Carrie & Crew: Valentine's Day and Mall of America

We had a busy weekend! On Valentine's morning, the kids were anxious to celebrate the holiday and were awake faster than we were. As is tradition in our house, the kids each were given a heart-shaped lollipop! Of course, they were excited to attempt to eat them!

We usually give the kids a gift of some sort on Valentine's Day and this year was no different. Our surprise to them was a small karaoke set with two microphones. The kids were thrilled and we have been serenaded with their solos and duets many times. Thank goodness for the volume control.... Since my parents are spending some time in Texas and Arizona and we didn't score another babysitter on Valentine's Day, we enjoyed a family dinner out instead of a date just for two. Mark, the kids and I all got dressed up and went out for a nice meal at local restaurant on a lake. Ella and James were on their best behavior and used their very best manners during the meal. Though, Ella was unable to eat very much... While munching on some garlic toast, her other really loose tooth became so loose that she wasn't able to take normal bites anymore. The tooth managed to stay in her mouth for the rest of the evening and at about 2 a.m. Isabella appeared in our room and woke us from a deep sleep by proclaiming her tooth had just fallen out! It was an exciting end to a busy day!

Below is a pic of the kids dressed up and performing one of their greatest hits!

We've been talking about spending some time at the Mall of America and Sunday seemed like a perfect day for this little adventure. We met up with our friends, Jenny and Kate, to take in some rides at the indoor amusement park. Here's a photo of our brave riders on the kiddie roller coaster. If you look close, you can see the bigger hole in Ella's new smile.

Here is a blurry shot I caught as our crew was flying by on the coaster. James loved this ride! So did Mark.... : )

While Mark and Ella were off taking in some of the bigger rides, Jenny and I took Kate and James on a few tamer rides.

Ella continues to be a daredevil and is very anxious to go on any ride for which she is tall enough. At 42" she can ride many of the rides as long as Mark accompanies her. Mark took her on

the 'Fairly Odd Coaster" and the "Pepsi Orange Streak". She also rode the "Splat O Sphere" by herself. She would have loved to ride the upside down coaster, but she is just not tall enough yet... thank goodness!!

Our adventures at the Mall of America continued as we did a little window shopping (we actually didn't buy anything but tickets and food while we were there!). We ended our time at the MOA by going to Underwater World. Both kids have been there before, but didn't remember it too well. James really liked watching most of the fish swim by...