As I pulled my car into the Country Inn and Suites parking lot, the predicted heavy snow began falling in earnest. Thank goodness, I’d reached my destination.
My daughter, Betsy, and granddaughter, Natalie, were flying in from St. Louis to Minneapolis to join me for a “girls’ weekend.”
My daughter and I have done this before; spent a “Mall of America weekend” where we used the hotel’s shuttle service and simply shopped, ate and relaxed. This time, five-yearold Natalie was along.
Many new and exciting experiences awaited the little girl—and, through her eyes— me.
Everything was new to her. She experienced her first ride up the elevator and learned how to punch the right buttons.
I showed her how to use the room key and open our door and she excitedly chose the bed she would sleep in and share with grandma. My daughter, poor thing, was forced to have a large bed all to herself. She couldn’t quite hide her hidden grin.
I unpacked, filled the refrigerator with goodies I’d brought along and finally flopped back in a chair to relax.
“Can we go see the rest of the hotel?” piped Natalie after five minutes of sitting.
We managed to stave off her curiosity for half an hour and finally gave her a tour of the hotel, which she loved.
Most of the weekend was spent at the Mall of America ,and being in the company of a five-year-old opened up a new world of experiences.
First, there were the rides at Nickelodeon Universe, a wondrous place for the young, filled with roller coasters and every imaginable ride.
Nothing in the world other than my granddaughter could have persuaded me into experiencing the fast moving, neck-cracking ride called “Barnyard Hayride,” but there I was screaming at the top of my lungs as the thing whipped around corners.
However, having a granddaughter gave me the excuse to get wild in a crazy car
(known to us oldsters as bumper cars).
With Natalie at my side (she was too young to handle the steering wheel) I could drive like a maniac and crash into everyone including my daughter.
The most amazing experience was the American Girl Store. With two stories and a gleaming interior chock full of American Girl dolls and accessories, this store is every little girl’s dream.
Natalie brought her American Girl doll. Along with a throng of other little girls, clutching their dolls and accompanied by mothers and grandmothers, we rambled through the displays looking at a myriad of items made just for these dolls.
Natalie’s doll had her hair done and ears pierced at the beauty shop (for a price of course). We ate at a “bistro” where the doll sat at the table with us while we snacked on a small lunch (for a price of course).
Unlike most women leaving this amazing store, we didn’t carry huge shopping bags full of American Girl doll items, but that’s only because I planned to go home and order like crazy on the Internet.
Another experience I would have avoided without a granddaughter was the swimming pool area at the hotel. It was typically noisy, full of kids of all sizes splashing and swimming and normally, I’m happy to do without this scene. But with Natalie enthusiastically paddling and chugging around the pool, I was happy to sit in warm air and just relax with a calming beverage.
By Sunday morning, my daughter and I were a tad bit tired and planned to sleep in, but at 6:30 a.m. with darkness still covering the city, I heard Natalie’s little voice whispering to her mother.
“Can we get up now?”
The answer was no, it’s too early. Then Natalie uttered words that tugged at my heart and pounded home the memory of being a little kid.
“But it’s morning,” said Natalie, as if that explained everything.
And it did.
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