Staycation Report One

Whew!  Finally, a break in the action to fill my clamoring audience in on the details of our family "staycation!"  Steve's siblings are on Spring Break this week, so his family came out to the Twin Cities to spend some time with us and the babes.  We're having a blast and keeping busy showing them around some of our favorite spots in the area.

Here's me, Matthew, and Nathan at the beginning of our day at the Mall of America, visiting Nickelodeon Universe where Uncles D & A are about to spend many hours fighting G-forces.

 Uncle D, Me, Uncle A, and Aunt L: I conceded to riding ONE roller coaster of their choice - The Fairly Odd Coaster.  I found it fairly odd that the thrill wasn't quite the same as it was more than half a decade ago, when I last rode a coaster.

At the Rainforest Cafe, Nathan and Matthew tried out the "big boy" restaurant high chairs for the first time.  They sat and ate very well, but seemed a little leery of the big yellow Moray eel staring at us and the gorillas beating their chests overhead.

 Here we are in in the "Tropics Trail" at the Minnesota Zoo on Staycation Day Two!  We saw monkeys, turtles, flamingos, and a Malayan tapir in there!

We took the monorail around the zoo to see bears, bison, tigers and allegedly, moose.

Aunt L and Uncle A enjoyed Discovery Bay, where kids big and small are allowed to touch the starfish.

Days One and Two wiped the boys out, so I'm home with them this afternoon to rest while the others galavant around the Minneapolis Art Institute, Punch Pizza, and heaven only knows where else!  Stay tuned for more Staycation reports!