Outings?

[mrissa]

So. We have three friends, girls aged 11, 12, and 13. (They've been "our little girls" or "our favorite little girls" for awhile now, and we really need to come up with some other collective noun for them, because they're definitely not little girls any more, but "our favorite adolescents" sounds weird, and the eldest of them is over the line so they can't be "our favorite tweens" or something like that.) They're in the same household, so we often see them as a group, and while that's very nice, I like dealing with my friends as individuals, no matter how old they are, and it's very hard to do that when there are three of them plus their younger brother and parents and whoever else is around.

Before we knew how long PT was going to take, I proposed that this summer we should take them each on an individual outing, so that I could have an afternoon to hang out and not divide my attention and not have to try to be fair and listen to people in turns and like that. And I still want to do that. It's just that there are things I can't put on the possibilities list when I go to schedule this with the girls and their parents.

So I'm looking for suggestions for outings one could do with a vertiginous person. The Minnesota Zoo, for example, would be fine, because we could get me a wheelchair. Hiking from Minnehaha Falls down to the River and back again: not so much.

I'm throwing this question open to everyone rather than filtering it to Minnesotans because there are some activities that are not all that city-specific: going out for high tea with little cakes and sandwiches and all that, for example, is something someone could have thought of in Seattle or San Leandro and would not have to be in the Twin Cities to know about. But we are not taking the girls to Chicago, or even down to Northfield, so while it doesn't have to be a Minneapolis-specific set of suggestions, it shouldn't be a Minneapolis-impossible set of suggestions.

If you're not sure whether something would be possible with my vertigo, please suggest it anyway; I can call and find out whether they have wheelchairs to rent or borrow, or I can determine whether it would be too much moving visuals, or whatever.

These girls are extremely broad-minded about all sorts of things, and gender is one of them: they are interested in "traditionally girl" things and "traditionally boy" things as well as "gender neutral" things. We'll also be asking them for ideas, of course, but it seems like it'd be good to have some suggestions rather than demanding that they know what their city has to offer at this age.

Comments

[arielstarshadow.livejournal.com]

Museums, art galleries, a crafting workshop, movies, lunch at a nice restaurant...these are the ones that jump immediately to mind

[sethb.livejournal.com]

I'd call them "our friends". "Favorite" implies you have to compare them to somebody else; why? It's actually a lessening, to my way of thinking ("of this group of people we don't generally care for, they're the best").

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Okay, but "our friends" could mean a great many people, and all the shorthands we have for their household apply to the whole thing, not just the three girls.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

My favorite outings have always involved food. And my word, does your city have a wealth of choices....

[ksumnersmith.livejournal.com]

I'm not certain if this is Minneapolis-impossible suggestion or not, but what about a butterfly conservatory?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

There are butterfly tents at both the Minnesota Zoo and the Como Zoo/Conservatory. So no, not impossible at all. I don't think. The one at the Minnesota Zoo may be way at the top of an incline, though; we'll think on that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why the food icon got put on that previous comment. I have no intention of eating the butterflies. I promise.

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

Go to a cultural thing (art gallery or open air exhibit or something) and then have a picnic in a park or meadow or something... take active games, balls, kites or whatever, so they can run around after and you can watch them (which i hope doesn't sound a cruel thing, just watching energetic kids have fun really makes me smile even when I'm not up to moving around much myself :) )

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

This is probably everyday for them, but when I was in Minneapolis a long time ago someone took me to an ice cream parlor where you could build your own sundae--and the whipped cream came in crazy colors. The ice cream there is so fantastic, and it was altogether a nifty experience. But that might be . . . . oh, like a day at the beach here.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Awesome ice cream might very well end up going with another activity, but I actually have no idea where the crazy colors of whipped cream might be available. But you're right, by itself good ice cream is not a special outing here, at least not for me. If one of the girls said she wanted her outing to be ice cream, I'd say, "Okay, and what else?"

(Last night I had passion fruit ice cream. Not sorbet. Ice cream. Oh so very good.)

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

"The sisters"? That's the collective noun for my mother and her sisters-- 'the aunts' is the next generation up, 'the cousins' is mine, one down. That family ended up an inadvertent matriarchy as it aged. Yes, there are uncles, but the aunts are the ones who host the sisters, and the sisters bring the party.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's astonishing how much of maintaining family connections is inadvertently through women in this culture.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

The Minneapolis sculpture garden is wonderful. I don't know if they rent wheelchairs, but it's all accessible. I think.

Every Tuesday night, the Minnesota History Center has free music of different types. Very kid-friendly, and you sit on a lawn and eat and listen:

http://www.mnhs.org/historycenter/programs/9nights/

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I had no idea. How neat!

[mkille.livejournal.com]

Don't know about these girls, but I think the Minnesota Streetcar Museum (http://www.trolleyride.org/) looks very fun. I don't know if it's too far away from Minneapolis.

Also in the "I don't know about them [or you, for that matter] but I'd like": Minnesota Lynx (http://www.wnba.com/lynx/), the WNBA team. Tickets as low as $10.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The Como-Harriet Station could hardly be more "in Minneapolis" if it was downtown.

I am finding stadium/arena seating awfully difficult to navigate at the moment, or I'd have gone to at least one baseball game already this year.

[profrobert.livejournal.com]

Twins game? I know at Yankee Stadium they have regular seats next to open spaces for wheelchairs, so if you have one you can use, you might be able to do that.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

We don't have a wheelchair for me. We rent or borrow them if we're going somewhere that has them. I don't believe the Metrodome has them to rent/borrow.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Is there some sort of skill one of them wants to learn that you would also like? I am thinking of seated things like beadwork or knitting or pottery because those are the sorts of things I know about, and for which classes are usually not hard to find. I don't know if sitting still looking at small things works with your vertigo, though. On second thought, probably not if you're having to limit computer sessions. How about something like golf? You can ride in a cart and if you find a pretty enough course it's interesting (at least, for one time) to just ride along even if you're not playing.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yah, vertigo does make a lot of that sort of thing difficult, and also we're fairly clear that this is one outing per girl rather than a series of them, so an ongoing class is going to have to be something they do otherwise if at all. So the sort of thing like the craftsy stores where you can come in and paint things (or etc.) would be fine, but taking them for pottery lessons not so much what I'm thinking of.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

They will be "ladies" or "young ladies" for some time to come. I refer to my God-daughter type as, "My best girl" if that helps.

How physically active can you be? I have recently become fascinated with the concept of indoor skydiving but suspect that it is not Vertigo Friendly. I am guessing that horsies are Right Out as well. I took my niece out to Build A Bear last year and we had a great time. I just had a proper tea with a friend this afternoon and it was also a great time.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

How physically active? Uh, not very. I require an arm if I'm going to walk more than a short distance. So indoor skydiving, holy crap no; rock climbing, holy crap no; etc. (I would be willing to take them to do a session of indoor rock climbing while I watched and cheered, though.) It was initially quite a challenge to figure out what I could do to keep getting exercise through this, though I have enough of a tiny range of stuff figured out that I'm not going crazy with the fidgets.

[lydy.livejournal.com]

What about cooking with M'ris? Your girls are all of an age to be able to use an oven with minimal risk. You could supervise from a chair. It's something you enjoy, and you get baked goods out of it. Maybe they'll even let you stir the batter. :-)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Heh. Indeed, that could be fun, cooking or baking or candy-making.

[aedifica]

The Science Museum? I haven't been there since before I lived in Minnesota, but I remember it fondly. I don't know if they have wheelchairs or not. Also, the Minneapolis parks have people doing Shakespeare in them this summer and other people showing free movies in them. (I seem to have gotten rid of the links to more information, or I'd post them.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I will go poking around and see if I can find that.

[laurel]

Concerts and plays, depending on the venue, are a fine option. To be followed or preceeded by ice cream, of course. Or dinner at a restaurant which isn't the sort they'd usually go to with their whole family.

Seeing musicians play in a bar or coffee shop setting is the sort of thing I would've found exotic and grown-up at that age, but then I didn't get out much. Seeing the Tim Malloys at Kieran's or seeing someone play at the Ginkgo or something.

A reading/signing by someone cool.

I enjoy the Art Institute and would think they might have scooters or wheelchairs available for rent. There's the Science Museum too (and even the Star Wars exhibit there).

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Kieran's and Ginkgo both have good desserts, too.

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Miniature golf - your call if it's suitable for you, but all my kids (and I) love it.

We discovered a local ceramics shop that lets you buy and paint ceramic [stuff] and then fires it for you. I thought it was pricey, but the girls had a great time (ages 10, 11, and 12) and the final product was far beyond what I expected.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Alas, I don't think minigolf is going to work at the moment. But that sort of shop definitely goes on the list.

[greatestofnates.livejournal.com]

You could take a paddleboat tour of the Mississippi or St Croix.

Also, policy and a pint if they are into politics:
http://citizensleague.org/events/upcoming/

Walker has various interesting free things on Thursdays.

[hbevert.livejournal.com]

My last outing to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts was very enjoyable. If museums would have had the self-directed audio tours when I was a teenager, I'd have been all over that to find out more about the stories behind the ancient art. I LOVED the Science Museum of Minnesota when I was a kid living in Minnesota. I went back as an adult and found it had moved and some exhibits had changed but it still had the power to amaze.
Concert of a local band that's in an under-21 venue where there are seats?
Visit a workplace of someone who has the dream job of each of the girls?
I've heard of mothers who take their daughters to get their nails and hair done up fancy, just for fun, then go out somewhere public where they can show it off. There's an Aveda Academy in Minneapolis where students do the work and the products are more enviro-friendly.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the suggestions. Today we're going to get together over ice cream and decide what they want to do out of the whole list and/or their own little imaginations.