Tuesday, July 29, 2008

2nd Road Trip

The weekend of July 11-13, we took a little road trip to Bloomington, Minnesota. We've been wanting to go there but we were waiting for some visitors to come and visit us so we can take them there as well. With Oma visiting us, we took the opportunity and decided to go there and check out the Mall of America. It was a short 4 hours drive - we drove 2 hours, took an hour break, then drove for another 2 hours and before we knew it . . . we were there!!!

As we were looking for our hotel, we passed by the BIG-BIG mall. It was EXCITING to see it!!! I couldn't wait to go inside and shop-shop-shop!

Our first day there, we decided to relax and check out the city. We ended up swimming at the hotel and having Thai food for dinner. It has been 6 whole months since I've had Thai food and boy, oh boy . . . . it was YUMMY!!!!

Our 2nd day, we woke up bright and early to have breakfast and head to the mall. We were there before any of the stores were opened. The place was HUGE!!! 4 stories full of stores, about 500+ stores, a movie theatre, an amusement park, a minituare golfing place, tons of restaurants, all the department stores you can think of and there's even a Marshall's, Nordstrom Rack, a wedding chapel, a post-office, a speedway racing place, and a underwater aquarium ! It was fun at first being there but as the day wore off . . . not as exciting and as fun . . . it was just way TOO many people!!! It was like Christmas rush-time, I tell you!!!

Anyways, Sebastian had a GOOD time playing at the Nicklelodeon Universe (the amusement park in the middle of the mall). We stayed at the mall for about 5 hours and left with not one single purchase. We ended back at the hotel to swim and rest. That night we had another good dinner. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant and again, it was YUMMY!!!!

Our last day we decided to check out the Ikea nearby. We dropped off Sebastian at the Ikea play area so we can shop peacefully. We checked him in and had no problem dropping him off. Bac and I stroll from showrooms to showrooms and got some ideas while Oma and Alerina was playing in the kid's area. We ate lunch at the Ikea cafe and left to go home after that.

We had a GREAT time on our "mini" trip. Since Cedar Rapids lacks choices of "yummy" places to eat , we can't wait to go back to Bloomington, MN to eat-eat-eat and go to Ikea.
















3 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks like you guys had fun on this trip! Mall of America is humongous, isn't it? I saw it a few years ago. I was excited for the first 10 minutes, then I got claustrophobic, but you know me and malls haha.... Ethnic food (or the lack of it) will be the biggest problem for me if we were to move to your area. No Thai food....yikes!! It's my absolute favorite :)

Karina said...

Love the picture of Sebastian and mom holding hands. Soo cute! Alerina looks like a mini Sandra!

sin said...

oh... good ol' MOA. you should've shopped! no salex tax there. and there's always a sale at every store! the kids area used to be camp snoopy. i guess they've changed the theme. glad you all had a good time! and good asian food. which we have here.. all the time... at our finger tips... hehehe. i'm just being mean. =)