I have had many people ask me, “How do you come up with this stuff?” when I talk about our adventures. Today I’ll give you a little insight into how I plan our last-minute adventures. Warning – my thoughts may be a little crazy at times.
I live with a family of devoted hunters. So, when deer hunting opener comes around we pretty much have our plans set in stone. We all pack up and head “back home” to the farm where my in-laws live. This year, however, life through a wrench in our plans.
Friday afternoon – Sam’s already at the farm to help with some chores. Dad is zonked out on the couch with a terrible cold that morphed into bronchitis. Faith and Si are realizing they are NOT going to Grandma’s house tonight. Danger zone. Time do some quick thinking. How do I keep Faith and Silas out of Dad’s hair (and germs) so he can rest and they don’t get sick? And hopefully have some adventures at the same time?
My first thought is to just get them out of the house ASAP. We grabbed our water bottles and went outside.
I decided we’d go to the park and give me some time to craft a plan. Here’s how my internal dialogue went:
Ok, they’re out of the house. Now what. I didn’t want to go home for dinner and make a lot of noise and mess. Hmmm…Pizza Ranch always makes the kids happy. The Black & White makes me happy. But what about after dinner? Hey, isn’t there a new kid movie coming out tonight?”
I grabbed my phone and called Falls Theatre, the local mom-and-pop movie theater on main street. Bingo! Trolls was showing tonight at 7pm.
“Ok, if the movie starts at 7, we need to be there at 6:30 for snacks and bathroom breaks. That means we have to be done eating at 6:15. Pizza Ranch is a buffet, so we’d better be there by 5:15 in order to allow enough time for a ridiculously slow eating 7 year old. We’ll leave the park by 5:05”
We hop back in the pickup to leave the park and the kids start asking where we’re going and why we have to leave the park. I’ve decided the evening plans will be a surprise. Because, why not? Life’s too short to not have some suprises.
Going to the movies is just more fun in a small town. Falls Cinema is in an old building on main street in Little Falls and is has so much more charm than a modern multiplex theatre in a shopping mall. Plus, since there isn’t a lot to do in a small town on a Friday night, there are plenty of people you know who are also taking their kids out to the movies. It can quickly turn into a party for the kids when they unexpectedly run into their bestie from school. If that isn’t enough to make you prefer small town theaters, just take a look a the price of popcorn at the concession stand!
Park + dinner + movie = success. We arrived home happy and tired.
Saturday morning – We had hopes of Emmett being well enough to go hunting but it became apparent by 10:15am that it simply wasn’t going to happen. Now Faith realized everyone else in the family is out on deer stand and she’s stuck in Little Falls. This was a big deal since it’s her first year of being old enough to have her own license. I don’t hunt, so I couldn’t bring her there in Dad’s place and all the other adults were busy with their own little hunters.
This is when it hits me that I now have an entire free weekend ahead of me. I could accomplish so much around the house. After contemplating that for approximately 2.4 seconds, I threw that idea right out the window. Folks, when you live in Minnesota, winter is always coming. Anyone who would pass up AMAZING 65 degree weather in November and spend the weekend cleaning is, in my opinion, LOCO.
So, now what do we do? I grabbed my list of weekend adventure ideas. Yes, I have an actual list of places to go and things to do on weekends. The list in has a title, “WeekendWanderings”. What can I say? I love brainstorming lists.
- Sibley State Park & hiking Mount Tom – It’s a perfect day for it. I checked the DNR website. Dang. The observation tower is closed for repairs.
- Hemker Park Zoo, or Up North Safari, or Amazin’ Farmyard – all closed for the season.
- Climb the Pequot Lakes Fire Tower – Hmmm, that’s tricky with two kinda-scared of heights kids and only one parent. Nope.
- Nisswa and Crosby – The kids love Rafferty’s Pizza in Nisswa and there’s a playground in Crosby they’ve been begging to go to. But, since The Chocolate Ox candy store is closed for the season, a trip to Nisswa just isn’t the same. Both kids agreed they didn’t want to spend a total of 2 hours in the car for pizza and playgrounds.
- Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park – this was on our list to do this summer but we had to cancel those plans. The weather is great, but it’s more than a 3 hour drive. We’d barely get there in time to catch the last cave tour of the day.
- National Eagle Center in Wabasha – Ditto
- What if we leave now and make it an over night trip? We could squeeze both the cave and eagle center into the trip. Tempting. I thought about this for awhile. In the end I decided that I didn’t want to be that far away when Emmett was feeling this sick. And I didn’t want to rush these activities since they have the potential to be a lot of fun.
- Mille Lacs Indian Museum and Trading Post – This one is much closer with only a half hour drive. A quick check of the website showed that they have a kids activity today. However, it was met with a distinct lack of enthusiasm by both kiddos and a little eye rolling.
- Quarry Park in St. Cloud – Another spot on our bucket list. We checked out the aerial video of the place and agreed it looked pretty cool. It may be a gorgeous November day, but there’s no way I was going to agree to swimming in the quarry pools. We agreed that spot would have to wait for next summer.
After 10 minutes we’d exhausted the possibilities from the weekend excursion list. (Yep, I ran through that list above in under 10 minutes, and those were just the main ideas. At least half a dozen impossible ideas flittered through my brain, too.) Since it was now 10:30 the pressure was on. I felt like the day was slipping away and we needed to shake a leg. Both kids had seemed interested in heading toward St. Cloud. I mentioned that there were some activities going on at Crafts Direct and Faith jumped at the idea. By 11:00 we were loaded up and heading south to St. Cloud. My Adventurer-In-Training, Faith, looked up some things on my phone while we were driving and confirmed that Barnes & Noble was holding a Makers Faire in store today. Now I knew we were on to something.
First stop – some craft projects at Crafts Direct. If you haven’t been to Central Minnesota’s Largest Craft Store you’re missing out! It is not a chain store; it’s a family owned and operated store. They focus on family and community and have donated over a million dollars to charities in the area since they opened. This place is awesome, but don’t take my word for it – go visit! Since it was deer hunting opener the store had their Bonus Bucks weekend with extra sales, free stuff, and several make & take projects available for a small price. I love the idea of creating the project right there in the store rather than purchasing the materials and bringing them home to make “someday.” Faith and I made rustic picture frames for $8 each.
Then all 3 of us made fall shadowboxes for $4 a pop. For $28 we got great hands-on project time and 5 handmade items as a start to our holiday gift giving.
By now we were HUNGREEE! I made the executive decision to go to Red Robin. We hadn’t been to this new restaurant in St. Cloud yet and I figured if the kids are going to sing the theme song they should at least know what the food tastes like. “Red Robin – YUMMMM” Stay tuned for a full review of the restaurant.
Now that our bellies were more than full we were ready for more adventures and we crossed the street to Barnes & Noble. I consider myself very lucky that both of these kids really enjoy this store since it is one of my Happy Places. We had learned on their website that they were holding a free Mini Makers Faire this weekend. What is a Maker? Well, it’s like a DIYer with a techie twist. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/h/makerfaire The Makers Faire was a JACKPOT for us.
As soon as we walked in the door there was a table set up with various tech demos. Faith’s favorite was the 3D pen. Silas giggled at the bots as they zoomed around the floor and was really engaged with the Vex Robotics. Wow. The former-teacher side of me was going CRAZY to see my kids so actively engaged in the hands-on STEM activities.
We happily wandered the store, exploring the various Maker stations (and Starbucks Cafe) for almost two hours before a severe case of the “Can I buy thats?” struck the 7-year old and it was time to make our exit.
We had planned to stop by PetSmart or PetCo to ooh and aah over the small furry or scaly creatures there. However, after the exhibition of attitude while leaving Barnes & Noble I knew that it wouldn’t be a good experience. We headed back north and the kids blew off some energy at the park while I chatted with a friend on the phone. We were cozied up at home just as the sun was setting on another fantastic fall day.
Here’s how our day ended up:
11:45 – 1:15 – Make & Take projects and shopping at Crafts Direct
1:30 – 2:45 – Lunch at Red Robin- a hit with everyone!
3:00 – 4:45 – Barnes & Noble for the Makers Faire and treat at the Starbucks Cafe
5:30 – 6:00 – Playground
6:00 – 8:00 – Dinner, playtime, etc.
8:00 – Family TV time/living room sleepover
Even though we had to cancel our original plans for the weekend, we ended up having a great time exploring some things close to home. We made some memories, and that is always my goal.
