It takes a woman...

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to get to go to Mall of America with a great friend, what a blast. I didn't buy much, but I do have lot of fun just exploring and people-watching. I can't even count how many different languages we heard, different/strange outfits we saw, and oddball haircolors we observed. I think we both felt that we were country hicks, lost in a big city. We were tourists, exploring the city, taking pictures from parking ramps and watching planes landing. Want to see....





We were just in time to see the sunset, reflecting so beautifully on the skyscrapers downtown.


This just seemed so out of place to me, a ski jump in the middle of the city, just off the main Hwy 494.

Now, are you still wondering about the title? Let me share the story...

As we are sleeping in on Monday morning, enjoying the quiet of the hotel and not HAVING to get up at a certain time, I hear my cell phone ringing, it is just shy of 7am. It is Rich calling, very upset because Cleo, our old chocolate lab, was missing. He was afraid she had gotten hurt while chasing the kids the previous day and had died. He didn't know where she was, had called and walked the creek bed a bit, spending a long time looking for her. I tried to reassure him that she was okay, that we would find her, and that I would look for her with the kids once I got home. What else was I supposed to do, I was in Bloomington, 3 hours away? Anyways, I got home and got ready to head out to search for Cleo. All I could think of was, what would I do when I found her, dead, what would I tell the kids, and more along those lines. Just before walking out the door, I decided to look downstairs one more time, just because that was the last place I had seen her the previous day. I looked around the family room, walked into the hallway, looking into open rooms and then opened the one door that was closed. There was Cleo, looking oh,so happy to get out! Surprise!! She was soooo happy to get out, all but running with her legs crossed to the door, poor girl needed to go outside so badly. I just started laughing...just like always, everyone else in my family can spend a long time looking for something, I look for a minute or two and find whatever it is right away. We are very happy that Cleo was okay, that she had been safe and warm in the house all night and not suffering out in the cold. Like I said, it takes a woman to solve any problems.