This was the view from the living room of our townhouse. It was beautiful. And I love Nana and Poppa and the kiddos on the golf course!
Poppa showed Cameron how to wash a golf ball. After trying it on one, I think Cameron could have used the golf ball washer all day long.
Leah and Nana
They found a tiny little froggie, which Cameron had to hold.
Cute kiddos!
After packing up, we stopped at Lucy's parents for a luncheon, then headed back to Minneapolis St.Paul. We were not leaving until Monday morning, so we decided to stay at a fun hotel and do some fun stuff in MSP.
Our hotel was right across from the Mall of America, inside of which is is an amusement park called Nickelodeon Universe. It was very cool!
Our first stop in the mall was the Lego store. There was so much cool stuff in there
Including a million Lego people. If Cameron was a few years older, I think we could have done serious damage in this store.
There was a large Lego building area outside of the store, which the kids loved. Cameron was very serious about building his building.
Leah was more interested in watching what the other kids were doing, she didn't really build anything.
After a few stores, we ventured into Nickelodeon Universe. The rides were really expensive, so we bought a certain number of tickets and let Cameron split the tickets between himself and Leah. We were very proud that he was very good about sharing with her - he gave her tickets for the same number of rides as him. He wanted to make sure that his baby had fun on rides too. It was so sweet! They both loved the rides and we definitely could have spent three or four times as much money to let them go on all of them!!
Nickelodeon Universe
It was a pretty neat place, I would love to go back when we can go on the fun rides!
We got to meet Dora. Cam was very happy, Leah was happy as long as she was at a safe distance.
Cam loved this truck ride, especially because he got to be in the first truck
He spent the entire three minute ride honking the truck horn. Fun stuff
Next we went on the Blue's Clues ride. It was like the Dumbo ride at Disney, it goes in a circle and you can push a button to make the dogs go up and down. Despite his face in this picture, Cameron liked it.
Lucky Mama got to ride with Leah, who also really liked it.
Cameron and Daddy rode on the swings
While waiting for the extremely long time that Daddy and Cameron were in line for the swings, Leah amused herself with a soda bottle
Wheeee! Cam actually loved this ride. I was worried he wouldn't like it because he doesn't really like normal swing set swings, but he really enjoyed himself. I think Daddy liked it to because it was the only ride that we went on that was a semi-big kid ride.
Cam and Mama on the roller coaster! Cam loved zooming around the corners. I hope this means my kiddo is a thrill ride lover like his Mama and Daddy!
Leah and Daddy on the train
It went around in a circle - the excitement never ends.
We ate dinner at a restaurant on the top floor of the mall. It had glass floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the amusement park, which was very cool.
Mama and kiddos!
As soon as the chips and salsa arrived, Leah started asking for "Dip, dip, diiiiiipppppp!"
She went nuts on the salsa, dipping and eating it like crazy. It was a little spicy so I was amazed that she liked it so much.
When we walked outside, it was raining a little bit so there was a rainbow. It actually turned into a very faint double rainbow for a minute, but we were in the middle of crossing a major road when it did so no pictures of that.
When we got back from the mall, it was time for the water park! It was a perfect water park for Cam and Leah, with a zero entry area and the deepest part only around two or three feet.
It also had a slide
Cam liked this water shooter
Especially when he was getting Daddy with it!
My little swimmer jumping off the steps to Daddy
And swimming back to Mama
Leah and Cam sliding
They had these big buckets that would fill and dump water. Cameron almost got dumped on a few times but always made it out of the way before they did.
Daddy and Leah under the pipe waterfall
Swimming boy! I love the underwater camera! :)
Daddy and Leah under the mushroom waterfall
Both kids slept very well that night and since our flight wasn't until noon, we had a nice leisurely breakfast at the hotel. The flight back was a bit annoying - we went through Cleveland, and when we got there it was pouring! Of course we were on a puddle jumper so we had to run down the steps, collect our stuff, and run into the airport in the rain. We had pretty much no time for our connection because of delays from the rain, so we ran to our next gate, ran back through the pouring rain, and got onto our next flight. After we were in the air for around a half hour, the pilot came on and said that we were having trouble pressurizing and that we would have to go back to Cleveland to get the problem fixed. After another five or so minutes, he came on again to tell us that we were currently too heavy to land in Cleveland, so we would spend another twenty minutes flying circles until we were the correct landing weight!! Once we landed, they told us that we would just be getting a new plane, so we took another run through the pouring rain and back into the airport. After being told that we would leave almost immediately, so not to leave the gate area.... we sat in the gate for about a half hour. Very annoying! We finally went back on the plane (through the pouring rain, of course) and flew to Syracuse with no more issues. Since it was so rainy and since our bags had been moved on and off of the planes multiple times, all of our luggage including everything inside was soaking wet. Annoying end to a great trip.
We loved Minnesota, and Cameron asks at least once a week when we will be going back. We are so glad that we went, got to celebrate with Ryan and Lucy, and had a fun mini family vacation!
