Family Winter Vacation 2013: Minnesota

Matthew and I have decided over the last couple years that traveling with the kids to show them the amazing places in this world and experience new and wonderful things is going to be one of our top priorities (oh, and we love to travel too:)).  This year we decided to travel to Minnesota, even though we'd been there numerous times before, and do all those things we hadn't done there before.  This will probably be the last vacation we take with the kids to Minnesota for a while, there are just SO many other states and countries we want to show them.  We left on Friday morning after Christmas and went straight to the Minnesota History Museum and Science Museum.  Lots of really great things to see and learn, and even interactive things for the kids to do.  At the History Museum they had a model of a grain bin that was a tree house, 5 stories tall.  Lanie could have spent the rest of the day there, climbing up and down the stairs and slides.  Carter really liked the airplane of  Normandy model and slide show.  When we went inside the airplane and watched the video, the lights went out and it felt like you were really one of the parachuters being shot at and bombed.  I think Matthew's favorite was the exhibit called "If these walls could talk."  They took a real house from Minnesota and rebuilt it inside the museum (without the roof)  and then told the stories of the different people and families that lived in the house for over 100 years.  The house started as a single family home and then eventually was turned into a triplex.

Don't the kids look excited to ski for the first time lol!  Lanie didn't like the feeling of the ski boots and Carter was hot.  Mommy and Daddy were trying to stay positive and encouraging but weren't doing a very good job.  Both kids DID make it onto the slopes.  We used the magic carpet and Carter and I went together and Daddy and Lanie went down together.  Lanie (with skis on) went down between Matthew's legs and they didn't fall!  Carter and I went down separately of course and he was doing great, a little frustrated at first from falling down and struggling to get back up, but after awhile he made it down the slope without falling at all.  We skied at Buck Hill for about 3 hours and were all exhausted.  The temperature that day was in the 40's in Minnesota (I hear Iowa got up to 60!), so absolutely PERFECT for skiing!

Daddy and Lanie are in the middle on the left side, Lanie has a bright pink coat on.

Lanie loved the American Girl store in the mall, even though she doesn't have one of her own.  And why wouldn't she, babies everywhere!

The wave pool was definitely the warmest area in the Water Park of America so we stayed there the most.  We floated from there down the Lazy River on a tube a couple times.  Carter and I also tried wake boarding and loved it.  Lanie couldn't get enough of the body and tube slides.  I think we climbed those stairs about a hundred times:)  Overall, a really great water park for our family, they always can be warmer but I shouldn't complain.

Riding the rides at the amusement park inside the Mall of America, was NOT on our list of things to do, but I'm so glad we did.  We lasted at the water park til about 3 and then went back to the hotel to get cleaned up.  It was a Sunday night so the park wasn't too busy and some rides there was no wait at all.  Lanie was a lot taller than she had been the last time we rode rides so she could do almost any ride she wanted to.  Carter and I did the more daring rides and then Daddy and Lanie would do the rides that made her happy.  Then we'd meet to do the middle of the road rides like the ferris wheel.  Carter's favorite ride was Brain Surge (where he got to turn Mommy around and around), Matthew's was the roller coaster Pepsi Orange Streak, Lanie's was the carousel, and mine was Jimmy Neutron's Atomic Collider.  We ended the trip with supper at Ruby Tuesdays in the mall, which made Matthew extremely happy.  Always a wonderful salad bar and steak:)