Okay, so technically we weren’t on the road today… We’re in the same hotel tonight as we were last night. Although, I must say I probably wouldn’t stay here again… It is quite expensive for what it is, and you still have to pay to get into the waterpark… so you may as well stay somewhere else and just visit the waterpark if you desire… I suppose I didn’t really price out other hotels though, so maybe they are all spendy in this area… ANYWAY…

6:20 a.m. Annika woke us all up – 5 1/2 hours after she had fallen asleep. Thankfully I convinced all kids to go back to bed! We got up again at a much happier time – 8:30 a.m.

At this point we discovered there was not a free breakfast in this hotel… So, we headed to the coffee shop downstairs where we paid $3.75 EACH for two bowls of cereal (milk not included that was extra) and grabbed a couple muffins as well. Here starts our EXPENSIVE but fun day!

We then headed to the water park from 10:00 – 3:00. Ryan and Christian were pretty much self-sufficient, and Dane was pretty good as well as long as a brother or parent was with him. It was really fun! Annika sat it the 4″ water for awhile, took a nap, rode on my lap in the tube on the lazy river and wave pool, sat with her toes in the “hot pool” (as Dane calls it) and played with daddy while I rode the “family tube ride” with the boys. I’m not much of a rides gal, but the boys convinced me I needed to go on that one with them. It was fun, but at the bottom you get lots of water in your face, so I had a bit of a contact problem for a moment, but other than that it was good! If they just had an escalator or somthing to get you to the top of the 10 stories for the ride… then we’d be talking! I also discovered that Annika’s swim diapers hold absolutely nothing as I repeatedly felt warm trickles upon my lap while holding her…

After the waterpark we came back and showered. Although, truth be told, my hair actually felt better after not showering this morning and then drenching my hair in cholorine. It felt terrible after I showered, and Matt said the same thing – so who knows what is up with the water here! Yuck!

5:00 p.m. we were off to Rain Forest Cafe in the Mall of America. Ryan had been asking to go there for about 6 months after one of his friends at school went. So we had promised him back then we would go there while on vacation, and of course he didn’t forget…. Of course he could care less about the main course – he wanted the $13.99 volcano dessert! (which I had no clue how much it cost when we ordered it.. At least it was big enough for everyone at the table to share.) The boys also got cool keepsake glasses for their drinks. We also invited a friend of ours who lives in the area to join us. So…. $109 later… YIKES! We told Ryan we hoped he enjoyed it because we weren’t going back anytime soon! It was fun though. Dane wasn’t so sure what to think of the indoor thunderstorms during our meal…. Then towards the end of the meal I once again feel warm on my leg… Only this time Annika isn’t wearing a swim diaper – it’s a regular diaper. I look down to find POOP Everywhere! ARGHHH So off to the bathroom we trot, and 10 minutes later she comes out clean and in her spare jammie outfit I thankfully had in the diaper bag. I did the best to wipe it off my pants and shirt and on our merry way we went….

6:30 pm – Next Stop – Nickolodeon Theme Park inside the mall. Wristbands for all 3 boys and we were off! They had so much fun riding all the rides! I tell ya, Ryan and Christian are almost fearless! No way you would get me on most of those! Annika very contently rode in the baby wrap on the front of me the entire time. My hips are a bit sore, but it really wasn’t too bad, and she was actually much happier than she would have been in the stroller. I think she likes being up high and close to mama.

9:30 p.m. – Headed to the car. Only problem is the store we came in (and therefore parked by) was closed… so we had to go out a main mall enterance and walk around the building (remember Mall of America… BIG building) to get to our car. We made it and collapsed into our beds about 10:30 p.m. Annika fussed for a bit, but much less than last night. I think at least the boys should sleep good tonight! What do you think?

It is Monday – Matt’s day off. He says it was one of the best days off he has had in a LONG time!

It is approaching midnight now, so I guess I better try to get some sleep as well.

C-

This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under The Menu Mom Chit Chat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.