The Mall of America's coolest corner

Many people think that the most exciting part of the Mall of America is Nickelodeon Universe or perhaps the big rotunda - or, you know, the more than 500 stores that draw gazillions of visitors annually.

Today I learned the truth: the best part of the Mall of America is - wait for it - the build-your-own-Lego-person station within the massive Lego store!

And to think: I never would have known if Josh's nephew (you know him as Loco) had not been dreaming about visiting this store for months!

We arrived at the mall early this afternoon and made a nearly direct beeline for the Lego store. There were approximately 28,000 people inside the store already and I wasn't much help in discerning what would be the coolest Lego set to choose. (Plus, Loco wanted to survey the whole store so he could make an informed decision.) But lurking way in the back corner of the store was this little station with bins full of fragments of Lego people.  For $9.99, one could assemble three mix-and-match Lego people with the head accessory, head, torso, legs, and accessory of his or her choosing. This was an immediate must-do activity for the younger members of my party, although given the opportunity on my own, I can't deny that I'd be interested myself. Wouldn't it be intriguing for anyone who grew up with or around lots of Legos?

Here are the two kids, focusing intently on the process.  This also gives you a look at the station:

And here is a close-up of the work tray:

The first best part was seeing the discarded Lego people that people had opted not to purchase.

No words

Astronaut?  Robot?  Elvis?

Mostly, I did not know that Lego people could frown, or sideways-smile, or all-out grin - or have so many wardrobe options!

The second best part was seeing Lala and Loco's creations:

Here is one of Loco's, with the saddest face I've ever seen on a Lego dude:

Here's one of LaLa's, with a very nice unitard (I think) and either a shovel or spatula in hand:

You get a little box for transporting them. Here's Loco's final trio, including a sailor holding a chainsaw in the middle:

We discover something new every day, right?

Saturday sights

Today I snuck out very early for a run, partly because we were due at the airport around 9 a.m. and partly to beat the heat. It is hot-hot-hot here - 93 as I type at 4:45 p.m. - and the newest member of our household seems to wilt in hot weather even more than I do, although Wish was pretty happy last night sleeping with his face, like, 14 inches away from the fan.

Anyway, I got nine miles done and I saw some strange things out there this morning. Early in the run, I saw a nearly full pizza sitting in an opened pizza box tossed in an empty parking lot. (Pity.)  Later I saw a big box of Mike and Ike's scattered across an otherwise peaceful sidewalk.

Did I miss a wild night in St. Paul or something?

Then I saw some pretty things, too, including this plant in the sun:

And then I came home, and we went to the airport to pick up Josh's family, and now this is my sight!

Happy weekend to you all!

The annual hayride

I think fall is the traditional time of year when one might find herself on a hayride, no?

Well, open your mind and set aside your visions of pumpkins and apple cider and cozy sweaters! For my mom's side of the family, hayrides happen annually on the first Sunday in June. Well, we call it the hayride.  I'm not sure if hay has ever actually been involved.  (It wasn't this year, at least.) My uncle drives the tractor, my extended family (at least 20 of us) sits on benches on the trailer behind the tractor, and we drive all over the farmland by my grandma's house in rural Minnesota.

The whole ride takes an hour or two, typically after a big old barbecue and before cake to celebrate some summer birthdays (including my grandma's). This year I ran that half-marathon and then Josh, my brother, Wish and I hurried up to join the party and I ate a gigantic amount of taco dip in addition to the rest of the barbecue. (And somehow I was hungry again by the end of the hayride. Go figure.)

Summer in Minnesota is gorgeous and green, and I would argue that it's even more beautiful in a rural area.  The sky is so, so expansive and the green, of course, is a pivotal part of life on a farm in the summer. Prepare yourself for an onslaught of cloud and horizon photos.  I couldn't help myself.  The clouds kept changing!

Ready? Okay.

I think I will look back at this post in the winter and swoon with the memory of how warm it was and how relaxed I was with the June sun shining down and a breeze blowing through the fields. (I am not sure what a swoon actually looks like, by the way, but it feels like the right verb to use.)

Are you wondering where Wish fit into this adventure?  Well, he stayed back at my grandma's house with Josh.  That was the plan all along, although it turned out that he wasn't a major fan of a tractor's running engine, much to my uncle's chagrin. (We'll get Wish ready in time for next year's hayride!) Apparently he didn't mind sitting next to a tractor, though - as long as it was idle.

Wish was so sweet with my family. It didn't hurt that his afternoon consisted of sitting outside in the shade with the freedom to roam around the radius of two leashes hooked together.  The rest of his afternoon was spent being petted by my cousins, aunts and uncles. He was in a good mood, to say the least.

By the way, this is one of my very favorite photos of life with Wish.

He can hide, but I think the ears will always give it away.

We've been setting his expectations high with our weekend shenanigans: first up north to Mille Lacs and now this. I speculated that he's going to get bored with normal life in St. Paul during the week because of how exciting his first few weekends have been.  (And don't be like a certain member of my household, who said in response to this theory, "He doesn't know what weekends are." Hmph!)

Wish, there will be plenty of time to hang out closer to home later in the year. The sooner you learn that Minnesota summer weekends are a special piece of life, the better.

Local commerce

Have I gotten all riled up here about neighborhood lemonade stands before?

On second thought, "riled up" comes with kind of a negative connotation.  Let's be clear: I love lemonade stands!

And because I spend a lot of time puttering around the residential parts of the city, I think I encounter more than my fair share of kids' lemonade stands. (Once Josh said, "I've never seen a lemonade stand in St. Paul!  How can you see so many?")  But circumstances have never lined up exactly right for me to support a neighborhood lemonade stand.

This summer, it is a Grade-A-top-notch-major-life-goal of mine to carry cash (or at least a few quarters) on a long run and then stumble on a lemonade stand, preferably around Mile 17 or 18, when there would be few better sights to see.

Anyway, earlier this week I saw a marketing campaign that might be my all-time favorite:

I might say that the beverage charge strikes me as a little high, but pink or yellow? This is the coolest lemonade stand I've ever heard of.  And truth be told, that simple sidewalk scrawl ignited an immediate craving for both pink and yellow (but especially pink) lemonade, so it was clearly successful. I felt compelled to look toward the advertised address even though it was 6:15 in the morning, which as it turns out is not so much a peak time for lemonade-related commerce.

Rest assured: I will be keeping my eye out for this stand on an upcoming Saturday long run. Do you have lemonade stands in your neighborhood?  Have you ever supported one? Do you think my dream of finding one during a summer long run is too lofty?

National Running Day

I almost, almost rolled over and went back to sleep when my alarm chimed this morning.

But it's National Running Day!  Come on!

Once I finally got outside, I was rewarded with a great morning sky.

In honor of National Running Day, I bring you a brief summary of why I love to run:

• You can gadget up all you want, but in the end, running is so darn simple. I was exceptionally unathletic as a kid. I failed Level 2 of swimming lessons over and over, I had trouble hitting a softball out of the infield, and I was also, shall we say, rarely among the first picked for team sports in gym class. Running is just one step in front of another, and it doesn't matter at all how fast those steps happen.
• Time after time, I've pushed past a self-imposed limit, whether it was finishing a marathon, setting a personal best or just toughing out a workout I didn't think I could finish. Running reminds us that we're stronger than we think.
• Improvement in running comes slowly but surely, step by step. Running teaches me about the big picture: about patience and perseverance and not giving up. Not every run feels amazing or gets faster, but over time, consistency and dedication pay off.
• Working toward a new challenge requires a sweet balance between mind and body. You have to tune into the feedback you are getting from your body, whether it's telling you to push a little harder or that it needs a break.
• Running is flexible.  It's cheap, once you have a solid pair of shoes. There's no team requirement or schedule to which you must adhere. Part of why running works for me is because I can do it on my own schedule, whether it fits best at 5 a.m. or lunchtime or after work. I benefit from the exercise whether I go 20 minutes or 20 miles.
• As I've written about extensively before, it gives me the opportunity to learn, see, and explore my city in different ways that are priceless to me.
• My run is a chunk of time that can accomplish many different objectives. Sometimes I run to have quiet time to myself or simply to get fresh air in the winter. Sometimes I run to spend quality time with friends. I can use my miles to zone out, focus intensely, think or daydream - or sometimes a combination of all four.

There you have it. What did I miss?  Runner readers, what do you love about your miles?  Did you pop outside for a run to celebrate National Running Day?