Adventures in Downtown Minneapolis

Our first day in downtown Minneapolis!  What shall we do today? Well, Daddy has already left for this interview this morning. It's not too far but it's also very cold outside. Can't believe he didn't even wear his thick jacket.  Should I really be sorry for him??!

Charlie is actually logging into class this morning. And Graham is suppose to be doing some homework but I'm not sure if he really is.  This is probably why he's facing the other way and not really letting me see what he's doing on his computer:

Looks like the boys are having dried cereal for breakfast and I've made some oatmeal for myself.  Thank goodness for the little area in the lobby that sells snacks and stuff.  And oh, no spoon so I'm eating my oatmeal with a fork.  Ha ha!

The view from our hotel room.  Looks nice and sunny at least for today:

We're going to be dressing in layers today:

After a quick delay with a bloody nose (Charlie's), we are finally ready to do a little walking to the river.  Oh, who knew the Mississippi river was all the way up here!

But first, boys are so excited to play with some leftover snow!  Just had to keep reminding them about "yellow snow":

So I thought it was just a quick Par 5... 20 minutes was what the map on my phone said.  Well, at least there were some cool things to see along the way:

Charlie's cheeks are getting so rosy from the cold:

We finally get to the Mill City Museum.  This is where General Mills got its start.  We only have 30 minutes since the Museum closes at 4pm.  This whole jacket on and jacket off thing is taking some time, especially when the boys have a tough time figuring out how to actually hang their jackets.  Guess they are having a tough time figuring out where the sleeves are vs the hoodie:

This outside portion of the museum actually blew open from a massive explosion!

What a view from up here:

Who knew flour dust could be dangerous.  This are what these machines are - huge dust vacuums to keep the dust intact:

Momma and her boys on their adventure :-)

Crazy to think this flour mill and/or brand name has been around for so many years. Since 1866!!

A lovely view by the Stone Arch Bridge.  It used to be a railroad track:

One last photo before leaving and meeting up Daddy for dinner:

Someone is sneaking around my back and throwing snowballs at me!

There's so much history along this street - flour and wool.  Although this old building is now senior housing/apartments:

Look how cute these little things are:

These were right in front of the Court House.  Just discovered that these are called "Rockman" by an artist named Tom Otterness (1999):

Graham and Charlie enjoyed roaming around this area, although all the grassy mounds are covered in tarps:

And across the street is the City Hall:

This building is massive and rock solid!!

Graham says it's like a building that belongs in a Harry Potter movie.  Ha ha!

The boys are tired and taking a quick break, while watching the light rail go by:

Okay, so it wasn't quite the Par 5 that I had expected.  Maybe under more normal circumstances... i.e. no snow and normal clothing, it would only take 20 minutes to get from our hotel to this other end of the city.  Quick photo op under some lit trees:

We are taking more breaks in between.  This time in the Minneapolis Tribune building. Ahhh.. nice and warm inside:

What a big globe!

And I told Graham and Charlie about these heaters by the bus stops... and look what happened:

Maybe Graham's beanie is too small??? But what a mess with his hair!

Another chance to get under another heat lamp at a bus stop.  Ha!

We meet up with Daddy at a fancy steak restaurant.  Are you kidding me about the sizes of these steaks??! Yikes!!

Bacon like we have never ever seen before!!

No crab cakes but lobster cakes instead.  Fancy stuff!

Check out this piece of steak!  Our leftovers actually fed our family and my sister and my brother-in-law a couple of days later:

What a meal! 

Charlie is finally learning how to use the fork and steak knife properly:

Graham is still falling asleep after dinners at restaurants.  I'm sure I have another photo of him like this somewhere else:

Oh... my... goodness!! Do you see the size of this chocolate cake??!

Graham and Charlie are being so silly.  Ha ha!

Thank goodness we have a little walk to digest our big meal.  Check out this awesome piano piece mural.  Woah!!

And looks like the boys told Daddy about their "heating stations" along the way.  And of course, Daddy didn't bring his big jacket again so he was obviously happy to stop:

Fun first day in downtown Minneapolis!  Stay tuned for Day 2 :-D