Family Time in Waconia

I won't mince words with this one, my time in Waconia was really sweet. It was really nice to see my extended family, I was able to enjoy domestic life, and I had a series of fun adventures throughout my trip.

I arrived at my Uncle Justin and Aunt Angie's house on Wednesday around noon. I was greeted by my cousin, Bo, who had a quick break from school. However, after a quick catch-up, he had to head back to his studies. I pretty much had the house to myself for a couple hours, so I made lunch and worked out until everyone got home, including my cousin, Rocco, who was home from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD). We all caught up and enjoyed each other's company until about 7:30 pm, when me and Bo departed to attend his youth group. It was a pretty good time and I got to scratch my social itch at Taco Bell with some of Bo's friends after the service. Despite intending to, we forgot to take photos.

Thursday was mostly just a chill day for me and Rocco. Since we were the only ones who didn't have school or work, we had the house to ourselves, so I used the morning to just be lazy. However, Justin and Angie had bought us tickets to a pickleball fundraiser, so that evening, we all went to the local pickleball gym and played together.

Now I'll be forthright when I say I'm a tennis guy-I always have been. And it's well known that the tennis and pickleball communities aren't the best of friends... Some may even say we're sworn enemies. However, I must admit that maybe I had a little fun playing pickleball. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but despite never having played the sport, I was playing really well. Maybe everyone was secretly going easy on me, but I was at least on par with everyone else. Granted, as I mentioned I am a tennis guy, so that probably gave me an advantage.

Commemorative pickleball pic. From left to right: Cruz, Bo, Me, Justin, and Rocco

Getting way into the pickleball action

He's not taller than me, I was just on my knees (wink)

Originally, Friday was just gonna be another chill day, I was gonna work on the blog and then workout after lunch. However, after starting work on my blog, Justin suggested that me and Rocco go check out the Mall of America. I had the Mall of America on my Waconia trip itinerary, so it would be a great opportunity to see it-with a cousin no less. Unfortunately, I was quite torn, because if I went to the mall with Rocco, I would miss my workout-as we wouldn't be back until later. I eventually decided to go. Not only was it a great opportunity to bond with family, but I was also uncharacteristically sore in my legs after pickleball the day before, so missing a workout was probably for the best. And dang, am I glad I did. I won't lie and say it was the most fun thing ever, or that the mall blew my mind, but it was pretty nice to have an adventure as an excuse to hang with Rocco. The Mall of America is worth seeing, as many of the storefronts are decorated in cool ways, but it's pretty much just a really big mall with an amusement park inside it. I hadn't seen Rocco-or any of this side of the family-for quite a while, so it was really nice to hang out and see how he's changed.

After exploring the mall and getting a fake cigar for my Halloween costume at Spirit Halloween, we were on our way out, but were stopped by a mall cop, who inquired about our age. For context, The Mall of America has a curfew rule, where everyone under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult after 3 p.m. After checking our ID's, he said "Alright, who wants the ticket?" We both assumed he was joking about giving us a ticket for being underaged, so I said "I guess I'll take it!" However, what he was actually referring to was a mystery ticket for the Nickelodeon Amusement park. The user could redeem it for either one ride, one full day of rides, or one full year of rides, but it was completely random. When we redeemed it, we discovered it was only good for one ride, so I used it to ride a SpongeBob rollercoaster that Rocco said was the best. It was a fun way to cap off the mall trip.

However, for those interested, this was not the first time we had been stopped. In fact, I think we were stopped a total of 4 times. The whole experience was kinda trippy, because I understand asking about our age once, the cops want to be sure no one is slipping through the cracks, but neither me nor Rocco look 16 and being stopped four times is a little overkill. In fact, I'd say we both look a little older than our ages. Rocco even said when he'd been to the mall in the past, they'd usually only ask him once. Overall, I wasn't offended by this, as it was a minor inconvenience, but I'd just never experienced anything like it.

In addition to the adventures me and Rocco had had that day, a little while after we got home, Grandpa Jon and Grandma Nancy arrived from Washington. Although I had just seen them during the Washington portion of my trip, it was still good to catch up and spend some time with them throughout their stay in Waconia.

Chillin' with the boys at The Mall of America

Saturday was a relatively insignificant day, expect for Rocco's rugby game and his departure back to Duluth. In contrast, Sunday was a pretty big day. Not for me, but for my cousin, Cruz. Sunday was not only the day of his confirmation, but it was also a sort of pre-birthday celebration. We all got up pretty early and headed to their church, where we sat through the service and got to see Cruz be confirmed. Additionally, while there, I got to meet Rocco, Bo, and Cruz's grandma Sue through Angie.

Note: Everyone in the photo below with each row explained from left to right

Back row: Bo and Grandpa Jon

Middle row: Justin, Cruz, and Angie

Front row: Grandma Nancy, me, and Sue

Celebrating Cruz's confirmation as a family

After the church service had concluded and we had taken photos, we all returned home to catch our breaths before heading to Southern Social for brunch. I started driving separately, but after some car troubles, Bo and Grandpa picked me up and we left my car at QuikTrip while we ate.

To avoid being too mean, let's just say we weren't too impressed with Southern Social. When we arrived, it was packed, but luckily Justin had reserved us a table so we didn't have to wait to sit. However, the busyness at the restaurant definitely effected our service. I was pretty excited at first, when I saw they made a Monte Cristo. As some of you may know, I LOVE a good Monte Cristo and have them all the time while on the road. It's safe to say I was enthused to see how good their rendition would be, but after it took about ten minutes for us to get a drink order, my hopes had been lowered. After quite a long wait, they finally took our food orders. I asked the waitress if their Monte Cristo had any sugar on it, because some renditions of the sandwich feature it. When she said they sprinkle powdered sugar on it, I asked if they could leave it off. She assured me it would be left off and left to give our orders to the kitchen. Unfortunately, it still took about 45 minutes to get our food, but I had a good time hanging with Bo and Cruz in the meantime. I was feeling pretty neutral about the whole experience... until the food came-or should I say some of the food came.

Our food basically came in three waves. There were the first two waves, with about a five minute wait between them. However, they completely messed up Cruz's order and Sue's order, so they had to wait another 15 minutes while the rest of us ate our food. Fortunately, my food came in the second wave. Unfortunately, when I saw the white sprinkles on my sandwich, my heart dropped. Feeling hopeful, I took a bite, but had my suspicions confirmed. They had completely forgotten to leave off the sugar. In fact, the sugar was so strong, that I literally could taste nothing but it. For a little context, I am anything but a sweet and savory guy. There are little things I like less than eating sugar for a main meal. In fact, the only times I have sugar are on the weekends after dinner. So not only was this sandwhich disgusting, but was also extra sugar that I was consuming in a gross way. Additionally, there was no mayo or mustard on the sanwhich, which is an essential part of the Monte Cristo. It literally isn't a Monte Cristo without it.

Our waitress offered for them to make a new one, but we had already waited so long for our food that it wasn't worth it. Besides, the sandwich probably wouldn't have been too good anyways. Eventually Cruz and Sue did get their food, but I think at that point we were all disappointed in our experience.

Eating brunch at Southern Social after the confirmation

Despite brunch on Sunday being disappointing, Monday's adventure was not. After a couple days of being lazy, I decided that it was time to check out Minehaha falls. After getting dressed and ready, I drove to Minneapolis and parked at Longefellow park, which is right next to the falls. However, before actually seeing the falls, I decided to stroll around Longfellow Park. Turns out it used to be an old amusement park design by Henry Wadsworth, but after the park was torn down, they kinda let the park go. It was a fun stroll, but often times there was no clear trail and the path had been overgrown.

Interesting abandoned statue of Henry Wadsworth

Three unique fall colors in one photo... Pretty cool!

Taking a photo with a neat tree in Longfellow Park

Pretty cool seeing a bunch of turkey's just hanging out

Figured a picture under the bridge would have some visual appeal

Taking a load off at Longfellow Gardens

Making good use of an old water pump in Longfellow Park

After getting my fill of Longfellow Park, I walked over to Minehaha Park. I strolled around for a little bit, but eventually stumbled upon the falls. After getting some photos of the falls and checking out the rest of the park, I concluded my adventure. Overall, everything was really pretty, especially with the fall colors and it gave the opportunity for some cool photo ops.

Really pretty Native American statue at Minehaha Park

Getting a glimpse of the falls from above

I wonder what it would be like to be behind the falls

So this is what it feels like

Trying to fit my face AND the fountain in the picture... It's certainly a picture, I guess.

Checking out the restaurant in Minehaha park

Monday was also Cruz's birthday, so later that afternoon we all celebrated. Cruz wanted Salmon for dinner, so we all enjoyed Justin's Salmon recipe that night. Additionally, Sue, and Cruz's aunt, uncle, and cousins (Annie, Adam, Owen, and Adler) came over for dinner. We all had a good time hanging out and eating good food.

Celebrating Cruz with Bo and Adler (far right)

The next few days were pretty un-notable, expect for me and Bo attending youth group again on Wednesday. However, Thursday was the day of pumpkin carving. Over the past couple days, my inner artist had been building up and I had the desire to do something creative. So when I woke up on Thursday morning, I decided that I was gonna get straight to working on my pumpkin. About halfway through, Me, Grandma, and Grandpa left to run some errands. But upon our return, I got back to the pumpkin. I didn't finish it until that evening when everyone else made theirs, but the picture below is my final product. Safe to say, I'm pretty proud of it.

The final product of my Halloween pumpkin

The inspiration for my pumpkin

All of our pumpkins looked pretty good together

Finally, Friday had arrived and with it, so did Halloween. After helping decorate the outside of the house and taking a shower, I changed into my costume. This year I went as a Russian Mobster and even committed to the bit with an accent. Eventually, me, Bo, and Bo's friend, Lucas, departed for a high school football game. For a little context, one of Bo's friends from youth group, Nick, was participating in the game and it was the last game of his high school career. According to Bo, it was the biggest local game of the season, due to it being the finals. On our way to the stadium, we picked up another one of Bo's friends, Zach. The game was actually pretty entertaining and was a good chance to meet Bo's friends. It was pretty cold and wet during the game, so we were all gunning to go after it ended, but me and Bo had to acknowledge Nick before we left. Unfortunately, Nick's team lost and it was pretty tough on them, but we gave him our best regards and spent a couple minutes with him.

Eventually, the cold got to us and we ran back to the car to warm up. Everyone decided we should probably get some food, so we all went to Qdoba and hung out as we ate. It was a pretty good time and I felt like I got to connect with Bo's friends. After dinner, we decided to drop Bo's friends off at their places. As we started to drive, we all decided to hit up one house for some candy. However, it was almost 10:30 pm at that point and upon discouragement from a call with Angie, we decided not to do it. Overall, I had a really fun Halloween. It could have been more fun, but it definitely beats just hanging at the house and not dressing up.

Halloween photo. Left to right: Cousin Vlad from Russia and Big Bear Bo from the Waconia forest

I left the next morning, and as it stands, I had a really good time in Waconia. I didn't see as many things as I'd like to have seen and in the moment, I felt like a bum, but as I sit an reflect, I realize I really did have a lot of fun adventures and they all afforded me the chance to catch up and bond with my family AND new people. I'm definitely gonna miss a bed and hanging with family, but I'm also still excited for what the next adventures hold.