Mall of America Trip

January just keeps rolling. These past two weeks have been crazy busy, and crazy cold. Today, it is -10 degrees outside right now, with a wind chill of -33. Tomorrow is going to be even worse, with a wind chill of around -50. It's just plain ridiculous. Jim just came to pick up both of the kids and take them to their house for the next couple days as school is cancelled for tomorrow. It is just cold and windy and miserable outside. I am enjoying my fuzzy blanket, and catching up on some TV as I listen to the wind howl.

Two weekends ago, we made our way to my parent's house in a snowstorm. School was cancelled on Friday, so we left town a little bit early, and made our way slowly to Minnesota. It was blowing, and drifting, and whiteout conditions at times. So, it wasn't the greatest trip to Minnesota. But, we made it in one piece, and then left the next morning with mom and dad to the cities to go to Mall of America.

The kids were super excited for Nickelodeon Universe. We got to the park right at 10am, and the kids had fun going on rides and staying busy. The Paw Patrol Lookout Tower play area was new for us, and both kids really enjoyed playing in that area. Rachel, Carlos, and Elena met us there later in the morning, and we enjoyed some more rides. Emma loved the roller coaster, swings, bumper cars, and the Paw Patrol play area. We also took Elliott on his first roller coaster, and he didn't really know what to think about that. He was kind of scared, but did have fun. He really liked the bumper cars and Paw Patrol.

We also spent some time in Legoland, and walking around the mall. It was a fun day, but there were so many people at the mall on a Saturday. We ate supper at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and then we headed to our hotel, which was connected to the mall. We took the kids to the pool and swam for a while, then had some snacks and visited in the rooms, and then the kids asked to go to bed because they were so tired. It was a successful, tiring day.

On Sunday, we pretty much woke up and headed for home. We stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home, and then hung out at my mom and dad's for a little while to break up all the driving. We watched some football, and visited with Ryan a little, and then headed for home. What a weekend!

This past weekend, I had a girls' weekend in Wisconsin Dells. Samantha organized a trip to Wisconsin Dells for a bunch of us girls from High school. It was a really fun weekend. The drive was kind of long and boring, but the hotel suite was beautiful and the waterparks were really fun.

It was about 5.5 hours to get to Wisconsin Dells. Ashley and I drove together from Sioux Falls. We met Holly, Samantha, Andrea, and Brittany at the hotel. Our room had 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a full kitchen, a beautiful living room, and a washer and dryer even. It was really nice. We brought our own groceries and made our own meals for the weekend, which was really nice and a good way to save money. The hotel was also connected to 3 waterparks, so we spent some time being big kids and enjoying some pools and waterslides. There was also a lot of alcohol drinking and games involved. It was a really fun way to decompress and enjoy just hanging out with the girls.

This week has been back to reality. And cold. Luckily, we have nothing going on the next couple of weekends, and I am so happy to be able to stay home, catch up on some things, and just enjoy relaxing not driving anywhere.

Here's to warmer weather!!

Enjoying the Amusement Park 

Bumper cars!!

Elliott showing off his talent at balancing a crayon 

Girl's Weekend!!

Emma got to go Ice Fishing!!