Mini Vacation

Mike and I surprised the kids with a mini-vacation to the Water Park Of America over the Thanksgiving holiday. Keeping the surprise from Alexis was pretty easy, and it was a lot of fun with Max. We told him about a week before that there was a surprise coming, and then would give generic hints about it. It was hilarious to see his mind try to figure it out, to try to convince Mike to tell him what it was (as long as he didn't tell mom), and to try to get us to give him more hints.

But, we kept it a surprise and it was so fun to see the look on his face when we walked into the hotel and saw the water park. It's located next to the Mall of America, so we zipped over there for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.

We haven't frequented the MOA, and I have to say I'm still pretty shocked with how big that place really is. Dinner was great. I think Max had the most fun trying to name all of the animals and types of fish that he saw. Alexis loved finding all of the butterflies.

We woke up the next morning and headed into the water park. The temp outside that day was in the high teens, so it was fun to have a day in swimsuits. Mike and I kind of laughed because we'd remembered watching the Amazing Race and commenting on how funny it was that Dubai has a facility for people to go indoor skiing during the summer, but then there we were doing the exact opposite in Minnesota (on a smaller scale than Dubai, of course!). I guess indoor water parks are fairly popular around the mid west. We've heard locals talk about some in Wisconsin and other areas as well.

Lots of slides and variety of water features for all ages of kids. I was happy there were things for little Alexis to do, slides for Max to enjoy, and even some big-kid/adult tube slides that were cool.

Max's favorite? One of the two-person slides on an inner tube. Between Mike and I taking him, he probably went down it 20 times! He's a fish, and probably would have gone hours longer than we could have!

Alexis' favorite? Sitting with me or Mike on the lazy river that wraps around the outer edge of the water park. She loved the sightseeing, and I was happy to float on the river and enjoy her being in one place for a bit! She even did a couple of the smaller water slides - definitely a much more timid personality than Max, but was still pretty brave!

Kermit's favorite? I know you're all wondering how Kermit fit into this picture. He had a lovely overnight stay boarding at the local vet's. Not the free gig that we had back in Utah, but it works!

Super fun mini-vacation with a travel time under 30 minutes from home. Sometimes it's really nice to get away without all of the stress of getting away. Definitely will go back to this one again!

AND - Thanks Mike for suggesting this one! It's been so nice having a hubby who has really checked things out around here - either through word of mouth or from his regular map studying he's my go to person with figuring out all kinds of places to go to (whether on his bike or, now that it's cold, to drive)!

Pics from dinner:

At the restaurant entrance, there was this little mechanical crocodile that would pop out of the water. The kids were so funny about it - we wanted them to sit on the ledge on either side of me, but they were freaked out that the croc would come and bite their bum. So, the pic is of Alexis running back toward Mike and Max looking like he's ready to bolt any second. To their credit, it was covered with some fog, and did look pretty realistic. ;)

The kids ready to get in. Fun room idea - the balcony faces into the water park.

A somewhat crappy shot of me trying to take a photo of a portion of the park. If you're interested in park pics, click on the link at the top.