Some of the beautiful west Wisconsin farms we saw as we headed to Minnesota.

They all have such beautiful grass.

One farm had a football field, complete with uprights. Ean would LOVE to live there.

We saw several of these signs, but never any Amish. Bummer. It’s so neat to see them driving their buggies. We’ve only see that twice on this trip. The last time we were in the midwest, an Amish grandpa and grandma pulled up to Walmart in their black buggie. That WM had designated buggy parking spots with signage. So cool!

Our first stop in St. Paul was a dog park. Melbee was looking forward to some Rupert runs! Then she’d be ready to nap while we were in here…
Our #1 reason for stopping here was JM Cremp’s – the adventure store! The boys have received their catalog for several years now, and love pouring through it. It’s not long before the cover has come loose from the rest of the magazine. They get out their notebooks and pencils and make their wish list. Then they add up their grand total. Then talk about how much they want to save up to buy the things on their list. That’s pretty much as far as it goes, because what kid can save hundreds of dollars very quickly. But they have so much fun. So when it came time to plan this trip, the Mall of America got a pin in the map. We all knew this was one stop we weren’t going to miss!

We came up the escalator, and there it was, across the crowded mall…

They wasted no time in getting right to work!

Albert and I just left the boys to looking. We spent well over an hour here. We let the boys tell us when they were ready to leave, not wanting to rush this dream-come-true.

While we were waiting for the boys, Albert found this and had a little fun. The blue rectangles represent the states we won’t hit this summer. All the other license plates showing are states we’ll have visited last summer and this summer combined.

Then we headed for the center of the mall. This part used to house Camp Snoopy, a really cute amusement park. But to keep up with fickle consumers, it’s now Nickelodean’s Universe. The boys were wowed by roller coasters in the mall. Different rides covered that huge space. We were pretty sure the boys wouldn’t be riding anything, but we decided to check the prices anyway. Albert and I decided we’d splurge a little and pay for one ride each for the boys.
We walked around so they could see all their options before making such an important decision. Brodee really wanted to ride the bumper cars, but since Dayne and Ean wanted to ride a roller coaster, he went along with them. And here’s where God worked another miracle for us.
Albert went with the boys up to the deck where they’d get I the ride. I went to a spot where I’d be able to catch the boys go by. When they did fly past, it wasn’t just the boys. Albert was riding, too! We’d only paid for three rides…how did that happen??

As they go flying by, I realize that’s Albert, right in the middle of the yellow thing, with his hands up looking at me!

When he and the boys got to the ride entrance, an unmotivated employee asked them to do a favor for her. She didn’t want to have to walk all the way over (20 yds) to put the line chains back up. She told them that if they’d do it for her, they could all ride twice for free. So the boys kept their place in line while Albert spent 45 seconds doing this task. He walked back to the boys and asked, “Me, too?” “Yes”, she said. And that’s why I saw Albert and the boys zoom past. When they got off the ride, the boys grabbed me for round #2. It was so fun. And when that was all done, they still had their original tickets left to do a ride, so they did this…
Ean and Dayne got to ride their choice, Brodee got to do the bumper cars, and Albert and I got to ride. To do what we did would’ve cost $60, but we did it for the original price of the three rides. God is good! And He loves to love us individually. Specifically. That experience was just more proof.

After a disappointing meal at Chevy’s (it was nothing like our Chevy’s back in Santa Rosa), we headed to another off-leash dog park where there are acres of trails for dogs and their people to walk together.
Our day ended in the Glendale SDA Church parking lot.

Great location – only a few blocks away from downtown Minneapolis.

The next morning we walked around a neighborhood lake.

Albert had chosen that church because it was so close to the sports venues in downtown Minneapolis. Below is the Minnesota Twins stadium.

The Timberwolves play here in the Target Center. It’s across a concourse from the Twins’ Target Field.

The Minnesota Vikings stadium…

The purple metal football shaped things are the bike racks – cool idea!

After a quick stop at Costco, we beelined it for the Vikings Training Camp in Eagan.

Can you believe this beautiful place is a scrimmage field?!

There were different activity stations set up on this beautiful field. The kids loved playing on the turf, getting to experience the high quality of the professional sports world.

They have a new training facility. It’s really impressive. And the venue for training camp is really fan-friendly. We’re not Vikings fans, necessarily, but we are footballl fans, so we really appreciate what the Vikings have done and what they offer the public. From the moment we got there, the friendly, helpful staff kept telling us, “Have fun, guys!” And they meant it. And we did!

This is Viktor, the Vikings’ mascot, and he has personality! When he walked up and saw Brodee wearing his Panthers garb, he playfully gave Brodee a kick in the bum to oust him from the canopy. Viktor even has hobbies – cheese grating, lion taming, and bear trapping. (The Vikings’ division rivals are the Packers [Cheeseheads], Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears)

Watching professional athletes is quite something. It’s one thing to see someone strong and capable at the park or in a gym. But watching pros, you know you’re seeing something special. #33 is the starting running back. That’s Kirk Cousins, #8, ready to receive the snap. Trevor Siemian wearing #3. We were sitting behind a Cousin’s long bomb. Watching his throw sail down the field was impressive. The spiral was so tight and fast.

The weather was perfect – overcast, light breeze, and beautiful!