Labor Day, already?

Another 3 day weekend has come, and passed. I can't believe the unofficial end of summer has already graced us with its presence.

Typically, labor day is spent out in nature, or camping, or something adventurous like that. Not for the Palizzis. We prefer a different sort of adventure. The Mall of America.

Now for those of you that have never been before, let me just say it's massive. Like whoa, overwhelming, and CRAZY! Luckily we got there shortly after opening, so we were able to find a parking spot relatively easily. We got to park and enter at my favorite, favorite store, one that I miss so much. Nordstrom. I didn't get to shop much though, 2 kids, and an impatient husband will do that. But just being there, made me feel good. We also got something special outside of Nordstrom, See's Candy. Now I've heard rumblings that there is a store in Des Moines, I just haven't had the luck to find it. But after purchasing a pound of dark chocolates, we were good to go.

I have some friends, that I met online, FIVE years ago! On a parenting forum, for people due in March 2006. They live in the Mall of America's general vicinity, and I was lucky enough to meet up with them back in October of 2008! We were lucky enough to meet up with Ginger and her two girls at the Rain Forest Cafe! Which was super fun for the kids, and had delicious food! I got the nachos, which is an appetizer, but is huge! And Barry had fish tacos (No idea where that one came from, straight outta left field!) And the boys had good ol' Mac and Cheese and Chicken Nuggets. But they were good eaters, and ate quite a bit of their food.

Oh! Something I forgot to mention, Mall of America has an amusement park, INSIDE of the mall. Like a full fledged amusement park. And it's Nickelodeon themed! Which means all of the boys' favorites, Spongebob, Wonderpets, and Dora and her cousin Diego! They were stoked to see all of the decorations, and were able to ride 2 rides really quickly with absolutely no line! After lunch, it was a different story. We had 6 points (I guess it's like tickets)and waited FOREVER for the carousel. The boys were satisfied with their 3 rides, though Diego's rescue ride scared Gabe. Barry said he was shaking :( Poor baby.

They also have a LEGOS store. And I don't know what magically happened, but Legos? They're the shiz around here. The only thing Julian wants to play with, the only thing he wants to look at, when we go to Target. So a whole Legos store? Heaven for the kid. Apparently there's usually a HUGE store, with huge Lego figures and crazy things, but this store chocked full of Legos was enough to satisfy my little block head :)

Here are some pictures from our little trip-
The kids outside of Rainforest Cafe


Waiting in line for the aquarium


In the Aquarium, my little fish


At the touch tank




In Sharky's Treasure Chest