So, our new town doesn't have a spring break. I know, I know. I couldn't believe it either. I had never heard of somewhere not having spring break. I figure this year, I'm okay with it because I can give myself one and just avoid subbing jobs for a week! Ha! But really, I felt the kids were ready for a break and we needed some family togetherness.
So we talked daddy into taking an afternoon off so we could head up to Minneapolis early and spend the weekend. Ga Ga and Papa were flying in from Phoenix and we wanted to meet them. It made for a nice mini getaway, even though it still wasn't anywhere warm!! (And they are watching Frozen in the car for probably the 100th time).
Friday night we stayed with Craig's brother and went out to eat yummy pizza and took the kids to Dave and Buster's.
Andrew was in his element with his cousins. He couldn't have been happier. Dave and Buster's was a little too much for me though! It was super crowded, loud and crazy! Ha!
Kerigan playing air hockey with Uncle Keith
Andrew and Jack played several games- Andrew loves this!
Daddy teaching Kerigan how to play Guitar Hero- Ha! We all headed back and put the kids to bed so we could watch the ISU game!
The next morning the girls were so excited they both had Sofia the First pajamas! As a side note- Kerigan is obsessed with pajamas. She will not be in the house without them on. It's the first thing she wants to do when she gets home and she also wants everyone else to wear their pajamas. She will get mad at Andrew if he doesn't put his on. And she won't wear any unless they have a princess on them! Seriously... this girl!
We all went out for a delicious breakfast at one of our favorites- the Original Pancake House. Then we headed to the Mall of America for a little fun!
The big kids pretty much split up from Kerigan and I because she wasn't tall enough for what they wanted to ride so she and I hung out a lot of the time. So a lot of these pictures are just of her!
I couldn't believe she was tall enough to ride this by herself! She loved it! A few months ago I couldn't have enticed her with anything to get on something like this and go by herself. She is growing up fast!
We grabbed Andrew to ride the Fly Boat! She had a blast! It was one of her favorites and she wanted to go again and again.
This is blurry because they were moving, but I love their happy little faces!
Brooke and Kerigan by another Dora statue. Kerigan was so excited about all the Dora things, but when she saw the real Dora, she was just mesmerized!
She actually stood there, held her hand and smiled! She wanted me to carry her up there first, like we learned from the Great Wolf Lodge, if you introduce her slowly, she does better! So I held her and showed her Dora's backpack. Then we touched her pretty bracelet. After that, she was sold and was fine with me putting her down. But she wanted Boots (the monkey) to go away! Ha! So he stood in the background and she never knew he was there. She has not stopped talking about this. She still tells everyone she sees that she met Dora, and she held her hand and touched her pretty bracelet.
This was a Dora train ride, so of course she had to ride it!
All by herself again!
This one she had to ride with me and I was secretly glad. Ha! I was getting kind of sad thinking she was big enough to ride everything all by herself and she's only 2!
Surprise! Ga Ga and Papa showed up at the MOA and the kids were so surprised and excited to see them!
We all had lunch. Craig was the entertainment as usual. I love how Jack is reaching to take a picture of him with Keith's cell phone. Classic.
Andrew with his big cousin Jack- he looks up to Jack so much and just adores him!
I got to take my little man on my favorite ride- the Pepsi roller coaster. It's a super tame ride, but that's the way I like it! The one in the background of this picture? Not.so.much. I think the big kids rode this with their daddies!
Here we are on the pepsi coaster!
Craig's brother's family and our family. We love being able to visit them when we go to Minneapolis! It is so great to be able to stay with them and the kids just love playing together. So blessed to have cousins for our kids to grow up with!
And someone finally crashed after all that fun!
We headed to our hotel to stay with Ga Ga and Papa for a night too! We decided we wanted to stay in since we had been busy all day so we got pizza and ate it at the hotel and went swimming!
Ga Ga and Papa brought gifts for the kids back from Arizona and they were so excited!
We always love swimming at the hotel!
We forgot her floaties but she was still super brave and kept wanting to jump right in! She didn't even care if someone was there to catch her!
Andrew is getting to be such a good swimmer. We are starting him with private lessons again this week and plan to continue them throughout the year so he will keep up with what he's learned.
These two were so cute together. Kerigan kept hugging him and she wanted him to carry her around the pool! So sweet.
Sunday morning we slept in, had a nice breakfast at the hotel (made our own waffles- yum!) went for one more swim, and relaxed for a little bit before heading back home. We stopped at an outlet mall on the way home. It felt like a perfect little getaway and even though it wasn't "spring break," we made the best of it! Getting to spend time with our family was the best part!
