Up From Indiana

What is better than hanging out with your parents all the time?

Hanging out with your cousins!

Just last week my cousins, Molly and Finn, came up with my Aunt Amy for a visit. I hadn't seen them is so long. The last time I saw them I wasn't even walking!

They arrived on Saturday, and we all headed over to the Como Zoo to see the sights, but the rain wouldn't let up, so instead, we went to the Mall of America. We didn't do any shopping; we just had fun in the amusement park inside.

We all rode on the merry-go-round together with my Mommy and Daddy.

Aunt Amy took pictures from the sidelines because she gets sick when she spins in circles.

Molly, Finn, and I have no problems spinning, though.

Finn can even do it while looking backwards. Too cool!

Molly had fun, too. She sat next to me and made sure that I held on.

There was a lot to see and do there. Finn got some new Thomas toys at the store near the merry-go-round.

We all got to use the potty there, and I got to help Daddy flatten pennies for his collection. We made lots of cool ones, with Minnesota animals on them and neat stuff like that.



Even though Aunt Amy gets icky when going in circles, she still went on the air ballon ride, which went in lots of circles. She seemed to like it though.

Molly and Finn rode together on the train in the center of the park.

They sat and talked to a little boy the whole time.




We all had dinner at a neat place called Johnny Rockets. We sat at a table overlooking the park and had hamburgers and milkshakes.

I had so much fun hanging out with them.

That night they slept over at our house. Molly and Finn got to camp out on the floor in Daddy's office, and I had to sleep in my own room because I'm still just a little guy, but soon, we'll get to all sleep on the floor in our sleeping bags just like my Daddy and Aunt Amy did with their cousins when they were little kids. I can't wait.

Even though we slept in different rooms, it didn't keep us from staying up late. It was lots of fun getting ready for bed. We brushed our teeth together, got our PJs on at the same time, we even got to do tub-time together.

(Daddy added the extra bubbles for modesty.)

We had lots of fun. We must have because there was more water on the floor than in the tub when we were done.

The next day, after my cousins got back from visiting Cousin Liz at her new house, where they had lunch and got to play in the garden with her, we all went to the Como Zoo.

This time the rain cleared up by the time we got there. I've been to the Zoo before but it was extra fun because I got to go on more rides because we all rode together.

Our first ride was on the sports car ride. We all drove. As you can see, Finn really liked it.

Eventually, Molly and I just sat back and enjoyed the view of the open road while Finn drove.

Then we headed over to another ride. This one was a magic carpet ride with genies and stuff.

This time I rode up front with Finn so we could talk about guy stuff. You know, boogers and things.

Besides, Molly seemed to be in her own conversation with the genie.

And then, Finn and I found this cool button. He dared me to push it. I, of course, did, and the whole ride shut down...

Just kidding, nothing happened. We just went in circles again.

We actually did go see the animals before the park closed. We saw those tall thingys again and the polar bears and the zebras and the lions and the ostrich and the leopards and the monkeys...no wait, that was Finn climbing around. He's cool.

We saw a bunch more animals and then we went home.

The whole visit was great fun, and I missed my Aunt Amy and Molly and Finn after they left. I kept looking for them all day, but they were on the long ride back to Indiana.

Hopefully, they'll get to come visit again, and we can do even more fun stuff up here.