Duluth for Christmas Parade of the North & More

One of my coworkers always comes up to Duluth for their Christmas parade and Bentleyville opening. I said we should check it out this year. 

We arrived in Duluth a little earlier than expected so we stopped for dinner at Duluth Grill.

We hand't been going here on recent visits. Now the last two times we've made a stop. It was worth it.

Hey Duluth.

Some of the storefronts had their Christmas displays out already.

It was way colder than anticipated. The rest of the weekend was supposed to be mild so I didn't want to bring all our cold weather clothes for just one night.

Ditto.

We would survive, but this parade was chilly and went on and on.

Theo loved the parade. He sat still the whole time and even tapped his foot when the marching bands would come by.

It was heartwarming. I needed to tap my own feet to keep them warm.

Very Minnesotan to see a local dance team dressed as hockey players. 

Duluth loves their fire dancers.

By the end of the parade I was hiding in Electric Fetus. I'm usually not a baby out in the cold, but it was frigid.

I was tired, but Meadow and Blake insisted on having a dance party in the kitchen.

"Eh, eh." Theo's favorite words.

Meadow's favorite thing at Blake's is playing with all the toys he's collected for her.

Blake gets all the junk toys from his years at Glensheen and the Irvin.

Blake's Bed and Breakfast always comes with monster pancakes for breakfast.

 Meadow approves or something.

It was nice outside and Meadow requested going to a playground.

Blake brought us to Lester Park.

We wanted to explore, but Meadow stuck to the playground.

Areas that get no sun still had snow and ice.

We peeled her away form the playground and explored the epic park. Duluth has some of the best urban hiking you'll find.

Neither of the kids wanted to go in the hollowed out tree.

Theo and Meadow love a good hike with rock outcroppings.

Meadow became our fearless leader.

Blake then took us on an icy path.

Theo did not understand that walking on ice makes you slip. He kept wanting to walk and then kept falling.

Eventually we got to the side of one of the creeks that wasn't as icy.

Meadow loves hiking. You just have to get her out on the trail for her to realize that.

I didn't know we were going on a long hike or I would have brought our Ergo.

I told Meadow she could live here, but she wasn't having it. So we took her 1st grade picture instead.

Right about here Meadow rounded a corner and almost tripped off a cliff. No one else saw it.

Blake and Meadow disappeared adventuring off somewhere. 

She always complains about not wanting to go hiking. When they came back up she exclaimed, "This is the best day ever!"

It was turning into a great day.

After we finished hiking, Blake picked up Daniel and we met for lunch at Sir Benedicts.

I had always been curious about this place. It's always busy when we go by.

It turned out to be pretty good, but not life affirming. I'd choose 10 other Duluth restaurants before Sir Ben's.

Can't go wrong with mac and cheese for the kids.

We had a little bit of time before Santa dropped into Bentleyville so we stopped at Blacklist Brewing.

The beer here was dang good. Might be my new favorite Duluth brewery.

We got a quick game of CandyLand in before heading over.

We ran over as fast as we could. We made it 10 seconds before the lights turned on for the first time. We were waiting to see Santa to skydive and Daniel said, "He did already. I watched it live on my way over."

He would.

The line to get into Bentleyville was ridiculously long. Meadow really wanted to go, but we have plans to be back in a couple weeks. To make up for it we bribed her with candy from the candy store.

I'm really good at bribing. Blake also got two advent calendars for him and Daniel.

Then we decided to go to Adventure Zone. Meadow and Daniel raced each other.

Arcade's are still cool.

Theo wishes he could race.

I let him pretend.

We played all the games that earn tickets.

Ski-ball FTW.

Meadow got tons of tickets between her and Daniel. She got a mermaid toy, some tattoos, bracelets and some rings.

Since it was next door we decided to try out Hoops Brewing. Another one of my coworkers was in town this weekend so I texted her to meet us here.

We found a spot in the back corner and the little kids and big kids had lots of fun.

This place was big. It was nice for the kids to run around and play without bothering anyone.

We stayed out way later than we thought. We didn't leave until 10:30. Oops.

Oh, hey, Brooke's coworker. Good bye, Duluth. At least for a few weeks.