Minneopa State Park

We had to take Grandma Jan back to Iowa today, so Grandpa Walter offered to meet us in Mankato, the halfway point. We decided to take a quick mini-trip and stop at Minneopa State Park as part of the deal.

Minneopa gets its name from the dual water falls in the park - it literally means "water falling twice" in Dakota. Here's the upper falls.






And here is the larger, lower falls. A lady we talked to said this was a trickle compared to what it was earlier in the summer when we had a lot of rain.


The other part of the park is a beautiful prairie and an old mill that was built by hand in the early 1860s. Here are some photos of it.



Behind the mill was a scenic overlook of the Minneopa Creek valley.




There also happened to be a bench at the scenic overlook, so we took these pictures of us.








Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

The Sculpture Garden

Some of you might remember when we last visited the sculpture garden here, but Mom and Dad were surprised to find out that we didn't really remember it. Then they realized that it had been more than six years since we were last there. So, we went!

Here we are in front of the cherry and spoon bridge!


Cameron took pictures of everything!


This is actually our reflection in the art!













Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron

Mall of America with My Daddy

My Daddy took me to Mall of America because we had to meet Aunt Michelle and Uncle Jayson to get some beef. We got there a little early and did some shopping.

The first place we visited was the American Girl Doll store. It was awesome.


I had my picture taken with Kanani!


We then went to the LEGO shop! But, we didn't find anything.


Eventually, I got a Minnie Mouse pillow at the Disney Store, which I carried all by myself through the whole mall!



Love,
Ainsley

Minnehaha Falls

Mom and Dad have been taking us on little, mini trips lately. This morning, we went to Minnehaha Falls. It's where Minnehaha Creek goes over some big falls and heads to the Mississippi River. It was pretty neat.

First, we went and saw the historical sites near the top of the falls.




Then, we went down the many, many stairs to the bottom of the falls.


We then headed down the path that runs along the creek toward the Mississippi.





Eventually, the path leads to a very shallow area that you can go play in!





Like we said, it was pretty cool!



Love,
Ainsley, Ben and Cameron