Just A Word of Advice

Do NOT go to the Mall of America on a weekend between Halloween and New Year's.

The girls and I stopped in there today and it was INSANE! (So much for the recession) I have never seen it so busy- and it was my "main mall" for 10 years! All the ramps and parking around the building itself was full- we had to park in overflow by IKEA. We could barely walk through the halls.

I'm not sure how it happened but Brenna honed in on Friends 2B Made almost as soon as we walked in and she walked out with a new "friend" named "Pretty Girl". I have to admit that it is a very cute store. Like Build A Bear (it's parent company) you choose your "friend", stuff it, style it, and create a certificate. Brenna especially liked the salon chairs, hair dryers and curling irons.

After that things just went downhill. No restaurants in the MOA take reservations and wait times (at 2pm) were up to 2 hours. No kidding. Of course that was at the theme restaurants like Rainforest Cafe and Bubba Gumps. The lines were super long in the crappy food court, too.

Luckily the California Cafe, a more "fancy" restaurant, had no wait. And the food there is actually good. The kids meals come in a bento box. It's great presentation.

After lunch we made a run through Nordstrom so I could special order a couple of bras (apparently 32H isn't a popular size) and Hot Topic so Alex could make the trip worthwhile.

Now we are relaxing in the hotel room and waiting for some of my friends to visit.

IKEA is on schedule for tomorrow- then the drive home.