The Mall of America

We have always taken Tizita somewhere special before she begins another year of school.

Usually we have chosen the destination.

We have taken her to the Appleton Mall, Little Amerikka, Circus World Museum, Wisconsin Dells, and Chicago last year, so this year we asked her where she wanted to go.

She chose the Mall of America which could not have made me happier, John,  however, was less than enthusiastic about that choice.

We started out from Oshkosh on Friday after lunch.

We arrived at our hotel, the Double Tree by Hilton in Bloomington about 6:30.

Tiz said that the hotel was "quality."  I guess after seeing the places in Ethiopia, she thought this hotel was pretty cool.

I found it online and we got the hotel for $87.00 a night which I thought was a great deal for that area.

We were on the 15th floor with a great view.

We spent Friday night watching the opening ceremony of the olympics and ordered room service.

 It was great to see the athletes from the US followed by the ones from Ethiopia.

Simone Kines and Gabby Douglas have become household words around Tiz and Soli.

 Everything in our room was ultra modern.

We really liked the sink.

This is where Tiz ate her breakfast each morning.  It does not get any better than this!

On Saturday we left for the Mall of America.

We got there early so we had lots of time to just wander around and look.

It was the calm before the storm.

We enjoyed the clean, quiet bathrooms at that time, too.

We had fun at the American Girl Store, Claire's, Lego Land, and a many other stores.

We shopped till we dropped for sure.

Tiz got some really nice clothes for school as well as some pink converse shoes.

It was a very successful, fun day.

Tiz said it was everything she wanted it to be!

Tiz made some lip gloss for Soli and her.

This resulted in glitter everywhere,  mostly on Grandma!

We went back to the Hotel.

John and Tizita swam until the pool was closed due to someone puking.

After the swimming, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant before watching more Olympics and playing Pay Day.

On Sunday we made a stop in Pepin Wi to see where Laura Ingalls Wilder was born.

We had lunch in a cute little cafe with yummy food.

Made one last stop in Alma to check out the locks before heading home.

It was a fun weekend.

I know Tiz enjoyed it and I am hoping it is the start of a great school year for her.