We stayed just outside of St. Paul, MN in a city called Woodbury.  Rented a vehicle from Hertz (they gave us the big size Cadillac Escalade with dvd players for kids, etc).  We went to Rainforest Cafe the first night after arriving.  Decided to treat the kids to the Volcano desert, turns out they are afraid of sparklers… It also turns out they love jewelry stores.

Next morning we planned a fun day for the kids at Mall of America, Nickelodeon Universe.  We went through Starbucks on the way and Craig ordered his coffee, then pulled up a little (long line).  Next thing we know, we got hit.  It didn’t do much damage but messed up the cover on the back and part of it beside it.  The girl was crying and a nanny for a family (had baby in van).  It was her nanny’s family vehicle so she didn’t know where anything was.  We apologized to her and explained we had to report it and have them take care of it because it is a rental car.  Her mom was up there before we even got Craig’s coffee.  The community cops showed up within 5-10 minutes.  They were super nice.  I joked about how quick they showed up compared to FL and they joked we should have gone to Caribou instead of Starbucks.  The owner of the van also came up at the end.  I felt so bad for her but, hopefully she learned not to look at cel phone while driving and it saved her from hitting someone at a higher speed.

Nickelodeon Universe

Can I just tell you, they really get it?  Chaperones do NOT have to pay to ride with kids that are not tall enough!!!  So, we only had to buy 2 wristbands and then would switch who would ride with Zoe on the ones she was not tall enough to do by herself.  What a brilliant concept!!!  I was so frustrated at Busch Gardens with how much we spent just to stand around and watch them on the kiddie rides.  The kids had a blast.  We were there the entire day (minus the accident wasted time).

Random Things

  1. I went into a Super Target to buy Zoe more panties.  That thing was larger than any super store I had ever seen.  Craig and girls were in the car so I could not explore or play.  This had to be the saddest part of my trip!  I cannot believe how excited I felt just walking the 10 blocks inside the store to find the girls underwear!!
  2. We went to Lake Calhoun (largest lake in area).  Walked around a little and kids found a playground.  Playground was really cool – they had these scoop type things that allowed them to get sand from below, use a levy to pull it up, then dump in drains or PVC pipes to come back down to the ground.  I am grateful for whoever designed this playground.  Kudos to you for allowing kids to use imagination, get dirty and play.
  3. While at above playground, Craig mentioned going to Costco.  I asked “why do we need to go there?” (knowing bulk items and RVs do not go well together).  He said “I just miss it.” haha!  How could I say no to that.  Here is a photo of his face as he was turning on the street and could see Costco!  Sadly for him, while pulling into Costco, I saw Lakeshore Learning Center and got equally excited.  I begged to please let me go.  We went after Costco but only had a few minutes as we needed to get rental car back.  I could have easily spent an hour and several hundred dollars in there.  I told them I thought they were only a catalog store and she said they actually have another store in Tampa.  We bought the girls a game, drill set, and human body to take apart and explore.
  4. Craig grilled out steaks, we had smores and the next morning went to an IHOP that just had a bus come in 10 minutes before with 30 plus people.  We were there for almost 2 hours.

Updated Count: 4.5 people; one RV; 2,365 miles, 8 states.  We are now on our way to Iowa.