Here’s our ride for the week - a GMC Acadia. It’s a smooth ride, and the kids like it because there’s a lot of space in back.
While driving to Battle Lake, we went through some serious rainstorms that were deafening and took our visibility to near-zero … poor Mom, who was driving at the time.
Our dinner choice at Mall of America was Wahlburgers (of the celebrity Wahlburgers brothers), where we all had gourmet hamburgers.
That was followed by ice cream at Coldstone Creamery.
The kids went on as many rides as time (and money) allowed, choosing the big ones mostly, including The Odd Family:
The Avatar: Last Airbender:
And when Jillian and Tor went to the SpongeBob rollercoaster, Bridget and Dad opted for the Backyardigans swing:
This was a must-pic for Dad, since one of the kids’ favorite Nickelodeon shows was Backyardigans. They didn’t ride it though:
While walking through the Nickelodeon park, we happened to run into Bridget’s former 12-U LC Elite club volleyball coach Sarah (who was in Minneapolis coaching her daughter’s team in Nationals):
That was followed by running into former teammate Avery’s mom Megan, also there for volleyball.
Our first stop in the Mall of America was the Lego Store (after feeding some hungry and tired kids at Chipotle and Noodles World). They had every system imaginable, including the most expensive ones. The kids each picked out a Lego keychain (Jillian: Shark Guy, Bridget: Mile Morales, Tor: Gold Brickman, Dad: Hulk)
The security check was a bit challenging, as one of the kids got randomly drawn for inspection, meaning the adults (us) had to be swabbed … and Mom came up positive, so she had to go through the full pat-down. Oh well. Afterwards, the kids got donuts and hot cocoa, and adults got coffee. We were last to board, and the kids got to sit together:
