Minnesota: Summer of 2017

For the past three years, Tim's family has had a Werder Family Reunion near the end of July. This is always a great time catching up with family! As an added bonus, we head over to Minneapolis a day early for a stop at the Mall of America. 

 This mall has such great shopping. The end of July is a perfect time to be here, as we are (just barely) beginning to think of clothing needs for back to school.

 When the Ninja Turtles are out, of course you need to stop and say hello!

 Snapchat filters are the coolest.

 We're walking along, and Mallorys said, "Hey, Mom! Look! They have a Tim Hortons!" WHAT?! As if I needed another reason to like this place. 

 #gimmetimmys

 If you know Mallory at all, you know that's she is not a hugger. (Like me.) Looks like she's going to hug Spongebob, doesn't it? Didn't happen. ;)

 We *might* have struck a deal. Let us take your picture with Spongebob - she detests having her picture taken with characters - and we'll get you and your brother Twilight Passes for the rides. SOLD!

 These are two very happy kids right here. We have never taken the plunge on the Nickelodeon Universe rides for several reasons. I'm really glad we did, though. The Twilight Pass was a decent deal, and the kids had so much fun! With so much riding experience from Six Flags, these two are amusement part pros. They appreciated that every ride was smooth. :)

 It felt like date night to us! See you at the exit, kids! #myfavoriteguyrightthere

 Our kids are up there somewhere. Eeek!

 As if I didn't already have enough steps for the day, I ran upstairs to snap a quick picture of Isaiah and Mallory on the log ride.

 There they go! 

 Again - up there somewhere!

 Front row! Oh, yeah.

 They look bored, don't they? They didn't realize that they needed to use the controller in the middle to flip upside down. Much more fun the second time after they figured this out. 

 Only ones on the ride! Woot woot!

 Closed the place down! Isaiah and Mallory were on the last ride of the night for Spongebob.

 Day 2 - begin with Timmy's.

 Tim has a friend that lives near the cities. It was great to catch up with Stefan! He was able to join us for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. Isaiah was PUMPED. He has this thing for buffalo sauce right now.

 Mallory loves cats!

Saturday afternoon was the family reunion. It is held at Sibley State Park in New London, Minnesota. The picnic shelter is fantastic. We learned last year that it even works well for a large group in the rain. I have one - very precious, see below - picture from the reunion. I left my phone in the car, so it would not be a distraction. I am kicking myself, though, because my phone is how I take pictures. Next year - more pictures.

 I love this picture of Isaiah. He was just chilling on the wall, enjoying being outside. :)

We stayed the night in Willmar, so we could take Tim's grandmother to church on Sunday morning. It is so nice to have the opportunity to pick her up and bring her there. Watching her greet and visit with all of her friends is the absolute sweetest. 

After church - a quick lunch at Hardee's. 

{Saturday Breakfast} WeatherVane

On Saturday, July 15th, the Wheel of Breakfast directed us to WeatherVane in Menasha. This restaurant is in a great location. Parking was easy, and the restaurant itself is nestled in a cute little spot. 

We were seated right away, so they certainly have efficient service. We asked a question of the menu, and the person who seated us and took our drink order answered with, "I'm not sure. I'm just a helper." Um, okay.

How was the coffee, though? It was pretty good! 

Mallory and Isaiah have a summer reading challenge courtesy of teacher-mom. Mallory checked off Read in a Restaurant while she waited for her food.

Isaiah enjoyed the view by the window. WeatherVane really is a nice place inside! It was great to sit by the window on such a beautiful day.

The food didn't take too terribly long to arrive. We passed on the buffet and ordered from the menu. While it was not overly crowded, we observed people from most tables also passed on the buffet.

The food looked great, and honestly it tasted pretty good. There were a couple of things - besides the "helper" not being helpful - that were eyebrow raising to us. First, the ratio of food was TOTALLY off. It's hard to tell in this picture, but we were served about 3/4 of our plate LOADED with hash browns. I've been to three other restaurants that always give me three eggs when I order two. At WeatherVane, you only get the two eggs that you ordered. I get that, but they were really small eggs. 

The other say what?! moment was that Tim ordered his eggs hard scrambled, but the waitress brought him eggs over hard. We pointed this out to the waitress, and she took to the plate away to correct this. Unfortunately, she returned almost as if she had walked to the kitchen and turned right around to come back to our table. I say unfortunately because we suspect they dumped the over hard eggs and served Tim eggs off the buffet instead of fresh hard scrambled eggs. Boo to you, WeatherVane. That is not cool.

Leftover hashbrowns for d...a...y...s...

Care for some jelly on your toast? I hope you like Blackberry. That was the only option at our table and the empty tables around us. I know because I checked. 

Well, the food was decent. The restaurant itself is pretty. Would we go back? Maybe, but we won't be running back.

Ambience - 5 out of 5

Easy parking, great location, and updated decor.

Food - 3 out of 5

Tasty, but please get the proportions figured out. And seriously, don't replace menu ordered food with a scoop of eggs from the buffet. Oh, one more thing - put out some strawberry jelly already!

Service - 2 out of 5 

Thanks for seating us right away and apologizing for getting the eggs wrong. Perhaps the helpers could be a little more helpful and you could make some fresh food when that's what we ordered, mmm-kay?

Speed - 3 out of 5

Rushing out not fresh eggs actually hurt here, WeatherVane. We would prefer to wait longer for fresh food. (I am really sore over Tim's egg mix-up.)

Cost - 3 out of 5

We felt like this was a little pricey.

Final Rating ~ 2 Breakfast Platters out of 5

~ becky

{Saturday Breakfast} Golden Basket Restaurant

Technology can be so much fun. We have decided to use a random selector app for our Saturday morning family breakfast. The wheel that we spin on the app is full of restaurants that serve breakfast in the Fox Valley area. After only one week, we can already tell how fun this will be to check out some places we've never eaten...and some with which we are familiar.

Our Saturday, July 8th selection was Golden Basket Restaurant on Richmond Street in Appleton. 

Our initial reaction was kind of, "Um, okay. Well, let's give this a chance." Isn't that what you would think if you walked on broken down cardboard boxes where the concrete sidewalk was all busted up at the entrance?

We were seated right away and greeted by a very friendly waitress. We perused the menu for a bit, and then we placed our order. Mallory and I played Uno while we waited - not too long at all - for our food.

And I drank coffee. (Of course.)

Wowza! Check out those strawberry pancakes! The kids meals didn't seem to have much food included for a growing child's appetite, so Isaiah and Mallory ordered adult style this time.

Mmmm...bacon... As Wolfgang Puck once said on Master Chef Jr., "Bacon is always good." (You know you just read that in his very cool accent. Wolfgang Puck is awesome!)

In an effort to make a fair comparison of breakfast eats in the Fox Valley, I'm going to try to order a similar meal at each place we check out - 2 eggs over easy, American fries, bacon, and toast. With refills on my coffee. Coffee? Did someone say coffee?

Hard scramble and sausage for this guy!

Well, we totally enjoyed our meal. Would we go back? Sure! But first, we have many other places to check out. Stay tuned!

Ambience - 2 out of 4 

Get the entrance sidewalk fixed, please. The inside could use an update, as well.

Food - 3 out of 4 

Not bad! We noticed the pancakes were drastically different sizes. The presentation was just a bit off.

Service - 4 out of 4 

Super service!

Speed - 4 out of 4 

We barely finished two hands of Uno before our food arrived.

Cost - 3 out of 4 

Reasonable, though I feel like the Kid's Menu could use some work. If only more places would follow McDonald's lead and have a Big Kid's Menu. A 2 year old eats way differently than a 10 year old. 

Final Rating ~ 3 Breakfast Platters out of 5

~ becky

Light It Up Blue

Today is Autism Awareness Day. Isaiah was wondering what he should wear for Sunday School this morning, so I reminded him about his Batman Autism shirt. His response? "But I don't like Autism." Well, buddy, I don't like that life throws challenges your way, but that's going to happen with or without Autism. I love who you are - Autism and all. I love that you thrive on routine and schedule. I love that you remind us to look at the world a little differently. We would miss out on so much without you there to bring it to our attention. I love that you care so much about the feelings of other people. You are as honest as the day is long, and you would never hurt a fly. Can I just mention that it is so much fun to teach you about figurative language! You truly see the humor in it! 

Do I wish you didn't have to live with Autism? Yes, I do. Am I confident that you are a rock star and one of the coolest kids that I know? YES. 

Our first take at a picture was the forced Chandler Bing-like someone is taking my picture smile. (Remember the episode of Friends when Chandler and Monica had engagement pictures taken? Hilarious!)

But then he sneezed. 

That gave us the relaxed, laughing grin that we see on this kid's face every day. 

While Autism Awareness Day is officially today, we're aware every day. Please take the time to talk with your loved ones - children and adults - about acceptance, understanding, and love. 

~ Becky