Happy Fathers Day

Happy Father's Day, to my husband, a wonderful and loving Dad!

We went camping over the weekend (more on camping later in the week).

On our way home, on Sunday, I wake up to my husband making a stop at Minnehaha Falls.

I have never visited Minnehaha Falls.  There are actually many 'tourist' places in Minnesota that are on my list to visit. I was so tired.  We were up the majority of the night before, camping is a thunder storm, and then I  woke to a flat air mattress at who knows what time, but we were up, breakfast was eaten and by the time I looked at the clock it was only around 9am.  So I know I didn't get much sleep.  So when I woke up in the car, and saw we were at Minnehaha Falls, I was torn.  I was so exhausted, didn't think it was possible to get up and walk around.  I figured I'd get over it soon, so we drove around trying to find a parking spot.  All the meter spots were full.  There were plenty of patron parking lots open. Then we found a public parking lot.  Park and walk in.  We notice a machine, to pay $0.75 per hour, for parking.  I put a dollar in, and got my quarter change, and my three year old is right there, asking for my change, so I give it to him.  Then he wants to put it in the machine, so I let in, and the quarter comes right out...he does that for a few times and then I say, come on, let's go check out the falls.

The sights were beautiful!

According to MinneapolisParks.org, Minnehaha Park is one of Minneapolis' oldest and most popular parks, attracting over 850,000 thousand visitors annually. The 193-acre park features a 53-foot waterfall, limestone bluffs and river overlooks. The park contains oak, elm, silver maple, basswood, hackberry and cottonwood trees, as well as native and prairie woodland wild flowers.

We all enjoyed our day, even tho I was a bit paranoid someone was going to fall into the falls.

We had been eyeing how fun the family bikes looked, so we rented a Single Surray at Wheel Fun Rental. 

Yes, it was fun, but NOT as EASY as it appeared.  Holy Moly, it was a work out.  I didn't want to steer and brake, so I held the baby.  The kids had so much fun.  Austin really wished he could have pedaled (I did too), but he just wasn't tall enough.  Next time...if there is a next time.

It was a warm day, and we weren't so prepared, since we were just camping.  Nelson was wearing a sweatshirt...any way, we were pleased to see the ice cream man, and get a refreshing treat.

After sometime, we decided it was time to head home.  As we load up our van, someone is waiting for our parking spot, so we try to rush.  I notice something on our windshield, I grab it and the we leave.  Quickly we realize it is a parking violation.  I was quite confused.  I say, but we paid! So we are discussing, well, how do they know we paid? How do they know anyone paid? Then we try to figure out how long we were at the park.  Oh, we only paid for one hour, I say, it's 5:42, we are 42 minutes over. If we only would have put in $1.50 we would have been covered! I was still so confused as to how they knew we only paid for one hour and not two...when Dave says, we were probably suppose to put something on our dash, showing we paid.  So we pull over, I dig in my purse to find a ticket that may have came out of the machine, when I put in my dollar.  Sure enough, and in bold letters it says "PLACE FACE UP ON DASH". Ugh, so now we have  $40 violation ticket.  Not sure what to do.  We did pay for parking, but then we ended up staying longer than what we paid for.  I think I'll give them a call and see what we can do to resolve this problem.

Either way, we enjoyed a wonderful day, together as a family, on Father's Day.

We made memories, that the kids will cherish.