I saw the ship come sailing in...

Today we took a trip down to canal park to check out the cool little shops and eateries along the shore. We found a super cool (but super expensive) toy shop just like they had "back in the old days", you know the days before the big box companies came to town. And then just a few doors down was a candy and MN specialty food store. So we each picked a special treat and cheerfully indulged on the park bench. At the end of the strip is the canal with the lift bridge that raises for boat access to/from the harbor. As we were heading that way we heard the horn sound which signals boats coming into the canal, so we started running in hopes of catching all the action. To our somewhat disappointment it was only the little cruise boat passing through, so the bridge doesn't even lift all the way up and it wasn't really antything spectacular. But while we were there we caught the schedule and saw a real ship would be coming through in an hour. So we grabbed a bite at Grandmas and made it back out to the breakwaters to see the real deal. This time we got to see the bridge lift all the way up and stood front row as the "Quebecois" came crusing in from Toronto to pick up a load of coal. This thing was massive and to see it on the move up close was pretty cool. Since it was a Canadian ship, Brad gave a few hoots, and asked the boys "whose from Canada?" Riley named, "Nana, Papa, Sydney, Auntie Jodi, Uncle Mike, Auntie Lisa, Auntie Donna and all those other people". But they didn't really know that Daddy was from Canada... Dylan said "No daddy we're from Fargo." I had pointed out the little windows on the side as the sleeping quarters for the guys, and Dylan figured, they'd have to take turns sleeping so someone was always driving the ship... "we don't want it to crash into us mommy."
Canal Park is also where the lakewalk starts... its a paved path that goes for miles and miles up the north shore. Along the way there's tons of parks, picnic areas and points of interest to check out. To get you around they have this really neat family style bike buggy things that you can rent and we'll have to try out some day. They can accomodate 2-4 peddlers, with spots up front for kids to ride along. So when we're looking for a good workout, we can load the 3 kids and take it all in.
Today wasn't the day though, as it was rather windy. The breeze from the lake made it pretty chilly toward the end of our adventure so we didn't have any problems getting the boys head home. We were all worn out from the fresh air, and so napped time was great!
Once again there's so much we want to see and do, but once it warms up some more first.