Awesome. Park.

Since moving here to Minnesooda (I've been trying to analyze the phonetics of how native Minnesotans say "Minnesota" and that's the closest I've been able to come) I've heard about the cool park system they have.  When we first got here, going outside was like stepping into the devil's bathroom after his shower.  It was miserably hot and humid--record breakingly so.  Oh.  And the devil had mosquitos.

Ok.  Maybe that metaphor isn't working.  But it was blasted hot and the mosquitos were unbearable.  By mid-July it started mellowing out and the August weather has been absolutely delightful--low to mid 70's most days with the occasional 80.

So it was time to try out a park.  I had heard that French Park was nice so we started there.  I don't know if we started at the top and are now going to be disappointed with all the rest, or if every park is this fantabulous.  But we had a rockin' time.  There was a little something for everyone:

A ginormous "big kid" play structure for Benjamin and Ainsley

A sand digger for Mede

A slide, a swing, and a cute, nameless new friend for Katie

Fruit snacks for Kimber

A shady front-pack for Brynn

A clean, indoor bathroom and drinking fountain for Mom (the building on the left....you have to shuffle the kids past a concession stand, but I'd take the smell of popcorn over porta-potty any day...even if I do have to field a bunch of "Mom, can we get this?'s"!)

We were packing up and getting ready to go home when we saw this little beauty waiting for us in the parking lot:

A tram to take us who knew where.

We had no idea where the tram went but it was free and parked at an official-looking shuttle stop.  I figured that, if nothing else, it would at least do a loop and bring us back to our truck if we stayed on it.

It turns out that it tooks us here.....



To the beach!

I think if it were warmer than 70, it would have been quite crowded.  As it was, however, there were just a few kids wading in the water.  It was perfect for a quick dip o' the toes.  There was also a fishing pier and a place to rent canoes and kayaks.  Turns out you can also rent GPSes (what's the plural?) for geocaching.  And, of course, this being Mini-soda, there was the obligatory lily-pad filled pond to go along with it all.

We caught the tram back to our parked car and had a 14 minute drive back home--perfect for a mom in the "gotta get home before my toddler falls asleep" race.

Hats off to the Three River Parks District. We can't wait to see what else you have in store for us!