weekend in sioux falls, part 2.

Back for round two of our time away with South Dakota Tourism! Next morning… up and at ’em! We headed over to Queen City Bakery which was a stone’s throw from our hotel. Have I mentioned this yet? Sioux Falls is a city, technically, but the downtown district where the shopping and eating is is super concentrated. I can imagine being in Sioux Falls without a car in the warmer months, and getting places on foot pretty easily! But wait, not before a little bit of morning exercise at the hotel. Queen City Bakery is in this incredibly cool huge stone building. But more than the building is what’s inside the building–BAKED GOODS. So many baked goods. Coffee cake, scones, blueberry muffins, quiches, cookies, cakes, on and on. I don’t often look at cake and think, “I want a piece of that.” There was a strawberry icing cake on that counter and it looked good. This is the exact moment that Steve regretted pouring the OJ into two cups for Parker and Anders to share, because Parker needed to drink it out of the bottle. Look at the pain on his face. Then all was well.Cappuccino! All well with the Mom and Dad too. Such a nice spacious building too, perfect for little ones. You won’t feel like you’re crowding the next table or that your kid’s fussing about a bottle of orange juice getting split is a big deal.  Parker took this picture with my big camera. I love it.Off we go… Cool Vespa art! Blue skies over Sioux Falls! Onto Great Bear Ski Valley. This was such a fun day. It was a little ambitious. Snow tubing down a giant hill (a first!) and then skiing (a first for Anders; and only a second for Parker!). The temperature was right, the sun was out, their were a few fresh inches of snow on the ground, the wind was down, and you could smell a campfire burning as you walked up to the lodge. All systems a go. Grab a tube and get in line! (Lines were also small–huge bonus.) Anders was perfectly content being pulled on the tube the entire time, going up the magic carpet ride on the tube… in essence, remaining sedentary on the tube for the entirety of the tubing section of the day. At one point someone actually came up to me and said, “Is he asleep?” So funny. Taking a break for a snack before ski lessons. Now, were we in the car, this is where Anders definitely would’ve dozed off for a nap. Especially after a full morning. But with some Gatorade (their first time ever for Gatorade–Parker was eyeing it on people’s tables all over the room and could not get it out of his head. I told him that the clear one was the best of all compared to the blue and red and he actually bought it!) and snacks in their system, he managed to stay awake for his first ski lesson.All geared up and ready to go. Little kids in ski gear are pretty cute. Now, just getting him ready it was clear that he was losing steam. He wasn’t cooperating when I was trying to get his gear on, and like flopping down giggling (little stinker). So how was this going to go? I made sure ski-instructor-Brayden kept his expectations low. Here’s Anders and his ski instructor Brayden. And Parker and his instructor Doug.And on the magic carpet ride! These instructors were so nice and the boys immediately felt at ease with them. Parker took it so seriously, listening so intently to Doug’s directions. He is such a rule-follower. (I am not. This is definitely something he gets from Steve.) What’s so cool to me is that you can have certain expectations of your kid… and they can completely surpass them and impress you and go skiing down a mountain with a huge smile on their face over and over again at three years old. This is definitely attributed to someone else teaching them besides their parents. Even Doug–a legitimate ski instructor–said the same! He can hardly teach his own kid to ski, but another nonparent instructor? Sure thing! At the end of the lesson, Parker actually wanted to go down by himself even after his instructor had left. We were so proud of him. That’s him coming towards Steve. Down for the count! I love his instructor in this picture.After skiing and tubing, Anders promptly fell asleep in the car, so we had some time to kill before going back to the hotel. I’d heard about this new, beautiful coffee shop called The Source in town, so naturally a stop there was on the list. What a space! Look at it. That large wall has a bunch of taps on it with different beers, too. Stay all day–coffee to beer! We need this place in Boston. What we also need in Boston? Breadico. This might be (it is) my favorite meal of the whole weekend. It seems like we sort of ate our way through DTSF and I guess we did. This place is legit. Homemade breads, pastas. Some of the best pasta I’ve had since being abroad. And the presentation is so good. In these large enamel bowls, you get a heaping serving of pasta or, for the boys, deliciously crispy thin crust pizzas.  Artichoke appetizer, red wine in nontraditional glasses (I love that kind of thing, is that weird?), and a pear and arugula salad with pecorino romano. So simple, so perfect.This is making my mouth water. If I return to DTSF, this will be one of my first stops. It is attached to the Fernson Brewery, and on the weekdays, you can order your pizza and have it brought over to the brewery too.Finally, one more stop after dinner before we went to bed for the night. CH Patisserie for a sweet treat. French macarons, little cakes, pastries. The boys each picked out a few macarons to share (is there anything more fun than picking out a treat when they’re like a rainbow of color as macarons are behind the glass)–you can see it all on my IG highlights. Delicious. The owner won a Food Network desserts competition.Next day… are you still with me?! We headed a little bit out of DTSF (only ten minutes) after breakfast and with friends! My dear friend Elizabeth (this is the last time we saw each other–might as well have been another lifetime ago!) lives in SD now so her and her family came along. A brief word: seeing Elizabeth, meeting Mike, and getting to hang out with them and their beautiful boys was such a highlight for me. I wish we could’ve done it longer. (Come to Boston, guys!)Benjamin and Anders.Anders, Benjamin, Everett, and Parker. After sizing each other up for a few minutes (is it just little boys who do this? I had Parker whispering to me, “How old is Everett? I wonder if I’m faster than him.”) they became fast friends.The butterflies kept landing on Parker. It was so cool.I realized after we’d already left that Elizabeth and I hadn’t gotten a picture together. How stupid! Next time… (when you guys come to Boston, right?)Last stop before the airport… Phillips Avenue Diner. This place had been on Steve’s radar the entire trip. He loves a good diner. And this is definitely a good diner. Choosing one thing off the menu was no easy task.I got this pressed cheeseburger panini sort of sandwich with carmelized onions. Yummmm. Also, our waitress was awesome. Nicest woman. Wish I knew her name so I could give her a true shout out.I am not sure what Anders is doing, but I like it. I love a classic diner. The tables, the chairs.  Finally, we quickly grabbed coffee (for Steve) and a cold tea (for me and the boys) before heading to the airport because I wanted to see this one place I’d heard good things about. Josiah’s. When I walked in and saw the space and the menu I really, really regretted not coming sooner. Such a spacious interior, fireplace, huge tables. Would definitely be a regular here if I lived in DTSF. This post is in collaboration with South Dakota Tourism. What fun we had. Thank you so much for working with us!

Just a quick thank you to my midwestern readers for all the comments on instagram, the DMs, and my blog with all my South Dakota posting. I’ve got so many ideas for future trips west (starting with the Laura Ingalls Wilder house!).