Escaping Chaos

This past weekend we decided it would be best to pack up our things & take a mini vacation. Our city looked somewhat similar to a war zone & I'm not overly thrilled with stressful situations. Thankfully, my stepmom agreed to let us come for a visit. After at least an entire year, it was exciting to make the 3 hour journey & Mackenzie could hardly wait to see her auntie.
I prepared somewhat of a sight-seeing schedule so we could actually say that we did something other than sit around on this little trip of ours & it turned out to be a very fun weekend.
First on the list was a trip to IKEA. Having never actually been into this store, I could hardly wait. Friend Lyz has her entire house decorated with items from IKEA & I was hoping to find a few cute items for myself! The store was gigantic & I had to remind Mackenzie that she would most definitely get lost & taken by someone if she decided to wander off. She held my hand through the entire store. We found a few kitchen accessories for the kiddos & some tupperware type items that we so desperately needed but other than that, decided that the style was a bit too modern for our (Chris') taste.
From there we headed to the Mall of America. It has been at least 5 years since I have been there so I was excited to do some power shopping. It ended up being more of a child entertaining trip which was fine...Mackenzie enjoyed every second.

Here she is with her new doll, Hanna. Similar to Build a Bear, she stuffed this doll on her own & picked out some fancy cupcake pj's & slippers to bring her home in.

We decided to pass on Camp Snoopy (or whatever the new name is) because Kenzie decided that only ONE ride looked the least bit exciting to her. Being unable to partake in the amusement park fun due to the baby bump, we decided to save our $25.

Sunday morning brought us to the MN Zoo. Having grown up in the area, I have been there many times. Chris on the other hand, thinks that the Mayville Zoo is something to see so I had to set him straight. It was a bit chilly that day so we opted to ride the Monorail to take in all the outdoor animals. The kids both seemed to enjoy it even though we had to leave the cotton candy behind.

Preston loved the monkeys & Mackenzie loved the pink flamingos. Neither of which surprise me. Here are a few photos from our day.



Overall, it was a great weekend. No snow, sunshine, fun activities & family. Now it's back to real life...12" of snow, clouds, flooding & nothing to do. It's not THAT bad but I would definitely consider moving to Hawaii if Chris asked me to!