Ep. 39: Sheletta and Andrew Brundidge Discuss Autism Acceptance Month

[00:00:00] Mall of America, for more than 30 years it has been a retail leader and an international destination and it remains the largest mall in the U.S. Not to mention it welcomes millions of guests from

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[00:00:43] Convention and Visitors Bureau. Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of So Much More. This month at Mall of America we are honoring and recognizing Autism Acceptance Month and to help us understand this really important topic we have some very special guests joining

[00:01:01] us today. First, Chiletta Brundage is the boss lady at Chiletta Makes Me Laugh.com. You've got to check out that website. She's also an Emmy Award-winning comedian and talk to a host on WCCO radio, commentator on Twin Cities Public Television Almanac and she's an influencer, a social media

[00:01:23] phenomenon and an activist for people with autism and entrepreneurs. And her son Andrew joins us as well. Hey Andrew, how are you? I'm good, how about you? Good. It's so good to have you here.

[00:01:35] Andrew is a first-time author, book author and he has a new book that he's going to share with us a little bit later called Andrew Does His Dance. And also on the show is Sarah Derman

[00:01:47] who leads all of our community relations effort. She's actually our director of corporate social responsibility and she's been involved with autism related events at the mall for many years now. So welcome all three of you. Thank you. Thank you for having us. It's so good to have

[00:02:03] you here. Before I even start with Sarah, I just have to say Chiletta and I just made this comment. You've, I've had the privilege of being interviewed by you in the past on your show

[00:02:13] and just buckle up because payback here we come, right? It's revenge time. It is revenge time. I'm just kidding. We are so thrilled to have you with us today. Thank you so much.

[00:02:25] But I'm going to start really quick, Sarah. You've been at the mall for a number of years now and you and I have worked very closely together but the mall has long time ties to the topic

[00:02:34] of autism. Tell us about that and what we've done in the past and some of the things we're looking forward to this month. You are exactly right there, Dan. This is not a first time experienced conversation or opportunity here at Mall of America to celebrate the unique members

[00:02:51] in our community. We have worked for over a decade with organizations locally such as Frazier for Autism, the Minnesota Autism Society. We've held community events. We do puzzle competitions and we just love welcoming in these families because we truly believe here at Mall

[00:03:11] of America that everyone deserves a world of unique fun and joy when they come to our property. In this month, we're doing some special activities. I know on the first Sunday in April our theaters did something. Talk about that and what's happening each week if you would.

[00:03:26] That's right. So we have really identified the entire month of April to create some sensory friendly family opportunities and experiences here at the mall. So we've highlighted our four top attractions and want to really make sure that the community comes in and experiences them.

[00:03:46] So as you mentioned, we kicked it off with B&B theaters and what they did was a daylong showing of the new Ghostbuster film but with that they had sensory friendly packs for them

[00:03:58] where you could check out headphones. They had the lights a little bit brighter. The sound was just a little bit dimmer for folks, right? Just to give a couple of examples. Ways that you can help

[00:04:10] folks that are going through maybe feelings or emotions and sensories of that overwhelming elements that we may have that some don't realize but to others bright lights, loud sounds, clicking, clacking of things can be overwhelming. So we are all trying to come together and identify

[00:04:31] some very relaxing, calm opportunities for folks. So as I said the theater was amazing. Then the following weekend we are going to be doing Crayola Experience. So that is going to be from 10 a.m. till 6 p.m. on Sunday April 14th. Lights will be dimmer there. Sound won't

[00:04:52] be as vibrant. We'll also have a quiet area for anybody who needs just to escape from all of the chaos and fun that they're having and creating. Following that will be The Time to Shine at Nickelodeon Universe. So we actually will be opening Nickelodeon Universe two hours early.

[00:05:12] So from 10 a.m. till noon on Sunday April 21st, you can come in and experience the park in all of its glory. However, there'll be less folks, right? A few smaller crowds and again the

[00:05:26] lights, the sound, all of that will be dulled for all of the attendees that day. And they can take advantage of our quiet room which I'm going to save and talk about that a little bit later.

[00:05:37] But we have a great quiet room in Nickelodeon Universe. And then we're going to wrap it up with our friends at SeaLife. They too have guest sensory friendly kits that folks can check out

[00:05:50] at their front desk as they are going around and experiencing all the exhibits. So that will be on Sunday April 28th from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m. that day. Thank you. I appreciate it. It's exciting

[00:06:04] to have all of these activities going on. Shaletta, you've been an advocate around this topic. Tell me why it's so important to you. Well, let me just say first that I am so grateful to

[00:06:15] Mall of America for all the hard work that you all are doing to make the mall an experience that all families can enjoy. I have four children. Three of them are on the autism spectrum. And so

[00:06:31] that means that there are a lot of places we can't go. And if we go, we can't stay too long. Yeah. And so for the mall to do something like this, to have purposefully scheduled and put on

[00:06:46] their calendar, these events with our families in mind means so much to us. It is more than just pieces of paper and words. It means everything to us because we can bring our kids and we know

[00:07:00] they're safe and we know they're loved and we know something's been set up specifically designed for them. And we can stay and enjoy ourselves and they can flap their hands and spin around in

[00:07:10] circles and yell if they want to and cry out and knowing that we do have that quiet room. And so I just have to thank the mall for the programming that you all are doing to help families

[00:07:22] like mine because we want our kids to have those same experiences. We want them to be able to go to the mall. Their normal developing friends are coming back to class and somebody's saying what did you do this weekend? And they're listening off a whole list of things

[00:07:33] and our kids are just sitting there. But thanks to the mall and the work that you're doing, we can come back on Monday when we go to class and talk about the wonderful things that we did.

[00:07:41] So thank you, girl. I really appreciate it. I love it. I love it. Yeah, I do too. Thank you so much. You know, Sarah talked a little bit about what we're doing here and thank you,

[00:07:51] Shaletta, for acknowledging that. What are some of the issues that families that deal with autism that you're impacted with with autism? What are some of the issues you deal with and your kids deal with when they're out in the public? And what can other people learn from that

[00:08:08] experience and how can we better react? You know, it's awareness. You know, that's a reason that we have a whole month because we need that month to really educate people. Awareness as well as acceptance. You know, when I go out in community with Andrew, my 17-year-old who is

[00:08:25] normal developing, and then his three younger siblings who all have autism, if they're falling out on the floor, if they're stimming, if they have a meltdown, if they get overstimulated like you were talking about because the lights and the click-clacking and the noise and the

[00:08:38] movie's too loud and someone screamed or the music is way up and they fall out. People say, well, you're a bad mama. You can't control your kids. What's wrong with you? That your kids

[00:08:48] are falling out. You can't talk to them. Or why won't they be quiet? You know, and so, you know, you don't really have the time to take three hours to explain to them what autism is and

[00:09:00] how it impacts these children because you got a whole child on the floor screaming and yelling that you have to pick up the pieces and get your whole family back in the car. And for so many

[00:09:11] years, you know, thank God my children are better now with really good therapy and services and resources and access to that kind of stuff. Dave went from just surviving to thriving.

[00:09:21] But poor Andrew, he's 17 years old. We will go to a twins game and we will get to the maybe the first or the second inning and we'd have to leave because it's just disturbing everyone else. You

[00:09:33] know, we will go to a Vikings game and we couldn't make it through the first quarter because we got to leave. Well, here Andrew's bought his jersey and he got his popcorn and

[00:09:43] his hot dog and his big drink. And now we got to try to find our way back to the front door. Well, now we've worked with the Vikings to create a sensory friendly room. We've worked

[00:09:54] with the twins to create a sensory friendly room. So just trying to put these things in place so that it doesn't just benefit my family, all families like mine. And for every parent, right?

[00:10:05] We want our kids to thrive. Yes, we want them to be happy and to experience life. Yes. And that's what it's all about. I want my child to have some experiences. I want to

[00:10:15] be able to go on vacation. I want to be able to take them to the mall. I want to be able to take them to a theater and I'm just so grateful, you know, because I don't want it to be lost on

[00:10:25] you all what you're doing because you're leading the way. Other companies and organizations are seeing the programming that you're putting together and it's being replicated and duplicated and I know that you all were the first to do some of these things. And so other people

[00:10:38] have seen it. They see that people are coming to it by the hundreds, right? Because if it's for us and our families, girl, we are showing up. We are so grateful that somebody is thinking of us.

[00:10:48] We are coming. We're calling each other. We're telling each other. We're so excited about it because our kids can come and they can be free. Thank you. Andrew, 17 years old and you are a published author. Now what were you doing at 17? I was ditching class and drinking.

[00:11:04] I was writing no books. I was writing no books. I was writing no books. You're way ahead of where I was at 17. That's what I can say and you have the book with us today.

[00:11:15] I love it. Tell me what it feels like to be an author and why you wrote the book and how long it took. Talk us through that process. I wanted to be an author because I wanted to be able to

[00:11:26] help spread awareness about autism. Three of my youngest siblings, like my mom said, they all have autism and even though I understand them and a lot of people around them may understand them, some people who don't have any family members or friends with special

[00:11:39] disabilities or disorders may not know how to react or how to act around certain things. So if they are crying or doing this or doing that, they might not have any prior experience with

[00:11:52] dealing with kids with issues. And so I want to spread awareness about that so everyone knows it too. I love that and your book is available now for people that would like to buy it. And but we'd love to support some local bookstores where we're there.

[00:12:06] Yes, we can go to Red Balloon Books, Moon Palace Books, Gullywobble, Strive Bookstore and they're in all high V stores. So if you've got a high V near your home and you're going grocery shopping,

[00:12:19] pick up your bottle of wine and get your bread and cheese and you can chew your reward and get you a book and take it back to your kids. And you know people say, oh that's

[00:12:28] a nice book for kids with autism. These books are not for kids with autism. Kids and families who have somebody that they love with autism, we already know what's going on. Yes. This book is for the

[00:12:38] normal developing peers because you know my children now are nine, 10 and 11. But at some point they're gonna be 19, 20 and 21. And I need their friends to know now so that when they're working together at the high V stack and Dr. Pepper bottles then they know, oh,

[00:12:57] you know what? He's just overstimulated. He went in the back to take a break. It's okay. He has autism. You know for so long people will say, well don't look at him. Don't say anything because

[00:13:05] he's just different. Just no, don't say anything. No, I need you to say something. I need you to educate your kids about autism because they're in class together now in third grade but at some point they're gonna be working together. They're gonna be on the bus

[00:13:17] together. They're gonna be on a plane together. They're gonna be at a restaurant together and I need your child to understand and know about autism so that they can help. I'm just a selfish. These books are selfish. I need your children to help my children and so

[00:13:31] I actually was not gonna do a book for Andrew because Andrew does not have autism. I've written three books about my three children with autism. Cameron's book is called My Daughter. Cameron Goes to School. Daniel's book, My Son Is Daniel Finds His Voice because he learned how to

[00:13:46] talk through music. And then Brandon's book, Brandon spots his sign. He saw Let's Go Brandon Flag and thought people were cheering for him and he stopped stuttering. Right? I didn't tell him. Anytime he see a bumper sticker, he think, Mom, there's a fan. Let's go find,

[00:13:59] let's go talk to him. No, let's not go talk to him. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. No, he knows me. He's got my bumper sticker. Look, he knows and he's out the window like

[00:14:07] raving at the people and the guys like, Hi, okay. It's a little creepy. And so I thought I was done. I was like, we're done with the books. Everybody got a book? I gotta move

[00:14:15] on to something else. And Andrew was like, I want a book. And I was like, you ain't even got no autism. And I realized that I was so concerned with the kids who could not talk

[00:14:24] that I forgot about the kid who could talk. Andrew was doing well. I'm like, go play. You know how to ride your bike and feed yourself. And I'm gonna be with these kids who can't talk

[00:14:34] and celebrating every milestone they had. Andrew did bad at school. Go ahead. You'll be fine. Take some school and get your tutor. And I'm gonna be up here with these other kids. You know, bad behavior, good behavior, whatever it was. I didn't pay any attention to it

[00:14:48] because I was over here. And so people forget about the normal development sibling. And that's what this book is all about. And the one thing that I'm most proud of is in the back

[00:14:57] of all of our books, there's tips, 10 facts. Perfect. About autism. And so this book is 10 facts about kids with autism, kids who have siblings who have autism. And so it's from a school counselor. It's not from me. So the school counselor is like, look, if you have a

[00:15:14] kid and they have autistic or special needs siblings, here's 10 ways that you can support that child because that child's not going to therapy. That child's not seeing a specialist. That child's not getting any special things at school. That child's not getting any special

[00:15:26] things at home. You know, that child's getting ignored. That's just child's getting ferreter child's getting absolutely ignored. Because that's what happened to this child. I mean, mom, I can tell you what happened. I love that. When while I ask your mom this

[00:15:37] next question, Andrew, would you find a page or two in your book that you'd be willing to share with us? I got you. All four books are available for purchase. All four books are available for purchase. Everywhere books are sold.

[00:15:49] If someone's not local, if someone's not local, they can go on amazon, walmart.com, target.com. And again, you know, we just encourage people to get it for not just for their family, but for their church library, for their teachers, the school nooks,

[00:16:04] and the teachers because the teachers buy everything, you know, they spend their own money. So buy for your school library, buy for your children's teacher, buy for your community center. And, you know, we purposefully make the book as cheap as possible.

[00:16:17] It's the least expensive that we can possibly make it. It is $9.99. And every year, the publisher says, okay, we're going to go up on a price. And I say no because these teachers are spending their own money. Yeah, these churches are spending their own money. These community centers

[00:16:33] are spending their own money to buy these books and we want to make it as accessible for them as possible. And it's about building awareness and understanding. Right? Do you have a story there that you'd like to share, Andrew?

[00:16:47] I do actually. Yes. So the page I'm reading, this one, it says, there's Andrew doing his dance again, like nobody sees him. Oh, and my mom said, oh, I see him and I'm recording. I'll put this video

[00:16:58] on social media for the world to see. His happy feet will make lots of people happy. I was dancing and shoveling and unbeknownst to me, my mother was there with the camera sneakily recording the whole thing. And I had no clue about it until somebody was like, hey,

[00:17:16] you're on the news. I said, excuse me. They said you were on the news. Ain't that you dancing? I, they showed me the video. I'm like, that's me dancing. Wait, not just the news. It was

[00:17:27] Good Morning America. Oh, fantastic. They made him play of the day and talked about it for two minutes. Just how, you know, he was dancing and how much he made it look fun. And, and, you know,

[00:17:42] I looked at that and I said, he's seen somebody sees him, you know, because we didn't see him. We saw the kids who couldn't talk. We saw the fact that they were still in Pampers.

[00:17:52] They didn't make eye contact. We saw the kids who needed us, what we thought needed us more than him. We thought, you know, he's fine. He's fine. He don't need us. He did need us. Right. And so this

[00:18:03] book is also a love letter to those kids. Right. And it's also a reminder to parents to see them. Take a minute. And you were seen on national TV, which is amazing. And speaking of that,

[00:18:17] I think you're soon going to be traveling to New York. Is that correct? Yes, sir. That is correct. And that's to promote your book? Yes, sir. And the dance. I love and the dance. And are you excited about that? Of course. I love going to places.

[00:18:30] What's your have you been in New York before? I haven't. This is new to me. And what are you looking forward to the most? I want to take pictures. I want to get some good pictures while I'm out there. I know New York has a bright place,

[00:18:41] lots of vibrant colors and places. Of course you want to go to Times Square. It's awesome. What else do you want to see? Statue of Liberty. Yep. Very fun. I love it. And then

[00:18:52] are you doing interviews out there? We got a lot of local interviews in New York. And then Lindsey Davis from Good Morning America reached out. So we're going to keep our fingers crossed

[00:19:01] that that happens. And also one of the things that our family is known for is community service. We really do a lot in community, whether it is helping to feed people or homelessness or

[00:19:14] children with autism or business owners like you mentioned. And so one of the things that we do is giveaway books. Sometimes that 999 means something different to somebody else. And so we always try to work with schools wherever we go or youth groups and give away

[00:19:33] books. So when we go to New York, we're going to be going to Harlem. And we're going to be giving away hundreds of books to schools in Harlem to the teachers as well as the students.

[00:19:41] I love that. Good for you. Thank you for doing that. Of course. And please share your pictures after your trip if you would. You are going to so sick of me on social media. Every five seconds

[00:19:52] it's going to be me and Andrew in front of something behind something around something. I promise you will probably block me before it's all over. We'll never block you. But we talked a little bit about our quiet room. You talked about the Vikings and the

[00:20:05] twins having a quiet room. The mall does one as well. Sarah, tell us where that is and what that is. Sure. And I'm going to kind of combine that with some certifications that we are very proud

[00:20:16] of here at Mall of America. We worked with a global leader that is leading the way in training in professional settings for the autism community. It's called IBCCES. And with that partnership,

[00:20:35] it took us several months to really form what our plan was going to be to learn from them. We had different therapists come in, walk our property, walk Nickelodeon, Mall of America, the store area as well, and Crayola. And with that we learned so much of

[00:20:55] what our little things that we can do here to really make sure everybody feels like they have a space that is free. As you mentioned, I love that word, right? Be their authentic selves when

[00:21:09] they come to the mall. So throughout all of those learnings with them, we did several different implementations of suggestions they had. And their very first one was a quiet room. This was probably four years ago now that we started this journey. And so inside Nickelodeon Universe,

[00:21:29] right at Central Guest Services by the carousel, we have a quiet room where we built out extra sound barriers for the walls. We invested in extra soundproofing windows. We have soft furniture. We have little fidgets that you can hold on to. No overhead lights,

[00:21:51] just lamps that families can choose the level of brightness that they want. And it's truly a place for families that they're in that crisis mode, right? That child is just struggling and having

[00:22:04] that meltdown, a place where they can sneak away and find a few moments of solitude. Let's calm each other down. Let's get back on track, right? And we're really, really proud of that.

[00:22:17] And with that, we have now created a space inside Crayola as well. So when these sensory-friendly events are happening, they too will have access to the same resources that Nickelodeon Universe has.

[00:22:30] And then also to continue to build on our partnership with IBCCES, we did a lot of training with them in order for us to be certified. I believe we had to have over 80% participation and approval, or not approval, but passing of different trainings and tests. So there's several

[00:22:55] different modules that we take. And it was great. Like one example I remember is what is one of the leading causes of death for kids with autism? I remember from training. Yeah.

[00:23:05] It is water. And with us, we have little ponds where we throw coins in that we then give to the community. But it just made all of us look at what we are doing on an everyday basis a little bit

[00:23:19] differently. Let's keep an eye on that, right? Let's be able to address that and make sure that we acknowledge those things. So we're very proud of our 80% success rate with every team member participating in that training. And I'm going to just tell you as a parent who has

[00:23:36] children with autism, when you start talking about water, I have to say that our family had a breakthrough just this past Saturday. My children for the first time were able to take

[00:23:48] a swim class. And children with autism die by drowning at a higher rate than any other group of children because if they can't make eye contact and they can't follow simple commands and they can't understand instructions, you can't teach them to swim. So people would tell us all

[00:24:05] the time, well, why don't you just teach them to swim? We can teach them their name right now. We've been working for four years just to get him to say hello or I love you, mommy.

[00:24:14] So he can't follow the simple commands of the swim teacher. He can't understand what they're telling him to do. So the entire class is over here and he's over here. And even though we went to this class and my children are further along in their journey,

[00:24:29] I still got a call from the swim instructor who said, listen, we're going to have your kids come a little bit earlier because you keep another kids behind because they're further along. Right?

[00:24:40] So kids with autism are drawn to water. It's something about it. I don't know what it is. They haven't figured it out. But once they get to that water as a parent, other than restriction,

[00:24:51] we have no way of teaching them how to swim because they can't learn it. And a lot of people don't understand it because I get people all the time when they say, oh, can you come to

[00:25:00] my house? I'm like, we're in Atlanta, 10,000 lakes. So they're lakes by your house. Oh, yeah, we got two lakes. We can't come. Well, why can't you just teach them to swim? Because I can't teach them their name. I can't teach them their address. I can't teach

[00:25:11] them what color this is or what their body part is swimming is way down the list. Right now I just got to keep them away. And so that's why water, water is key when we were

[00:25:25] looking for a house. This man showed us a house and he was like, oh my God, there's beautiful lakes around here. I was like, let's go buddy. Let's pack it up.

[00:25:32] Not gonna work. Not gonna work for us. And so I just want to make sure that people understand that. And what's interesting is the training we go through as team members, that was one thing

[00:25:42] I remember very clearly from our training was that water is a danger. It's a danger. And it's a barrier and it's a hindrance. So Andrew would like to go to the pool.

[00:25:53] He would like to go to the water park. He would like to live near a lake, but he can't do any of those things. We travel by RV and one of the RV parks that we love going to has a lake there.

[00:26:04] And we have to park all the way in the back on the other side. So just in case the key is a lope and break and run, we can catch them. So we can't be too close to the water.

[00:26:14] As we talk about autism awareness month and what advice would you have? We're nearing the end of our time, but what advice would you have for the general public that are not educated

[00:26:26] around the topic of autism? Maybe they're in a public setting and autism begins to present itself. How should the public react or what should we do? If you are somewhere and you see an adult with

[00:26:42] a child and you believe that their child has autism, ask the adult how they can help. As the adult, how can I help you? What is it that you need me to do? I might just need you to

[00:26:52] take my purse so that I could pick my child up and follow me to the car. I might need you to push my basket because I'm not coming back to the store, but I gotta get these groceries. So just

[00:27:02] push my basket, scan my stuff for me, and I'm gonna hold my child down because he's trying to elope. He's trying to run. I can't put him in the car by himself, but just can you

[00:27:13] help me with this? Can you help me get these things in the trunk? So ask. Don't be afraid to ask how can I help because help for me might be different than help for another parent who has

[00:27:25] a child with autism and give me the help I need, right? Don't come push my basket if I'm on. Don't touch it. I might not want you to touch my basket, girl. I might need you to take my kid.

[00:27:33] I might just need you to help me walk outside and let's just leave all this stuff here. Push it to guest services. I'm gonna send my husband back. He's on the way. Ask me

[00:27:41] how I can help. And that takes the we're so we're not ashamed or embarrassed, but we were so judged in the public, in community because you know, especially for old school people who came

[00:27:54] up at a time when there was no such thing as autism is a discipline problem. It's a parenting problem. And so this is why that's a problem overall is because then parents don't want to

[00:28:07] get the kids diagnosed. Because if I tell you my child has autism, what did you take your vitamins when you were pregnant? Were you drinking? What did you do? Were you getting enough sleep?

[00:28:17] Did something happen? Because why does this child have autism? So a lot of parents won't get the kids diagnosed because they don't want to be judged. So if we can take some of the judgment

[00:28:27] down, we can get these kids diagnosed early. They can have great intervention and things can get better for them. If there is an adult with autism, and this this part breaks my heart

[00:28:38] because right now one in 36 kids has autism at some point that's gonna be one in 36 adults. And I have sat down with college presidents one on one and I said you are about to have one in

[00:28:50] 36 of your students. Yes. All the autism spectrum. Are you ready for that? Have you prepared and they say to me one after the other? No. Yeah, we're not ready. We're not ready.

[00:29:02] And so if you see an adult with autism asking if you can help may not be the best thing. But what you can do is just stay on watch so that if the police come, so that if

[00:29:16] more security comes, so that if someone comes knowing that they're vulnerable to take advantage of them, you kind of stay on watch. Stick around for a couple more minutes. Sure. I make sure

[00:29:26] they're okay. I was shopping the other day and I saw a young man he's probably about 17 or 18 years old and I could tell he has autism. He was pacing. He was just very bothered by the over stimulation

[00:29:37] and he just couldn't get himself regulated. And and I just stay with him for a little bit. I said, Well, you know, if the security guard comes over, I need to explain to him that this child has autism, this young man has autism, and he's not stealing anything.

[00:29:51] He doesn't mean anybody any harm. He's just pacing because he's trying to calm himself down. He has no other way. Give the gift of time, empathy, understanding, awareness, patience. Good messages. Thank you. There's a lot of information on the autism society website.

[00:30:10] I know there are links to different venues off of your website. Shaletta makes me laugh.com. That's it right there. You've got to go there. You can find these books, but I'd love to wrap up really quickly if that's all right with five quick questions for

[00:30:24] each of you. Okay. And don't think about the answer. Just tell me what comes top of mind. And I'm going to start on this end and go that way first. Your favorite family meal, Sarah? A pizza. Shaletta. Oh, fried chicken. Andrew. Cajun shrimp and pasta. Okay, very good.

[00:30:43] We're gonna start on this end this time. Andrew, your favorite family vacation or outing? Houston, Texas. Okay. I gotta say Houston. Houston, okay. Our family cabin in northern Minnesota. Okay, awesome. Do you guys have family in Houston or do you love it? Yes, my mom and dad.

[00:30:59] And the food is good. And the weather's better. And the weather's warm down there. I love it. On this end, the most adventurous thing you've ever done in your life. I would have to say I repelled down the building here at Model of America. 17 stories.

[00:31:13] We have evidence. Down the hotel. Shaletta. Uh, get married and have kids. Andrew. I don't have an answer for this one. That's all right. That's all right. The most exciting thing you would like to do, Andrew. Travel to a different country. Okay. Shaletta.

[00:31:35] Take a nap. I don't know about exciting, but it sounds good. Sarah. I'm gonna go off Andrew. I think, you know, get out and explore the world as much as possible. Wonderful. And the best kept secret about Model of America, Sarah.

[00:31:52] Is the heart of Model of America. The employees, what we believe in, what we stand for and how we want to leave a little better footprint in our community by the end of each day than when we

[00:32:03] woke up. Love it. Shaletta. Um, that the best parking is over at Macy's. Okay. There's really good parking at Macy's here. I agree. Andrew. Best parking at Macy's. I can confirm. I love that.

[00:32:16] Well, time has flown by and we want to thank our guests for Sarah. Thank you for joining me, a colleague for many, many years. Shaletta and Andrew, thank you so much. Make sure you check

[00:32:26] out ShalettaMakesMeLaugh.com and please read and buy one of Andrew's book. Andrew does his dance. It's awesome and I'm so excited for your trip to New York, Andrew. Hope you have a blast out

[00:32:39] there and have so much fun. Thank you. And share some photos. Most definitely. Awesome. Thank you so much. And for all of our guests, thank you for tuning in this week and we look forward to

[00:32:49] having you join us next week as well. And that will wrap up this episode of So Much More. Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of So Much More. If you want to hear more,

[00:32:59] be sure to subscribe to our podcast wherever you find your favorites, including Spotify, Apple or Google Podcast. And you can also watch a video cast on YouTube. Go to podcast.malvamerica.com

[00:33:11] to leave a review, ask a question, or give us an idea for the show. Until next time, thanks for listening. So Much More is presented by the Bloomington Convention and Visitors Bureau, the official destination marketing organization for the city of Bloomington, Minnesota.

[00:33:27] Before your next trip to Mall of America, visit bloomingtonmn.org for answers to all your travel questions, deals and packages for hotel stays, and so much more.