Spearing and Shopping

Two weekends ago Rustin and I parted ways for an extended weekend. He was invited to go up north on a 'men only' spearing trip. There's a reason why it's a men only thing. He took the camera, so unfortunately there are no cute pictures of Grace in the Cities. We left at noon on Saturday and met Michelle at our hotel. We stayed at the Embassy Suites by the Mall of America. I would recommend it, especially if you have kids. Grace slept the best she ever has at a motel because each room has two rooms in it. She felt like she was in her own little. As we arrived it started snowing and didn't quit until Monday evening. Thankfully not much accumulated, but it made for unfun traffic. We ate supper at TGIFridays and then went to the mall for the rest of the evening. On Sunday we arrived at church and met many old friends and quite a few surprise visitors. Grace did pretty good in the morning and was a crab in the afternoon. Pretty typical. She needs her sleep just like her mom. After church we hunted down a Target in the area. We went back to the mall in the evening. On Monday we had a full day planned, so we got up at 6 with Grace and started getting ready. I should comment on the complimentary breakfast they offer every day. There are about 6 different stations filled with fruit and breakfast food. They have a chef who will cook you an omelet to order or pancakes or whatever you want. In the evening they have a happy hour with a spread of snacks and veggies. We were well fed. There were 9 or 10 floors and our room was on the 5th floor. Grace loved to go into the hall. It overlooked the lobby, restaurant and tables set up for breakfast and happy hour. There were many trees and plants and ponds mixed in the setup also. The only negative was that Grace, if not watched closely, could slip through the bars, so she didn't get to spend as much time in the hall as she would've liked. It was nice to have Michelle along to help with Grace duty. After breakfast we went to Rosedale Shopping Center. It is located in northern Minneapolis. It was a nice, less crowded, mall. I was going to take Grace up to say hi to Santa, but when we were about 30 feet away, she was tensing up so I decided not to push it. We ate lunch at Ruby Tuesdays and then travelled to the Somali Mall. It is located in downtown Minneapolis, so we didn't want to get there too late in the day. We felt fairly safe as we entered the gated shopping area. It was very different than I had imagined. We wound through a long hallway and arrived at the store, greeted by an eager saleswoman. We looked through the many skirt racks as the women would hover around and speak to each other. Who knows what they were saying! We noticed that if you picked up a skirt that said size large, it actually looked like it would fit a size small person. When you wanted to try on a skirt they ushered you into their booth and pulled a flimsy curtain and sat and watched you commenting how good the skirt looked. After a half hour of looking around and being pestered, we left with one skirt. It was a neat experience for me, but I don't know if I will have to go again. We went to another shopping center on the west side of the Cities. By the time we were leaving the snow was falling harder and rush hour was starting. It took a little over an hour to get to our motel where usually it takes 20-30 minutes. I was tired so we decided to order in pizza. Tuesday morning we didn't get down to breakfast in time so we travelled around for a LONG time trying to find a Denny's. We finally found one and the breakfast was delicious. We were going to shop at IKEA but decided we didn't know how the roads would be, so we parted ways. Grace and I stopped in Willmar to pick up her 1 year photos and do some more Christmas shopping. (I'm almost done!) Michelle drove through rain and snow almost the whole way, so it's good we left when we did. Grace and I slept good that night.

Rustin didn't leave til Sunday after church. They drove through snow up to a resort. (I don't know which one.) They arrived late but stayed up late buying groceries and playing games.



This is Rustin's catch after a whole day of spearing. That's from 9 til 4 or 5. They set up these spear houses and each of them sits in his own house with a propane heater all day by hisself. I don't think too many women would want to torture themselves this way.




This is Rustin's catches for Tuesday. Two 7 pounders and one 5 pounder. It was a little more of an exciting day for him. Every night for supper they eat fish. They each brought a bunch home, so I get to try my hand at making fish.



In case you didn't know, this is what a spear hook looks like. They lure the fish into their hole with some sort of bait and then stab them with this hook.



Here's Rustin and the Guys.

This past weekend church was cancelled because of the snowing and blowing. We called into Tremont and had a very relaxing day at home. I'm kind of holing up at home and trying not to go out if I don't have to. Yesterday the thermometer said -20. I'm looking forward to heading south next week. Hopefully we won't bring the snow and cold with us!