Sweet Sixteen Trip

 Amazing Grace turned 16 last Monday & last year we started planning her Sweet Sixteen. She decided she wanted to go to Mall of America in MN, I gave her the # of friends she could bring along, & we invited Ethel & her daughter since Ethel's daughter turned 16 the same day.

Ethel started the drive & then I was supposed to drive halfway. Supposed to. Yeah, a little thing called my Evil Demon Back From Hell hates car rides & I got distracted by trying to not die & focus on my textbook at the same time. Next thing we knew Ethel was driving on the freeway. Her biggest fear. 

I've never seen such
a stiff driver.

Just a wee bit happy to be at
the hotel...kissing the ground
in her jammies. 

She got  all 8 of us there & I'm proud of her for facing her fear! Even though she's never going to willingly do it again.
I loved our hotel room so much! I knew hubby would love the counter tops so I sent him a picture of them...

They're awesome counters.

That led Ethel to be a 50's housewife/appliance model. The caption is perfect--I wrote it so of course I think that but seriously, you can't deny that I came up with a perfect ad for this dishwasher...

"Helps me get all my housework done so I can spend time making
myself perfectly gorgeous before my husband gets home so he can live in a world
where messes don't exist & women are Stepford Wives. I'm such a great wife."

The hotel lobby had some very interesting things to keep us entertained while we waited for the shuttle to get to the MOA. I told the girls that the green exit sign that they were fascinated with is because every state has to have a different color exit signs. Wisconsin's are red. Minnesota's are green. They were pretty excited to learn about my knowledge of federal laws.

It's awesome 'cause it's green!

Bob never came out to kick
Other Daughter off his chair...
wuss.

I didn't know Battery Operated Boyfriends had their own chairs, so this chair marked "Bob's Chair" was particularly fascinating to me.

One of my Extra Daughters stole Other Daughter's glasses & ate a pickle off of a serving spoon. Other Daughter is very not happy.  

"Give me my glasses! I need them
for vision ability purposes!"

1 Extra Daughter was very sad that she didn't get her favorite spot to hug 'cause Other Daughter & other Extra Daughter took them.

That's a very sad girlie right there.

On the ride home, Amazing Grace decided she was cramped sitting in the usual way & asked me if she could sit backwards like a baby. Then she slept like one.

...feet on back of seat.

Head against passenger seat...

And the big news of the weekend...not the hours of shopping that these girls got in, not the amount of fun we all had, and not how quiet the truck was on the way back vs. on the way there...Amazing Grace drove through St. Paul from the hotel to the pizza place, only 3 days after getting her license. She drove through a city bigger than any she's driven in & she drove on roads with more lanes than she'd ever driven on. Way to go, baby girl!