The Vacation of 2007
We opted to go to Minneapolis. Why Minneapolis? It was within reasonable driving distance, we haven't been there in a long time, the kids have never been there, and it sounded like it could be fun. We would have loved to hop on a plane and go to the coast, but the hoping on a plane part alone was astronomically crazy expensive for a family of five.
So Minneapolis it was!
We left Saturday morning, July 21st. Carie and I were up till the wee hours of the morning loading up the van so we could leisurely go whenever we were ready the next morning. While it wasn't awesome to be up way too late, it was awesome that the nuts and bolts were packed and loaded. After all, we took everything including the kitchen sink. Only a small list of last minute necessities needed to be grabbed the next morning.
The drive went pretty well. We felt like we were pushing it a bit by going to Minneapolis. Mr. Spencer really doesn't care to be in his car seat for extended periods of time. Something more like a drive to KC would have been optimal, but we wanted to do something different. On the way out we stopped in Des Moines for lunch and play time. We found an awesome park and the kids had a blast. Much to our surprise, all three kids did unbelievably awesome with the drive.
Saturday evening, after arriving at our hotel, checking in, getting settled, and heating up dinner/eating, we ventured over to the Mall of America for a bit. The plan was to check out the Lego store! I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It was just so chaotic; Lego pieces everywhere, and kids everywhere. The kids appeared to have a decent time. They had fun building race cars with the pieces they could find and Spencer had a great time racing the wheels. We ended up moving on from the Lego store sooner than we thought. We then went and checked out the park area where we had planned on spending a whole day later in the week. While we were there the kids all chose a ride to go on to kinda get a taste of the fun we had ahead of us.
We then looked at the rest of the week and decided what activity we wanted to do when. We started out by going to the Minnesota Zoo on Sunday. We had so much fun and there were so many things to do and see that we decided we'd return on our "open" day later in the week. We were treated to a Dolphin Show on both visits. That was definitely a highlight of the Zoo trip! We rode the monorail, got to see the shark feedings, watched the bird show, but unfortunately we didn't make the the butterfly garden before it closed.
Monday was our big day at the Mall of America. While we hoped to do some browsing of the retail shops, our primary destination within the mall was "The Park". Boy did the kids ever have a blast! The girls' and I were at the mall from about 10am to 10pm and Carie and Spencer were there for all but the middle of the afternoon nap portion. They rode the rides over and over again. Carie or I stuffed ourselves into any necessary kid rides that needed a "chaperone".
In the middle of the afternoon the girls and I walked the mall. I bribed them with sugary goodness along with a double stroller rental and we cruised. I really enjoyed the browsing, but thank goodness wasn't really in the shopping mood! The stores we did check out in more detail were definitely geared towards the kids. When Carie & Spencer returned we went to the "Ridemakerz" store and the kids got to custom make remote control cars. Then since I got to have my fun in the toy car store, we went to "Friends 2B Made" and the girls had fun making new dolls. Spencer was just done by that point and showed no interest in making a doll or animal (in the adjacent Build-A-Bear store). Thankfully the only store we have near us is the Build-A-Bear store!!!
The kids then rode a few more rides and we took a family ride on the Ferris wheel before closing the park down.
Tuesday & Wednesday were our "down" days at the Water Park, which means that we got to stay at the hotel and go freely to and from water play. This water park was so cool, the best we've been to in terms of offerings for little kids. They had the typical fort with the large bucket o' water that dumped, but off of the large fort they had at least 4 kid slides. Then off to the side they had yet another kid slide for the littlest of the visitors. Carie and I joined the kids on the slides and we all had a blast! The lazy river was a big hit as was the big pool with the basketball hoops.
They then had slides for the older kids and adults. From the exterior of the hotel/park you could see these large tubes shooting from the building and every time we left and returned to the hotel the kids were amazed and talked constantly about the water slides. As part of the "big slides" (body slides & tube slides) they had a "family slide". The kids and I gave that a whirl once. That was enough for the girls! Then Spencer asked to go on it "again!!!" so he and Carie went. They climbed all the way to the top, Carie gets into the large raft, and Spencer suddenly changes his mind. Umm... no. So he and Carie went. They had fun, but he was definitely done after that. I sure would have gone again!
One evening, after much water play, we took a side trip over to IKEA. It was basically across the street from our hotel, we couldn't not go! We shopped for a bit and then had a nice and easy meal. The kids had a great time playing in their kid area!
Friday - time to pack it up! Thankfully we had already packed up quite a lot of stuff the night before. Friday morning we were able to take the remaining items in one trip and check out. We then headed to a park to check out Minnehaha Falls where the kids convinced us to ride the bikes. After leaving the falls we stopped for some quick lunch before heading to the Sculpture Garden.
Then it was time to make the trek home. The drive home went pretty well, it would have been even better if Spencer would have napped better and the girls' would have napped at all. But overall, our travels went way smoother than I had anticipated.
So Minneapolis it was!
We left Saturday morning, July 21st. Carie and I were up till the wee hours of the morning loading up the van so we could leisurely go whenever we were ready the next morning. While it wasn't awesome to be up way too late, it was awesome that the nuts and bolts were packed and loaded. After all, we took everything including the kitchen sink. Only a small list of last minute necessities needed to be grabbed the next morning.
The drive went pretty well. We felt like we were pushing it a bit by going to Minneapolis. Mr. Spencer really doesn't care to be in his car seat for extended periods of time. Something more like a drive to KC would have been optimal, but we wanted to do something different. On the way out we stopped in Des Moines for lunch and play time. We found an awesome park and the kids had a blast. Much to our surprise, all three kids did unbelievably awesome with the drive.
Saturday evening, after arriving at our hotel, checking in, getting settled, and heating up dinner/eating, we ventured over to the Mall of America for a bit. The plan was to check out the Lego store! I have to say I was a bit disappointed. It was just so chaotic; Lego pieces everywhere, and kids everywhere. The kids appeared to have a decent time. They had fun building race cars with the pieces they could find and Spencer had a great time racing the wheels. We ended up moving on from the Lego store sooner than we thought. We then went and checked out the park area where we had planned on spending a whole day later in the week. While we were there the kids all chose a ride to go on to kinda get a taste of the fun we had ahead of us.
We then looked at the rest of the week and decided what activity we wanted to do when. We started out by going to the Minnesota Zoo on Sunday. We had so much fun and there were so many things to do and see that we decided we'd return on our "open" day later in the week. We were treated to a Dolphin Show on both visits. That was definitely a highlight of the Zoo trip! We rode the monorail, got to see the shark feedings, watched the bird show, but unfortunately we didn't make the the butterfly garden before it closed.
Monday was our big day at the Mall of America. While we hoped to do some browsing of the retail shops, our primary destination within the mall was "The Park". Boy did the kids ever have a blast! The girls' and I were at the mall from about 10am to 10pm and Carie and Spencer were there for all but the middle of the afternoon nap portion. They rode the rides over and over again. Carie or I stuffed ourselves into any necessary kid rides that needed a "chaperone".
In the middle of the afternoon the girls and I walked the mall. I bribed them with sugary goodness along with a double stroller rental and we cruised. I really enjoyed the browsing, but thank goodness wasn't really in the shopping mood! The stores we did check out in more detail were definitely geared towards the kids. When Carie & Spencer returned we went to the "Ridemakerz" store and the kids got to custom make remote control cars. Then since I got to have my fun in the toy car store, we went to "Friends 2B Made" and the girls had fun making new dolls. Spencer was just done by that point and showed no interest in making a doll or animal (in the adjacent Build-A-Bear store). Thankfully the only store we have near us is the Build-A-Bear store!!!
The kids then rode a few more rides and we took a family ride on the Ferris wheel before closing the park down.
Tuesday & Wednesday were our "down" days at the Water Park, which means that we got to stay at the hotel and go freely to and from water play. This water park was so cool, the best we've been to in terms of offerings for little kids. They had the typical fort with the large bucket o' water that dumped, but off of the large fort they had at least 4 kid slides. Then off to the side they had yet another kid slide for the littlest of the visitors. Carie and I joined the kids on the slides and we all had a blast! The lazy river was a big hit as was the big pool with the basketball hoops.
They then had slides for the older kids and adults. From the exterior of the hotel/park you could see these large tubes shooting from the building and every time we left and returned to the hotel the kids were amazed and talked constantly about the water slides. As part of the "big slides" (body slides & tube slides) they had a "family slide". The kids and I gave that a whirl once. That was enough for the girls! Then Spencer asked to go on it "again!!!" so he and Carie went. They climbed all the way to the top, Carie gets into the large raft, and Spencer suddenly changes his mind. Umm... no. So he and Carie went. They had fun, but he was definitely done after that. I sure would have gone again!
One evening, after much water play, we took a side trip over to IKEA. It was basically across the street from our hotel, we couldn't not go! We shopped for a bit and then had a nice and easy meal. The kids had a great time playing in their kid area!
Friday - time to pack it up! Thankfully we had already packed up quite a lot of stuff the night before. Friday morning we were able to take the remaining items in one trip and check out. We then headed to a park to check out Minnehaha Falls where the kids convinced us to ride the bikes. After leaving the falls we stopped for some quick lunch before heading to the Sculpture Garden.
Then it was time to make the trek home. The drive home went pretty well, it would have been even better if Spencer would have napped better and the girls' would have napped at all. But overall, our travels went way smoother than I had anticipated.
Labels: Vacation
posted by Sonya at 12:45 PM
3 Comments:
Looks like a great time! You guys packed a lot in!
looks like a fantastic hol for the kids, nice to see pics of the mums too
how much fun! we have never been to a water park...but it sure looks like we have been missing out on tons of fun! looks like it was an excellent trip!
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