Mama is Emma's Mama: Spring Break

Things have been pretty slow and quite, but busy and hectic at the same time.

This past week has been especially nice. Jared had spring break, so we spent a few days in Cresco, well, to be more precise, we slept a few nights in Cresco.

We headed to Cresco on Saturday morning, then just hung out on Saturday and Sunday. Monday Jared, Emma, Gramma and I went to Rochester, MN to stop at the teacher store (which is actually called ABC Toy Zone)

and to see the Triceratops Skeleton that was on display.

We got to Rochester just in time for lunch, and decided to eat at Olive Garden.

It was kinda a cruel place for us to eat lunch considering Emma and I have been on a gluten and dairy free diet for just under 2 weeks at that point. Long story, which some of it can be read about here (it's a long post, and I need to update it).

After lunch (Emma and I had salad, the minestrone soup minus the shell noodles, and sauted shrimp and scallops), we went over to the teacher store. We call it the teacher store because Gramma has shopped there for years, and well, she's a teacher. The store has a great selection of toys, games, Lego, and other fun stuff as well as a huge selection of teaching tools.

Before leaving for Rochester, I told Emma she could use $10 from her savings account to get something (it had been a while since she had the opportunity to buy something for herself). She also managed to earn an extra $5 from Gramma. I wish someone would give me a quarter for every little bit of helping out I do.

So, with $15 dollars burning a hole in her purse and a HUGE selection of model horses, Emma was set. Da, being the wonderful father that he is, spent a large chunk of our time at the teacher store helping Emma with her math.

If you happen to have walked by the Schleich or Papo isle, this is along the lines of what you would have heard.
E- "If I get this horse and this horse, that would cost... $8. How much would I have left?"
D- "8, 9, 10..."
E- "$7!"

Needless to day there was much debating over which horse to purchase. She had it all figure out, then discovered the clearance horses at the back of the store and so they had to head back to the horse section.

We spent an hour and twenty minutes at the teacher store. Quite a bit of learning happened. Emma ended up with 2 clearance horses, and one full price unicorn foal. She was a happy girl.

Which is good, because we never made it to check out the triceratops. By the time we finished at the teacher store, we needed to head for Cresco so that we could make it to Auntie Sara's for dinner.

On Tuesday, Jared and I headed to Milwaukee, WI (a 5 hour trip, one way) so that he could ride at Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park. We got sushi for dinner so I was a happy girl :) All in all, we were gone about 16 1/2 hours. We thought about staying overnight, but Emma has been super clingy lately still, so we figured she would be happier if we were there when she woke up.

She called at one point to ask if we could be gone all the next day too. She liked having Gramma all to herself.

So, on Wednesday Jared and I headed to Dechora (about 30 minutes away) to check out their Coop grocery store, and their sushi. I love sushi, and Jared does too now. Makes me happy.

Not quite 16+ hours, but Emma was still happy get Gramma all to herself.

Then we came home on Thursday. I would love to post some pictures of our spring break, but I don't think we took any.

Wait, I found some pictures!