Annika has a party at MOA

Last Friday, Annika had the chance to meet two of her friends at Mall of America park to ride some rides and celebrate her birthday. We arrived there around 10 a.m. and we stayed until after 3 p.m. The kids had a blast riding all the different rides. My little daredevil was very disappointed when we left because she wasn't able to ride the "big" roller coaster. Jon was there and he did take her on the swings but he was not interested in trying to keep her safe on a rollercoaster. I think in some ways he was afraid that she would get upset on the ride and he didn't want that. She wouldn't though because she just loves it all.
Anyway, her present from her friend Noah was a Volcano cake at the Rainforest cafe. She loved it. She kept trying to blow out the sparkler that they had on the cake!!! Also just checking out all the different animations inside the cafe kept her busy. She hardly had time to eat her cake. Of course, Noah was glad to help her out and so none of the cake went to waste.
It was great being at the park and being able to just stand and watch the kids ride. The last time I was there we had to ride the rides with them because they were too small to ride without a chaperone. Now Annika would tell me to that she wanted to "ride all by herself". Denise, Noah's mom, was going to ride along on the merry go round but Annika told her that she couldn't do that. She needed to go stand and watch. Where did my little girl go?