WE left Chicago assuming it was a short trip. This short trip became six hours after we spent a couple of hours looking for gas. We’d used a lot of gas while boondocking – we still had some, but not enough to go all the way to our next stop.
I swear when we finally parked at the state park in the Wisconsin Dells, the boys jumped at the chance to go outside and play in the dirt. We pulled out a lot of the outdoor toys and the boys went to town.
On our one day in the town, we took a train ride through the dells. This small railroad is adorable and the boys loved it. They both sat and watched the woods go by, both making choo-choo sounds.
Thanks to the rain, we spent the rest of the day playing at home. By the evening, the boys wanted to play outside again and didn’t let a little rain stop them. I guess we spent a little too much time in the concrete jungle for our boys taste.
We were surprised to wake up to rain the next day. The forecast predicted the rain would stop overnight, so we left our outdoor stuff outside to dry. Oh, well. At least most of it was under the awning.
We spent the morning relaxing and playing outside a bit, but soon got antsy so we went to explore Minnesota a bit. We hit a goodwill and took the kids to an awesome playground. A nice, low key, family day.
I woke up on Saturday, exhausted. I think little-dude is having a growth spurt which is causing him to have restless sleep – which gives me no sleep. In times like this, I do stuff. So I started cleaning and reorganizing the toys. But since I’d just done that a few weeks prior, there wasn’t much to do, so I moved onto route planning.
I mentioned before that we had no reservations after this stop. I don’t like having nothing, so i started plotting our next route. We kept putting it off because we couldn’t figure out our next steps. Once I was able to plot out an easy efficient route, Damon started making reservations.
After hours of planning and researching, we were frazzled and wanted to get out of the house. After grabbing some lunch, we headed to the iconic Mall of America. And boy was I surprised.
I’m used to malls that go on forever, that have overcrowded food courts and can feel overwhelming. This place, despite its reputation for having a roller coaster/theme park inside, never felt overwhelming. The designers did a wonderful job designing the building so that we always felt comfortable. Even for a sunday, which was supposed to be busy, it never felt like it was.
We took the kids to the Crayola Experience, similar to the one we’ve taken them too in Orlando, and they had fun climbing and crawling. We even got an annual pass, as it was only $10 more, per person, and it’s good at ALL their locations!
After a grabbing some food, we wondered around a bit, checking out the Nickeledeon theme park area and the Lego Store. I even bought the boys a new Duplo set that I hadn’t seen before, but new they’d love since it was full of animals.
I woke up the next day excited to get back to the Mall of America and see some of their awesome attractions. Unfortunately, I was met with disappointment.
We stopped at the Sea Life Aquarium first, thinking the boys would like to see fish. About a third of the way in, Mini-man had a melt-down and refused to go on. Damon took him out, while little-dude and I finished. Afterwards, it took a while to find Damon and mini-man in the mall. Once we caught up both boys passed out and took long naps. Which left Damon and me to sit on an uncomfortable bench for hours.
We tried to regroup once we got food and tried to go through the aquarium again. Which led to another melt down. I was feeling quite frustrated – I cou;don’t figure out why mini-man was so upset. As a last ditch effort, we went to Crayola, where mini-man calmed down while playing with some play dough. Unfortunately, we went in just as they were closing, Mini-man did not want to leave, so he had another melt-down.
Damon’s quick thinking led us back to the big playground, where the boys enjoyed climbing, swinging, and getting wet on the splash pad.
By the time we got home, I was emotionally spent. I wanted to do so much at the Mall but didnt get to do any of them.
On our last day, we decided to approach the day differently, trying to learn our lesson from the day before. Instead of going straight to the Mall, we went to a playground. This place was close to the RV and was really cute. Made of all wood and shaped like a castle, this structure offered a lot of climbing and exploring opportunities for the boys. After about an hour, we all left happy.
After a quick break for lunch, we headed to the Mall for one last trip. First stop – Moose Mini Golf. This was interesting, as the boys had their own way of playing that involved wanting to play the same whole, over and over again.
Next we headed to Crayola to give the boys plenty of time to play. Little-dude fell asleep, so Damon held him while I played with mini-man. I assumed he wanted to climb but he took to painting and sat there for an hour! I think a paint set is in his future.
After Crayola closed, Damon took the boys to Lego while I went to ride Paul Bunyon Log Ride at Nickelodeon Universe. Very cute but the audio-animatonics were very outdated. I shared a car with two girls who didnt want to get wet, so I laughed every time they squealed at the water. I’m glad I got to ride.
When I met back up with Damon, mini-man was fast asleep so we headed back to the car. Since we were leaving the next day, we decided to stop to grab some supplies. while we were shopping we found a Barbie Power Wheels camper – adorable!
Now that we’re finished in Minnesota, we’re turning around and making our way to the east coast. First up – Madison, Wisconsin.
Heartswell Adventures 