Wednesday morning we woke up around 6 and were on the road by 7. We drove down to the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. The main exhibit was on the Titanic, featuring many items excavated from the 1912 wreckage. Upon entering the exhibit, each of us was given a Titanic boarding pass with a name and profile on it of actual Titanic passengers. According to the boarding passes, Solveig was Anju's daughter! There were actors and actresses dressed up in period costumes. One was a maid who saw Anju's age and profile on her boarding pass and said she was well-preserved! Jonah enjoyed being a Hong Kong businessman. At the end of the tour, we got to look at wall and see if the person on our boarding pass survived or perished in the sinking of the Titanic. Of our family, only I (Shawn) perished and the rest survived!
While we were at the Science Museum, a tornado touched down in downtown Minneapolis, ripping off part of the roof of the Convention Center. We waited out the storm and headed to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, where we had booked a cabin.
The whole time we were at the Campground in Chippewa Falls it was raining. We were thankful to be in a cabin. The cabin was one room, with two bunk beds. One bottom bunk was a queen size. Jonah started out on a top bunk, but soon changed his mind, since he was not able to climb down. Anju wanted to join Solveig on a top bunk and didn't understand why this was not advisable. Another thing that Anju didn't understand was that she was expected to fall asleep even though she was on a bed and not in her crib. After a couple hours of her vocalizing and jumping around on a bed, Amy finally brought in her travel crib, which made the cabin even more cozy. Anju soon fell asleep.
The next day we ate breakfast out on the porch of the cabin, and then went to the Mason Shoe Outlet. This a place both Amy's and my family purchased shoes at when we were growing up. My dad and grandpa even sold Mason Shoes. We had remembered bargain shoes there, but that's not the case anymore. Instead it's $180 shoes marked down to $50. Talking to Amy's mom later, I found out that shoes are longer manufactured in Chippewa, so there are no longer factory direct bargains!
After purchasing an angel food cake and some lunch, we surprised Amy's grandma by stopping in to celebrate her 90th birthday with her. We spent the afternoon with grandma and grandpa Jenson. We picked up some wieners to grill on our way back to the cabin. It was still a little rainy, but I got the grill going. The rain let up a bit after supper and so we walked around the campground, allowing the kids a chance to play on the playgrounds. Not surprisingly, Anju would climb up the steps and slide down the highest slides and pass by toddler and pre-school equipment to use the 8-12 year old equipment.
On Friday, we toured the Leinekuegel's Brewery, the "pride of Chippewa Falls." This was a very family friendly tour. The brewery has an interesting history going back to 1867 and the kids enjoyed seeing the steps of the process of brewing and bottling. Samples were enjoyed at the end of the tour (they had free soda for those not indulging in an "adult" beverage) and we enjoyed homemade German pretzels. The kids got some souvenir Leinenkuegel chapstick.
We visited Irvine Park and zoo, where the animals had just been "freed" by a Peta-like group just days before. While most animals had been returned, there was a porcupine and a monkey still at large in Chippewa somewhere. After viewing buffalo, ostriches, deer, and other critters, we enjoyed picnicking by a play area.
After lunch, Jonah told me he wanted to see the duck pond. Anju wanted to come along, too. So we crossed the road to see the ducks. Since Anju's view was obstructed. I picked her up to see the ducks. In a moment strangely reminiscent of Michael Jackson dangling his son "Blanket" over the balcony, I held Anju up near the top of the fence and water. Suddenly, her shoe slipped off and fell into the pond. I picked up Jonah and asked him to grab the shoe. He was too uncomfortable being held over the water to do so. The shoe was starting to float away. If it were any other shoe, this would be no big deal. However, Anju's orthodic was inside the shoe, her plastic brace, which we had to pay over $600 out of pocket for. Amy came over to us, and when she heard what had happened, she hiked up her pants and jumped over the fence into the water. The shoe was now out of reach, and so Solveig found sticks to give Amy a longer reach. After several attempts and partially submerging herself, Amy retrieved the shoe. Disaster had been averted. But we had a mommy who smelled like a pond full of goose droppings. She cleaned off a bit and changed clothes in the restroom. While we drove to our next destination, her wet clothes stunk up the car.
As we headed west out of Chippewa, we saw a sign for Cady Cheese Factory. This small, family run cheese factory had an observation window. Since my dad was a cheesemaker for 30 years and I had worked 4 summers in a cheese factory, I drew upon my knowledge to explain what was going on to the kids. We all enjoyed several cheese samples after the tour and purchased some garlic string cheese. In one day, we had toured the places where the two things Wisconsin is famous for- beer and cheese- are made!
When we got into Minnesota, Jonah was anxious to go to the Mall of America. He was anxious mostly to go to the Build-a-Bear store. The kids also enjoyed the Lego store and its big play area, with large Lego dinosaurs and race tracks for kids to race their Lego vehicles on.
For supper, Amy, Anju and I enjoyed Polynesian, while the older kids ate McDonald's.
We stayed at a Best Western that night for free. I had been sent a postcard offer for one night free there. While the room was nice, by the time we came to the "full breakfast" the next day they were out of all three juices and even ran out of coffee by the time Amy wanted some. Amy and another guest took upon themselves to brew coffee in the breakfast nook since the worker had to go check someone in. They used the excuse that they were "shorthanded." Service was certainly suffering for it.
On Saturday we had some free time before the reason why we came to the Twin Cities again: Amy's cousin's wedding. We visited Ikea, a large Swedish warehouse store in the shadow of the Mall of America. It was great. There are many household items, toys, and food items. The prices are very reasonable and the products of high quality. We enjoyed lunch there- Swedish meatballs, lingenberries, and mashed potatoes.
We checked in to our motel room and put Anju down for a nap. The wedding was simple yet elegant. The service was traditional: "Do you take (name) here present...." A string quartet and soloists provided music. The service was Christ centered. At the reception, we showed Anju around to relatives, many of whom were cousins of Amy's dad. It was fun to see that part of the family again. Returning to the motel, we had a brief belated birthday celebration for Jonah with Uncle Ryan and his girlfriend Kari. At this point, Anju was doing summersaults off my lap.
The breakfast at this motel was much better than advertised.
We had plans to go to a certain church on Sunday morning, planning our route to it, etc., but the website hadn't updated their schedule, so we arrived as church was letting out. So we decided that I would head down to my parents' home with the kids and Amy would go to visit her parents.
This was the first time that Anju had been apart from Amy for a whole day since we had brought her home November 20. She did really well. She clung to me quite a bit, but I was happy to be her main provider for the day. We went to see my grandparents, and Anju fell asleep on my shoulder on a rocking chair.
When my dad and I were at a grocery store picking up ice cream for the kids, I ran into the younger sister of one my classmates. She gave me a hug and invited me to stop by her parents because my friend was home. We were friends since elementary school, ran cross country together, and made short films together in high school. He described seeing me again as a "surreal experience." I also got to meet his kids. His wife was my sister's classmate and a younger sister of one of my school friends.
When we got back to mom and dad's, my sister Sara and her boyfriend, Sathish, were there. I enjoyed visiting with Sathish. As mentioned before on this blog, he was born in Bangalore, India and grew up in Chennai (Madras). Anju warmed up to him a little more than previously. Anju had a lot of fun at grandpa and grandma's, amusing them with her antics.
Anju and I left my parents around 1 p.m. on Monday, and soon she fell asleep in the car. She awoke when we got to Amy's parents' house. Amy's mom took us out for coffee. We made a few stops and the way home, dodged a few deer-- stopping twice so deer could cross the road, and arrived home around 9 p.m. thoroughly exhausted.
Amy has to add- thanks to my mom for washing out my pond-y clothes with OdoBan. And, that I'm not the only one in my family to have taken an unexpected swim in a duck pond--my dad also did so many, many years ago after a certain sibling of mine thought chasing the ducks at the MN Zoo looked like fun.
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