Mall of America

This weekend Danette and I thought it would be a lot of fun to cart two kids clear to Minnesota to walk around the Mega Mall. Overall, it was a decent trip. Emma only threw herself on the floor twice, (she's three) and Bryce was relatively happy the whole time.

We left at 9:30 and packed everything but formula. So, we stopped at her brother's house on the way up to use the bathrooms and then at Babies R Us to pick up formula. By the time we arrived at the mall it was 2:00 and neither of the kids had eaten and Emma had not taken a nap.

We quickly scuttled to Pizza Hut and ate. Pizza Hut, however, is located in Camp Snoopy and looking back, we should have just stayed there. All Emma talked about the entire day was Camp Snoopy and the air jump that she wanted to do. I think if we would have just let her jump first thing we might have had a quieter day!!

After lunch we walked around for a little while and then stumbled upon the Aquarium. As we were waiting in line Emma was talking about all the animals we were going to see. Most of what she mentioned were sea horses, and other fish, but I think one of her favorites right away were the turtles.
In the Aquarium after you walk through a fake woods you go into the underwater tunnel. I do have to say of all the underwater tunnels I have been in this one is on the top of my list. It is REALLY long and has 4 different types of ecosystems. Minnesota, Mississippi, Tropical, and Sharks (Ocean). This was by far Bryce's favorite part.

After the underwater tunnel Emma got to make a shark tooth necklace and color a picture of a shark.

The next highlight of the day for the kids was Lego land. Notice, Bryce seems confused by the legos. No one explained to him that they weren't his mid afternoon snack.

Our final Adventure of the day involved a dinosaur exhibit. We were unsure whether the kids would be scared or not but Emma assured us that she would be fine so we went in.Looks like they are enthused right? What you don't see is that they are not pointing to the dinosaurs but instead to the Ferris wheel that is in Camp Snoopy. While they thought the dinosaurs were okay, they were far more interested in the bright lights and rides.

There was a part in the exhibit where you could dig for fossils. Since Bryce has never seen sand, I think this was one of his favorite parts.

We stayed there and let the kids play for several minutes before we moved on.Here are two of the kids next to the "not so scary dinosaurs"
All in all, it was a decent day, but I think if we were to EVER consider it again I would insist on a two day trip!! Both Danette and I were wiped out yesterday. The kids of course both fell asleep in the car on the way home and were up and raring to go by 7:00.