Mushroom Certification Trip to Minneapolis/St. Paul Part One

     Last weekend our whole family left for The Cities on Friday morning. Corey and Lauren took a Mushroom Certification class from the Minnesota Mycological Society. This particular class covered four types of mushrooms. Morels, Chanterells, Black Trumpets and Sulfer Shelfs. They both passed, meaning they can sell these mushrooms to chefs and stores, as well as guide foraging trips.
     Anytime we get out of town we try to hit some thrift stores, and this weekend was no exception. I lost track of how many junk shops we went to. I am going to have to break it up into several parts to cover everything! We went to the Goodwill bins in St. Paul for the first time, and the toys alone that Nora got will take two parts.
     Our first stop was the Bigfoot capital of Minnestoa, Remer.  Nora is seriously obsessed with Bigfoot. This time of year there's really nothing to see or do, but we found a small second hand shop and Pey got a cute, lightweight jacket for $4.00.

     At a Family Pathways I found a cute bunny print for Nora's room. It needs to be cleaned up some. It is a Home Interiors Print and was $2.00. Corey found a pair of leather gloves for $2.00.

     In Elk River we went to Samaritan Way. I found a green depression glass measuring cup made by Anchor Hocking for 0.99. 

Corey got 3 sets of ski poles, two adult and one child set. The adult sets were $2.99 and the child set was 0.99. The adult poles are wooden and made in Norway. 

He also got 2 packs of Lock Laces for tennis shoes. He's bought these at TJ Maxx before, and is usually happy to pay about $4.99. He got these packs for 0.49 each.

 At the same shop Lauren got a pair of pink little girl's Ugg boots. They are a little worn but not in terrible shape.  All the Boots were half off so she ended up paying $2.00. Her best friend has a little girl who will love these.

She also got herself a pair of black sheepskin boots. The brand is not one I'm familiar with, Cozie Steps, but they are nice and the lining is sheepskin too. She says they are very comfortable. They were part of the half off winter sale too, so she paid $4.00.

     Peyton really loves strawberries, and now that she has a job she doesn't hold back at thrift stores. She got herself a plush strawberry from Ikea and a small handmade ceramic strawberry. 

She got Nora a hotel with a bag of little toys.

 I'm not sure that any of them actually go with the hotel, but Nora loves them. She has quite a few Shopkins already, and was thrilled to find more. I like the little ruler. 

In the bag were also some My Mini Mixie Q's. I had never heard of these, but they are pretty cute and Nora has enjoyed playing with them.

     Peyton also bought her a Peter Rabbit diaper bag. This was an Enfamil promotion from many years ago, I came home from the hospital with the same thing 20 years ago when Lauren was born. I think she overpaid, it was $2.99.

At this store they have a bin of kids books at the checkout. With our purchase she got a "Captain Underpants" book for free, and with Pey's purchase she got an old "Cats" book that is really cute. 

The Cats book is from 1958. The illustrations are adorable.