December 21, 2009

December 19- Part 1 Minneapolis and Mall of America

The day started early for all of us since we arrived in Minneapolis just before 7am. All of our luggage arrived too. (Yeah!) We grabbed a taxi and headed off to the randomly selected hotel near the Mall of America (MOA) that I had booked for us.

We were booked at the Radisson. As we were pulling up we saw that the Water Slide park of America was also attached to the hotel. A huge complex of large waterslides that wove in and out of the building. The kids were so excited! I congratulated myself on having booked such a lucky location. Georgia kept thanking us over and over again for taking her on this trip.She was having so much fun already. When she saw the hotel she started all over again. The kids were even excited about taking their first taxi ride.

We had breakfast at the hotel and caught a shuttle to the MOA. The kids were excited all over again when they saw Nickelodeon Land. (I would start a rant here about how it was MUCH better when it was Camp Snoopy but I suspect that I would be alone in that sentiment.) The kids were anxious to go there. Scott and I made them walk two full full floors before we caved and went to the amusement park.

We had just bought some tickets for the rides and were debating where to start a woman came up to us and asked if we needed tickets for the rides. We said that we had just bought some. I asked if she had some to sell. She said no- she had some to give. She then proceeded to give us three all access passes for the kids! She said that she worked at a radio station and had them to give. I was astounded at her generosity! Merry Christmas indeed! We thanked her profusely and then went on all the rides we could stomach.

A word about the rides: Scott and I took turns chaperoning the kids on the rides- as Finn needed to be accompanied by someone taller than 49" on most of the rides. Scott did not throw up although he said it was close on "Diego's Rescue Adventure". I was starting to feel a little green on the second time around on the big swings.

I took the kids on the log chute. I had showed them all the route but apparently Olivia hadn't been paying attention because she completely freaked out after the first 90 degree free fall drop. The look of terror on her face didn't diminish the look of excitement of her two siblings. We continued the rest of the ride and Olivia was very brave.

I think the best quote of the afternoon was from Georgia after she rode the roller coaster with Scott. Yes, Scott rode the roller coaster. Twice! Once with each girl. Once more and he said he would have been sick. She came off the roller coaster and holding her hands in fists above her head turned to Scott and shouted "THAT WAS AWESOME!"

To repay the kindness that was given to us we gave our $50 worth of ride tickets away to others too.

We ate a quick bite at the mall, burgers and chicken and fries for the kids, Chinese for Scott and a green salad for me. (More on that later.) We caught the shuttle back to the hotel and all crashed for some quiet time and a desperately needed nap.

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