Joel and I took off for a few days in the Twin Cities to enjoy some of the sites with the boys (obviously more for Caleb than Micah!). Sunday we went to St. Cloud to my cousin's graduation open house, and then headed to the cities. We were hoping Caleb would sleep on the way down, but he fell asleep only 15 minutes before we arrived. We met some great college friends and their families at a playland to catch up with each other. Then we headed to Burnsville to our motel. Fortunately there was a park within walking distance of our motel, so we could run some more energy out of Caleb before bed. Then came the interesting part. All four of us were sleeping in one room with two beds and a pack-n-play. Caleb normally goes to bed at about 8:30, Micah goes to bed at 10. We tried putting Caleb to bed around 9, turning the lights down low, and playing his bedtime music while we got ready for bed. He didn't settle down until we were all in bed after 10! And of course, he was up bright and early at 7:30 the next morning!
So we packed up and headed to the Minnesota Zoo for a beautiful sunny day. We slathered on the sunscreen, put Caleb in the stroller, and Micah in the Moby Wrap. It was a fun morning, but very busy with many school groups at the zoo.
Caleb loved the farm area where he got to touch a few animals!
We took a little break late morning to let Caleb play on the playground, but he was too engrossed in these tractors to even look at the slides!
Being so close to the airport, Caleb really enjoyed seeing airplanes all throughout the day - almost as much as seeing the animals!
We did all the outdoor long walks in the morning while the weather was wonderful. Then we grabbed some lunch and headed out to see if we could get Caleb a nap. We had no idea how it would go, or even what we should try, but we headed toward the motel in the van. Caleb fell asleep within 5 min of leaving the zoo. So we thought,
Perfect! We'll just pick him up and lay him in his bed!
No sir. He woke up when we pulled into the parking lot, and stayed awake through an hour of quiet time on his bed. Grrr....
So we headed back to the zoo, arriving at about 4pm, when almost everyone else was leaving. It was glorious! We enjoyed two hours exploring the indoor exhibits in an almost-abandoned zoo. It was so quiet and enjoyable!
I loved the Minnesota Trail!
Goofy boys! And Micah loved the Moby Wrap! What a great investment!
Sound asleep for the second half of our afternoon visit!
Monday evening we had a late supper at Famous Daves, and then decided to try something different for Caleb's bedtime. We reasoned, he's completely exhausted from two days of no naps, late bedtime last night, and two full days of sun and activity. So we put in the movie
Cars and hoped that Caleb would fall asleep before the 2 hours were over. No sir! Still awake and active! So he again went to sleep after we were in bed at 10.
Tuesday morning we woke up to heavy rain and dark skies. We headed to the Children's Museum. We brought Caleb there for the first time last summer, but this year he could enjoy so much more! Our first stop was the room with the water tables because he loved them last year. He spent lots of time here, and even though he was wearing an apron, he ended up so soaked that we had to change his whole outfit before moving to the next room!
We grabbed some lunch at Subway just outside the museum, and then headed back in to check out a few more rooms. We didn't get to see everything, but Caleb had a great time!
Our new plan for naptime was to drive around the cities while the boys slept. They both fell asleep fairly quickly, so we breathed a sigh of relief. We decided to take a loop through the campus of Northwestern College to check out the construction going on since we had time. During all of the stopping and starting and slow driving, Micah woke up, and in turn, woke Caleb up. Grr... only 30 minutes of sleep! Oh well!
We met Joel's aunt Marilyn at the Rosedale Mall for the evening. We ate at California Pizza Kitchen (which was delicious!) and then let Caleb play at the mall's playland since it was still rainy. It was very clear that Caleb was getting very worn out, as he got whinier as the hours past, but he still would go strong physically all day long! That night we didn't even bother trying to put Caleb to bed early. He just went to bed at the same time as us.
Wednesday morning we packed everything up at the motel.
We headed to the Mall of America for just a couple of hours. Caleb enjoyed a few rides at the park - especially this one where he got to drive trucks! He loved it so much that he begged to go on it again and again - 3 times!
Micah snoozed the morning away happily.
We stopped at LegoLand to play a bit, and then enjoyed lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.
After lunch, we packed up and headed home! Three days was plenty for this family! We loved our time together, even through the challenges. These are wonderful memories we will treasure. And finally on the way home, there was 90 minutes of this:
(Check out facebook for a few more pictures!)
We ended the night with these Betty Crocker microwave delights in our cabin. The bobcat definitely added to the romantic atmosphere!
