The Day that Devolved into a Trip to The Mall of America

Did you know it was "Take a Kid Ice Fishing Weekend" this weekend in Minnesota? I learned about it weeks ago and finally looked up events at local state parks yesterday. Finding a Child/parent ice fishing clinic at our nearby Fort Snelling State Park for this afternoon, I was psyched. I asked Theo if he wanted to go. He certainly did and starting planning his day around it, wanting to call a friend to come along. Just to make sure we could participate, I called the park. Turns out the clinic filled up weeks ago. Damn.

A very disappointed 4-yr old quickly rejected all alternative suggestions for an outing. Even our typically successful offers of going to the Mississippi River Gorge for a walk/ski or going to the park failed. Descriptors like "boring" and "not fun" were used. Theo was dead set on going to "that place that Henry went to with the baby sitter yesterday, that place with Legos and other fun things". That place would be the one and only Mall of America. That place that I avoided visiting during my first five years in Minnesota. That place that I have only visited about three times during my second five years here. Truly enjoying these occasional forays to the MOA, I offered to take Theo and Henry to the MOA for Lego land time, one ride at Nickelodeon Universe, and one food item. It would be our first outing together to the Mall and I knew I better set some limits ahead of time.

We set out with the double Bob stroller on the 3/4 mile walk to the light rail station. Once there, we were offered meat to buy by a man waiting for the train. We politely declined. He looked at T and H and proceeded to tell us about the $150,000 he has sunk into child support for his son who reputedly just got a scholarship to Yale. (BTW, you gotta love the characters that you meet and the stories that you hear while taking public transportation. They never cease to amaze!)

Long story short: we joined the mobs at the MOA, breezed through Lego land (Theo was not that interested), rode the carousel and Ferris wheel, got ice cream, strolled around a bit, and headed home. Both kids fell asleep on the train giving me the opening to pick up some things at the grocery store on the way home. Ah, the beauty of being able to go everywhere with a stroller and not have to get in and out of car seats! Yes, it was a long excursion, five hours, but I sure got my exercise in!

The MOA was fun in its novel way. But I really wish we could have gone ice fishing.