Mall of America

Who goes to Minnesota in the middle of February?  We do.  Over President's weekend we took off to Minneapolis to the experience the Mall of America.  I have always wanted to see it and being in the midwest it's only a few hours from home. But, it was Feb...weather would be an issue. We were doomed for snow.  Sure enough a giant blizzard covered the city of Minneapolis while we were there.  Don't think for one minute it stopped us, sure, it slowed us down a bit but we explored all the same.
The Mall of Amercia was exactly as I had imagined.  Hundreds of stores and endless hours of shopping. Right up my alley (and Jeff's  too, but he's not as willing to admit)  The kids loved it also.  We are raising good little shoppers. They come by it naturally.  Ha. Ha.
    We made a beeline to the American Girl Store. A dream destination by any girls standards. 

But, really the highlight for the children was the Nickolodeon theme park.

Big roller coasters were the name of the game.  Avery is tall enough to go on every ride in the park so there was no stopping this trio.  The bigger, scarier, twistyer, faster,  crazier........the better.  Endless hours of amusement for the Anderson children.  

You can't really tell from this picture, but in this photo the kids are flying through a giant loop, full speed.  Avery can barely keep her head up straight.  The force is keeping Zach's head  pulled to one side. Yikes.  Jeff and I stayed behind, happy as can be with our feet planted securely on the ground.

One of my favorite afternoons was on Saturday.  In  middle of the storm we ventured out for breakfast, and made a quick stop for some movie treats.  We returned to our hotel for a day of a movie watching snuggle fest.  All 5 us changed into jammies, snuggled up on the 2 queen beds (complete with chocolate and popcorn) and watched the movie Nannie McPhee returns.  It was a cute movie, we all liked it.  But, mostly I liked the close knit togetherness. The older my children get, the tighter I want to hold on.  "Together"  is my favorite place to be.  Cheesy, I know.
and since I don't have a picture of this snuggly afternoon.  Enjoy one of Zach asleep in the hotel.  With kiki.

Beiber Fever

Watching my kids make new friends in school is fun and exciting but, with it comes the worry and fears of who they might develop close friendships with.  What will the new friends be like?  Who will they sit with at lunch?   Do these friends share the same values?  What kind of families to they belong to?   Are they being raised with the same morals we are trying to teach our children.  And then ultimately, will my child  feel uplifted and cherished as a person?   Ellie has made a whole slew of girlfriends.  But, I don't know any of them yet.  And, I  worry a bit about the "kind" of girls she is connecting with.  I'm sure "to worry" is a rite of passage for all middle school parents.  I  know Ellie and I know she will ALWAYS choose the right. But a 6th graders life is easier with friends that support and inspire you.

Since I wanted to get to get to know Ellie's friends and the girls are crazy for Justin Bieber, we joined the gaggle of girls bursting through the doors premiere night for the Justin Beiber movie. 

It was my intention to have Ellie invite her "school" friends but she ended up inviting all church friends.  Which was fine by me.  What a great group of girls and hopefully the start to wonderful friendships.

The girls had a fabulous time.  The entire theater was filled with hyper, squealing, laughing screaming girls....and their mothers.  The screaming started at the first clip of the movie and didn't stop till credits rolled.  I couldn't help but think it was cute.  The girls were so passionate!    At one point in Justin's live concert he brings a girl up to the stage during the song "one less lonely girl."  Avery whispered in my ear in a quiet but giddy voice that she wants to be the "One" less lonely girl on stage.  I guess the fascination starts young!