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Peek-a-boo!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the Westcott Library has gone and outdone itself. It may have just become my favorite place in the Twin Cities to bring my kids, and I think they would agree with me. I have to plan for at least two hours for a trip there, or Max will not have time to make the rounds!

Let me explain myself: you probably thought that libraries were a place to read and check out books, maybe do some homework or research. Well, yes, but the public library in Eagan has taken that simple purpose and expanded it to become just about the happiest place on Earth. They have a huge selection of children's books, CDs and DVDs of all kinds, separated by a wall from the rest of the library-- score! Within the children's section are several different play stations and a separate area for quiet reading complete with a huge (and I mean chair-sized!) teddy bear. On arrival to the library, Max beelines it to the airplane cockpit for a quick fly to California, then meanders through the stacks of colorful picture books to maybe do a puzzle or two. Then it's off to don his mail carrier's hat and bag, delivering mail and loading foam blocks into the mail truck. He might then cast his magnetic fishing line from the boat to catch alphabet fish or pretend to jump off the dock into (onto) the "water". Does this sound like your everyday library, kids?

And now, to put the cherry on top of an already delicious sundae, they have opened a library coffee shop!! Pretty much all of my favorite things have suddenly converged in one location. And believe it or not, the coffee shop has a kids corner whose centerpiece is... you'll never guess... a toy pirate ship! So I can enjoy coffee and a muffin while Max blasts cannonballs at a stuffed snake.

We always leave the library in a great mood, weighed down with an enormous stack of books. The only thing that will make a trip to Westcott even better is when Max can carry his own load to the car!