Out and About with my Kid Cousin

Saturday, I took my kid cousin Mini Me out on a play date. Technically, she's my first cousin once removed or maybe it's my second cousin...whatever, I can never keep those things straight. It was the 6th annual Skyway Open; 19 putt putt golf holes covering a little over half a mile of the Minneapolis skyway system. It was guaranteed to be a fun filled day...even with the inevitable, extra special Cousin WeeWee blunders.


There a few things Mini Me has come to expect from an outing with Cousin WeeWee and this trip did not disappoint.

1. I will be 20-30 minutes late to pick her up...I try to be on time; I set my alarm early, get everything in order the night before, make sure there's gas in the car, it just never works out. Although, on the ride downtown, Mini Me assured me that she was positive I had been on time before; she just couldn't remember when. I think she may be thinking of the times when her mom drops her off at my house...

2. I will get lost on the way to our destination and probably on the way home, also. I was positive I was going to break the pattern this time. I had looked up the exact location, programmed it into my GPS, remembered to bring the GPS and downloaded a skyway app for my phone. There was no way I could get lost...or so I thought.

Jill (my GPS) once again betrayed me, sometimes I swear she's messing with me on purpose. I was in the center of downtown when all of a sudden Jill instructs me to take a left on a pedestrian only street! After 20 minutes of driving around in circles with Mini Me giggling in the backseat as I argued with Jill, I finally made it to the parking garage. Not the one with validation I had planned on but close enough.

3. Regardless of the activity, some part of my plan for the day will completely fail, causing mass confusion. This, like everything else on Saturday, I had planned out so completely failure wasn't an option. And, like everything else on Saturday, I managed to fail miserably.

The one variable in the day's activities was lunch. Where and when we'd eat. The night before I mapped out exactly where we'd be and which restaurants were nearby, I picked a few places suitable for a seven year old. My criteria was pretty simple, the menu had to have a few simple choices Mini Me would like; a plain burger, spaghetti, mac and cheese, etc.

The 15th hole was right next to one of the restaurants on my list, it didn't have an online menu but the customer reviews rated it as a family restaurant. We hopped in the very impressive elevator, Mini Me was enthralled by the voice announcing each floor. Before going in for a table, I decided to take a look at the lunch menu. There were four pasta dishes listed and each of them included lamb, truffles, spinach or a slew of ingredients I couldn't begin to pronounce...Whose family is eating here? On to the next restaurant.

There was an American grill on the first floor of the same building, it seemed pretty safe. Closed for a private party...Next

We played the next two holes until we got to an area I had highlighted because it had a few suitable places to eat...apparently, many downtown restaurants are not open on Saturday afternoons...That would have been nice to know. Thanks a lot Google. Oh well...

We decided to play the final two holes and then go in search of food. Oh, how I love my IPhone...when the apps work in my favor, that is. I used Urban Spoon, a restaurant finding app and my skyway app to find some acceptable dining. At this point our hunger had brought our standards pretty low. But a hungry, directionally challenged Cousin WeeWee downtown on the weekend does not make for a very productive venture.

After almost an hour of wondering the skyways and sidewalks we hit Macy's, for the umpteenth time. Knowing that there was some sort of food in the lower level, knowing may be too strong...I had a vague memory of seeing a deli at some point in the past, we headed down the escalator.

So, at 3 o'clock I treated my little Mini Me to cream cheese puffs, fortune cookies and ice cream in the basement of the downtown Macy's.

This is where she truly lived up to her name. Not only did she love her oh so healthy lunch but she was incredibly impressed that a Macy's could be so big it had a mini food court in the basement.

We took our time wandering back to the car, replaying a few of the holes we passed along the way and playing secret spy. When I finally got her home, Mini Me's mom was just plating dinner; perfect timing, rounding out a perfect day.

Princess WeeWee

BTW Jill got us home without a single wrong turn.