MEA Done Right
For the not in Minnesota, this weekend is MEA, the annual teacher's convention when everyone gets 2 days off school. Many families use the 4-day weekend for vacation, but Beatrix had circus, so we decided to stay closer to home so she would not miss anything.
Thursday we did a Harry Potter themed puzzle room at Trapped Puzzle Rooms. It was a ton of fun – the 3rd one we've done since August (if you include Cabal). We solved it (with a little extra time) and then celebrated with a quick dinner at Smack Shack. Seafood plus a puzzle room = win!
Yesterday we did go on a trip – a day trip to Wisconsin! We stopped for bagels at a cute place in Hudson, then spent the morning at various thrift stores and vintage places in River Falls. They have a ton of fun places, from cheap thrift stores benefitting hospice care and battered women to upcycle places (also a fantastic cupcake place).
The high point, though, was stopping to see our friends James and Heather at Fox Den Books. We got to know them when they used to also run Sixth Chamber Books on Grand, but they lost that space due to the (stupid) gentrification of the avenue (more on that in some other post later). The store is an amazing mix of new and used books, toys, and wonderful games. The owners are amazing people and we miss them sooooooo much. Highly recommended!
From there we drove back roads to visit our friends Kelly and Laura in Menomonie. I've known Kelly forever, and they often have fantastic parties, but we very rarely get them to ourselves. We had a delicious fish fry lunch at Waterfront, and then headed back to their place to hang out in the hot tub and chat – until we realized that we only had an hour to get back to Saint Paul for circus class, so we took off quickly without a picture, gave up on the couple of taprooms we had had thoughts of stopping at, and drove very fast back to the Twin Cities, making it just in time (ok, a little late so Beatrix had to do extra jumping jacks for warm-up, but close enough).
The weekend has had extra bonuses already including the Just/Us preview party at Flat Earth Brewing, a night at the Summit house, and donuts. We have a million errands to do, and Beatrix is headed down to Saint Olaf with my aunt and uncle to see a play. All in all, it's been an extraordinarily successful MEA weekend!
Thursday we did a Harry Potter themed puzzle room at Trapped Puzzle Rooms. It was a ton of fun – the 3rd one we've done since August (if you include Cabal). We solved it (with a little extra time) and then celebrated with a quick dinner at Smack Shack. Seafood plus a puzzle room = win!
Yesterday we did go on a trip – a day trip to Wisconsin! We stopped for bagels at a cute place in Hudson, then spent the morning at various thrift stores and vintage places in River Falls. They have a ton of fun places, from cheap thrift stores benefitting hospice care and battered women to upcycle places (also a fantastic cupcake place).
The high point, though, was stopping to see our friends James and Heather at Fox Den Books. We got to know them when they used to also run Sixth Chamber Books on Grand, but they lost that space due to the (stupid) gentrification of the avenue (more on that in some other post later). The store is an amazing mix of new and used books, toys, and wonderful games. The owners are amazing people and we miss them sooooooo much. Highly recommended!
From there we drove back roads to visit our friends Kelly and Laura in Menomonie. I've known Kelly forever, and they often have fantastic parties, but we very rarely get them to ourselves. We had a delicious fish fry lunch at Waterfront, and then headed back to their place to hang out in the hot tub and chat – until we realized that we only had an hour to get back to Saint Paul for circus class, so we took off quickly without a picture, gave up on the couple of taprooms we had had thoughts of stopping at, and drove very fast back to the Twin Cities, making it just in time (ok, a little late so Beatrix had to do extra jumping jacks for warm-up, but close enough).
The weekend has had extra bonuses already including the Just/Us preview party at Flat Earth Brewing, a night at the Summit house, and donuts. We have a million errands to do, and Beatrix is headed down to Saint Olaf with my aunt and uncle to see a play. All in all, it's been an extraordinarily successful MEA weekend!
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