We're here!

Okay, so we really arrived on Friday afternoon...and it is Sunday today...details!  :)

I'll start with our trip - we left home Thursday afternoon.  We were hopeful the kids would sleep part of the way to the Cities.  Grace was asleep within 20 minutes of road time and Carson wasn't far behind.  Trav cruised while the kids and I slept.  I woke up around Alexandria and the kids were still down.  Carson woke up around St. Cloud and Grace woke up about 5 minutes before Albertville - so Carson slept for at least 2 1/2 hours and Grace easily hit the 3+ hour mark!

We stopped in Albertville (outlet mall) for a few hours and did some school shopping.  The last few months I've seen Carson develop a very particular sense of style and have a strong like or dislike for certain clothes - especially shirts.  He's also on a kick that all of his plain white socks just will not do.  They are 'ordinary'.  (This is the new fav word too.)  So, we will pick up some 'cool' socks (I think he wants socks with Spiderman, Ironman, etc. on them...not sure!

I DO know that polos, rugbys and the sort are NOT on his pick list anymore.  So, there was no way I could shop without his 'approval' or 'rejection' for clothes.  Needless to say, after Gap and Old Navy, I was done!  And I love to shop!  Many of the shirts I offered were declined and many were deemed 'ordinary'.  We did find some approved shirts though, so we stocked up.  He even approved of two dress shirts.  He wasn't impressed with buying jeans on a warm July day, but I convinced him the warm weather wouldn't last forever in Minnesota!  We finally wrapped things up and with the exception of cool socks, I think we are done school clothes shopping for Carson.  Ugh.  That was not fun!

Grace got new shoes, so she was nearly in heaven.  That girl and shoes - it is a bit scary!!!  Since Grace wears uniforms to her daycare/school, I didn't have to do any school shopping for her.  We stocked up on uniforms when she started this past spring.  She did get a few shirts though and was quite excited about them.  We'll see when her 'ordinary' phase hits...I have a feeling it will be before nine years of age!  (Considering she already tries to tell us what matches with clothes!)

We motored on to the Cities...stopped to eat in Maple Grove and do some shopping at our fav, Trader Joe's. 

We got in to St. Paul and found sweet friends Jeff and Sherryse's new home.  We loved their place - full of character with amazing floors and fun and charming older-home details.  Their place reminded us so much of our first house!  We really appreciated their hospitality (and for letting us store our Albertville/Trader Joe's purchases there!).  It was a quick stay, but we were so happy to see them!  Thank you both!!!!

We got on the road Friday morning and took a leisurely time to get to Madison.  We stopped in Eau Claire at Carson Park.  We were there eight + years ago with Carson (he obviously doesn't remember).  There is a cute mini-steam engine train, but it wasn't running in the morning for rides.  We stopped for a bit and then hit the road again.

We travelled off of interstate and made our way to Dodgeville, WI - home of Lands' End.  It was a beautiful, winding drive.  We saw lots of cows and corn.  We also saw some of the largest weeping willow trees.  Anyhoo, Lands' End was having their huge summer clearance sale.  Thankfully there was a park/playground right next to the pavilion where the sale was.  Having never been to this event, I didn't know what to expect.  Now I love to shop, but this was quite overwhelming.  As I entered, I was given a huge garbage bag to store my purchases until checkout.  Thankfully, racks were fairly well labeled with gender and size.  This huge pavilion was packed, packed, packed with racks and racks of clothes, shoes, home good, etc.  Everything Lands' End sells.  I squeezed my way through the kids areas and then made my way to mens', shoes and then womens.  I had found several pairs of pants that would work for me when they announced all womens pants were $5.  Even in my overwhelmed state, I was pretty excited.  I finally made my way to the check-out (after only one call from darling, patiently waiting husband).  I was amazed that people had strollers and kids in there - it was nearly impossible to navigate on legs much less pushing a stroller!  Anyway, got some great, tremendously discounted deals on great stuff from a company I love.  Worth the little jaunt off the beaten path.

Next stop - Madison!!!