(click here for today's pictures)
Aww, there is nothing like hotel sleeping though when I went to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I almost did step on Keaton’s head. She had moved far from where she started in the middle of the night. I thought about moving her back but she was sleeping soundly so I didn’t want to disturb her. Later when Robby went to the bathroom, he saw that the covers from Reagan and Anderson’s bed were completely on the floor. He did cover them back up but they didn’t seem to notice.
Breakfast this morning was one of the best. They did have flavored cream cheese which makes me happy, but the best part of breakfast was the cinnamon rolls. We were in a Holiday Inn Express so the cinnamon rolls were Cinnabon. We can remember when he cinnamon rolls were the absolute best and the Holiday Inn Express’ but since they have changed them to Cinnabon they aren’t as great-still delicious but not as great.
We took our picture of our time a bit later this morning. We had forgotten when we loaded the car-it was sprinkling and chilly so we were in a hurry. We had a card to mail so first we had to find a stamp, and then surprisingly it was difficult to find a gas station.
After those tasks were finished, we headed to the Mall of America for a little bit. We had said that we wouldn’t ride any rides, but we put on the red dress and rode a few-and they aren’t cheap!
Originally, we said that everyone could ride 2-Reagan and Campbell rode this super scary roller coaster. Then Graham and Anderson rode the first car of the log ride. Robby, Whitman and Reagan were the next ones on the log ride. Whitman left soaked! There was a certainly height limit on most of the rides where the child would need chaperone who could also ride free. That worked out well for Robby and I who were then able to ride a couple of rides.
The next stop was a slowish roller coaster that went all the way around the mall amusement park area. Graham, Anderson, Keaton, Whitman and I all rode that. It is not a scary roller coaster, but you are very high in the sky which kind of bothers me. Keaton and Whitman did the little kid bumper cars.
By this time the tickets had almost run out, but Robby did let everyone ride one more ride. Anderson and Keaton had their real second rides on the log ride with Whitman who I went that time. Keaton and I left soaked-she was so soaked that when we got back in the car, she had to change her shirt. We were splashed not even when we were going down a hill so it was completely unexpected.
The final ride was a spinny roller coaster-it was the same one that Robby and I rode on while we were on a layover flying to Hawaii in 2004. Everyone but Robby did do that roller coaster. I was not too pleased that he “let” me do it-I am not a huge spinny ride fan, but I can handle them better than he can.
And if you are counting, Whitman did do more rides than anyone else. We told the kids it was because he couldn’t really ride rides that last time we were here. However, it was because the way for Robby had to buy the tickets, left him with a few extras that we needed to use.
We had looked last night and couldn’t really find any activities to do on our drive today to Canada. We had about a 5 hour drive (or it should have been), so we opted to stay in Minneapolis/St. Paul area this morning and drive in the afternoon/evening time.
Before our long drive though, we needed a little bit to eat. We went to the 7th Street Truck Park for lunch. It is a building with a bunch of food trucks in it. We had spicy mac and cheese (very spicy), huge slices of pizza, chicken and waffles, and street tacos. It was all yummy.
But the best part of the meal was the cookie that we all shared. It was about 6 inches in diameter and fed all of us. Now, we had originally heard about the cookies at this restaurant but they were a bit bigger than 6 inches. The large cookies cost 50 dollars and was probably 24 inches across. What I really wanted was the ice cream cookie sandwich made with the large cookies. Since it did cost 100 dollars, I didn’t push it but I did promise the boys that we would make one when we got home.
Later when we were in the car, Robby and I laughed at me making a huge cookie like that. We have had problems lately making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I guess that even if I mess up and have to try a few times, it still won’t cost me 50 dollars. I could probably make 5 huge ice cream cookie sandwiches for 50 dollars.
The weather was still spitting rain and still chilly-I guess that it will at least until Dearborn. I drove us out of town and before I could get too far, we were sitting in traffic. Lots of traffic-probably about an hour of traffic. We had drive for about an hour and a half total when Keaton said that she needed to potty. We didn’t need gas, but topped it off since the price was decent, and we all needed to potty.
After the potty stop, Robby drove. Earlier he had been doing some of his work. We have figured out that when he is trying to work, the kids can’t really be on their ipads, because it slows his internet down too much so he can’t really accomplish anything.
We listened to our book, we ate some snacks, we played on ipads, we stopped and pottied. The first 3 hours went by fairly quickly. I was the one that had to request the bathroom stop even though Whitman and Anderson cashed in their free slushies from yesterday’s bingo game. On another trip, maybe even a few trips ago, Keaton won a “free upsize” coupon so Robby upsized her no slushie to a small slushie. Even with all of those slushie drinkers, I was the one who had to potty first. Though who knows how much of Whitman’s slushie actually made it in his mouth. At one point, Graham shouted, “Whitman’s hands are blue.”
Once we were in upper Minnesota, the landscape changed. I am not sure exactly what it was like-possibly it reminded me of Washington state or Oregon. And the lakes, gracious, they really are the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.
It was a pretty and desolate drive until we made it almost to Canada. Graham and I needed to potty again before we crossed the border. Robby had read that border crossing at this spot could take up to 3 hours, but thankfully it was just a few minutes tonight. I do always get tickled at all of the questions the border people ask and how serious Robby gets when talking to them.
We made it over the border and headed off to find tonight’s motel. When we drove up, we were relieved that it looks really nice-it is has been recently renovated. Right across the street is the bay-well, honestly, I don’t know if it is a bay or not, but our hotel is called the Bay View Motel.
We have two rooms tonight which makes things easier but also more complicated. For example, we only have one tube of toothpaste so when we left the boys’ room tonight I carried 4 toothbrushes topped with toothpaste.
Once we unloaded the van, we started working on supper. Tonight we had sausage pizzas made with pita bread and for dessert we had Oreos. Whitman opted for just cheese and crackers. We have brought so much food but haven’t really eaten very much yet. Though options would have been limited in this little town-we did see a Tim Hortons on the other side of the border that we may hit up for breakfast.
Tomorrow’s agenda includes Voyageur’s National Park and a pretty long haul to our next stop for the evening. Who knows where we will end up and what we will see.
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