An interesting end to our shopping day

An interesting end to our shopping day Cass Lake, MN

Cass Lake, MN

We spent all day Saturday, as has become our tradition, at the Mall of America. After getting every good deal we could find, and taking advantage of summer sales and no sales tax on clothing in Minnesota, it was time to quit and get to the lake. While Tom & I were finishing up a couple of last-minute things, the kids piled into the Prius with all their packages and left. Well, okay, not ALL their packages. Chloe soon discovered she had set her bag down with nearly ALL of her day's work (and fun) in it.

The kids wisely called mall security (and us), and soon it was discovered that Chloe had set her package down next to the car when they were loading up. When they came back to look for it, they found another car had slipped into the spot, and Chloe's package was locked inside! The security officer and a nice policeman helped us figure out what to do to retrieve the bag. The police were trying to contact the owner of the car. In the meantime, the officer left a note on the car saying, "Please return Aerie bag to guest services, or face possible charges." The kids went on their way (Chloe still in tears), and Tom & I headed back into the mall to try to re-purchase the items Chloe couldn't live without over the next two weeks. About 15 minutes later, as I was rummaging through swim suit tops and bottoms at Aerie, I received a call saying Chloe's bag could be picked up at Guest Services! Miraculously (yes, it seemed like a small miracle to Chloe), the bag had been returned, and all of its contents were intact. What a relief! We never did learn or understand why the individual put the bag in their car, or how it came to be returned, but...all's well that ends well. Hopefully it was a lesson to all of us about keeping better track of our stuff!

The kids arrived at the cabin around 10 pm, and after stocking up on groceries at Cub foods (in Baxter, MN), Tom and I finally arrived at midnight. We unpacked amid swarms of Mayflies, and finally hit the hay!