Snow storms and Minneapolis Trip

My initial intention of opening this blog was to share my crafting activities only... but then I find it kinda impossible not to share some personal activities since I can't check e-groups as much as I can. So once in a while, you'll find stories that are not craft related.

This is the first winter since I came here to US that we suffered on multiple snow/ice storms. Hubby had to stay 4 times (2x by himself, last 2x with me) at the hotel where he works just to make sure he can report to work ok. He even had to miss SIL's birthday party on December 1st, 2007 as we had our first storm that day, followed by December 10th, then December 23rd and January 1st. Yes, We had to abandoned our house on January 1st as hubby doesn't wanna start the year not reporting to work. We had 2 more storms recently but hubby just called in sick on one and made it ok to work on the last.

I usually take care of our dear Katie (SIL's daughter) every weekend, as always. On January 19th, SIL told me that Katie will have her bi-annual medical check-up in Minneapolis on January 21st, noon time. Her initial plan was to just drive-up there early morning and come back home right away after the check-up. But we're about to have another snow storm on January 21st so SIL decided to go up to MN on the 20th, and asked me if I wanna go with them as she wanna drop by at "The Mall of America" before checking-in to the hotel. Even though it was a cold and windy trip, we all had fun and I really enjoyed it. That was the first time I've been to that mall and I can't resist the bargains... lol But who doesn't like shopping, right ladies? We hit Disney store (Katie's fave), Nordstrom and Marshalls. After grabbing as much stuffs as I can on the last 2 stores mentioned, I called it quits... or I'll be broke. lol I got me a black/gray dress pants, some spring & summer tops, and a formal knitted sweatshirt for hubby. But most of the stuffs I got are actually for Katie (her birthday is on April). She can't resist High School Musical stuffs, as she's so into it at the moment and I was lucky to find jeans and tops at Marshalls. SIL looked for some specific stuffs at the mall and by the time we're done shopping, it was almost 7:30PM already. Btw, we reached the mall at about 2:30PM. We had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe, too bad we didn't able to take some photos while in there. It was a really neat restaurant, for young and adults who loves adventure and wildlife. Every 5 minutes or so, the Gorilla's and other animals on the walls and cieling moves. The cafe got their own store too, mostly souvenir items... and you don't expect us to leave without even looking, right? Well, we didn't just look actually as we got some slippers/thongs that me and SIL couldn't resist. lol As SIL said, those rubber slippers are perfect for her trip to Miami, Florida this coming March. She'll gonna attend a convention there, but will prolong her stay for a week vacation. Anyways, it was past 8:30PM when we finally headed out of the mall and some entry/exit doors were already closed, including the one we enter. lol We had to approach a security guard so we can find our way to our car... How embarassing was that? But we were all laughing once we finally found our car... lol It still makes me smile just thinking about it. It was a truly adventurous shopping day. It was already past 9PM when we checked-in to our hotel.

But then our shopping escapade wasn't ovet yet, as SIL said before we went to bed that there's a nice Target Store near the hospital and we can got there after breakfast before heading to the hospital. Again, who can resist that temptation...? lol We had an agreement though that we'll gonna get-up late coz we need a good rest after all our activities at the mall. We woke up past 8AM, had shower then headed to the hotel cafe and ate breakfast there. We checked-out at about 9:30AM and headed to Target. We passed an Asian Community (as in entire street were all Asian stores and there's even a Filipino store) on our way to Target. Again, once at target, I found and got a bunch of stuffs for Katie as part of her birthday gifts, like 2-sets of PJ's (both High School Musical), a Hello Kitty shirt (pink with blinking lights on the front), and a Zac Efron or "Troy" doll (for those of you who doesn't know Zac, he's the male lead star at HSM as Troy). Our dear Katie believes that troy is her boyfriend...:)

Regions Hospital is just about 10-15 minutes away from Target, and got in there at about noontime... As what SIL told me, the said hospital specializes on cerebral palsy (and yes, Katie has a cerebral palsy). The check-up went smoothly, and the Doctors advised SIL that Katie can start to have just a yearly check-up at Regions from now on. Katie's botox injections and repairs of braces (if necessary) are all done here in Iowa. It was about 3:15PM when we finally headed back home. We thought that the snow storm was over but it seems like it just started when we're back in the road. SIL said we'll gonna spend another night at a hotel if the roads are too bad. The interstate road was clear so we decided to proceed with the original plan and go home. It was almost 10:30PM when SIL and Katie dropped me home, and I was surprised hubby was at home. I was thinking he stayed at the hotel again as the roads in our countryside were awful. He decided to take an emergency leave anyway coz it's impossible for him to make it to work that night.

Well guys, I hope you didn't get bored reading my long post. I'm in a chatty mood this morning so please bear with me.:) Have a great day everybody...