Our Staycation December 1st - 3rd

December 1st:

We went to pick out our tree. After choosing a saw and a sled, we headed up the hill and let Owen choose the type of conifer to cut down. He chose the most common type, and was adamantly apposed to the kind with long lighter green needles. Together we all chose the specific tree we wanted. James cut it down, and we toted it down the hill in the sled. Our tree was then shaken and wrapped in netting and tied into the trunk of our car. We enjoyed a hot cider in the warming house before leaving. We got our tree home and set it up and watered it. In the next few days after that we decorated it. It was all quite a bit nicer and easier then last year when we didn't have any idea what we were doing.

December 2nd:

We went to the zoo. It was mostly indoors and we had a good time walking through the tropics trail on a cold winter day. We stowed our coats in a locker, but when we got to the Minnesota trail we realized it was not climate controlled and the temperature was around 0 degrees. It was in a tunnel and out of the wind, and they had this paper with each animal listed and you find the embossing machine near each animal and emboss a picture of that animal on the paper. We decided to make a run for it and try to find each machine quickly. It was cold! After we finished we realized we had missed one! I sat by the fire place and sent Owen and James back out there to find the one missing animal. It was either that or every member of our nerdy family would be bothered all day by the incomplete paper. They were taking a long time so I met them at their exit door. It was then that I realized the last machine was behind a wooden post in my view but out of theirs. I was just about to open the door and yell to James that I found it when little Owen came racing around the corner, spotted the machine, and pulled James over to it. We made a big deal about how great it was that he found the last one for us. We were all able to sleep that night since our paper was fully embossed :-) Though we did get two of the large cats mixed up, so we weren't quite fully rested.



December 3rd:

One thing we've been wanting to do is tour the state capital. Minnesota has a beautiful state capital. I toured it in elementary school, but James had never seen it. Our tour guide was a little lame, and mostly talked about his low opinion of Jesse Ventura. From what I could gather, he didn't like the guy because he was never in his office. He did finally concede that Jesse brought a lot of business to the state both from Hollywood and from Japan. The building is gorgeous and James and I would like to go back and watch some state business taking place one day.