets there, too! Jay and I each bought a couple of pieces of clothing at Aeropostale, I bought RJ her own purse at Claire's plus some great sunglasses! With that little purse tucked under her arm and those sunglasses, she really does look 4 going on 14! Of course, there was the mandatory stop at Bath & Body Works. But really, not a bank emptying kind of day!
Day 5 - Friday, July 23
Since Minneapolis has 2 zoos and we have 5 kids, we intended to visit both of them. Today was Como Zoo day! The reason we went to this one was that it is on a donation only "payment" method (which means affordable) plus I knew they had giraffes and gorillas which the Minnesota Zoo didn't. This was a beautiful zoo and well worth the $7 we donated!
We ate lunch at a quaint tiny pizza place located on the very corner of the street - the building itself was sort of triangle shaped. Our family filled half the tables! But it was great pizza!
Then my intention was to find this flea market I had heard about. Apparently I heard wrong (and all my research was wrong) because there was no flea market. Across the street there was this great public park that had all these pools of water that kids can play in. We took them there and let them cool down! It was a lot of fun.
Finally, we went driving around to look at some really big houses! We love doing that! We were finding houses with front porches so I took a couple of inspiration pictures! Here's one.
Day 5 - Saturday, July 24
Can anyone say IKEA?! Today was IKEA day but, as Jay warned me, this was just a scouting trip, not a shopping trip. There is an IKEA being built about 35 minutes away from here with a projected opening date of early 2012, just in time for our house building! So, this was a research trip, looking at things and discussing the possibilities. We hit the store on a great day as lunch for the kids was FREE! Gotta love that!
After IKEA, I wanted to check out some America only stores, like The Container Store and Restoration Hardware. Okay, so RH is completely out of my price range and the selection was really small. TCS, however, was a organizer's paradise. If only I knew where to put all those wonderful little containers!
After the shopping, we hit this great award winning play structure our friend told us about! It was HUGE!! There were challenging areas for the older kids and fun areas for the little ones. A tiny splash park was enough to cool them off before they were off again.
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