Day Nine...Burnsville, MN...Como Zoo

Today was another laid back day. We all slept in and spent plenty of time in our jammies. Once we all got around and Angie got home from work, we headed over to the Como Zoo. It is a great little zoo with quite a few animals.
They also have a little carnival area. Samuel was thrilled about the rides and being the suckers we are he got to ride a few. He had to ride all these on his own and was so excited. They were all a bit more intense then the rides at the Mall of America and he loved it.

Race cars

The initial drop scared Samuel a bit but once that was over he loved it.
Lots and lots of laughing!

Aunt Angie and Samuel on the train

Samuel loved driving the fire truck. They could also ride on the back and squirt water but he wanted to drive both times he rode it.

This was the most exciting ride. I was hesitant to let him go thinking he would freak out but he loved it. I can't wait to take him to Cedar Point next summer!

Liam was no thrilled to have to sit and watch all the action. I think he would have been on the rides if we would have let him.

When we were finished we headed back to the house to pick up Daddy and Uncle Caleb for dinner. We all enjoyed a great dinner at Olive Garden. After getting the boys in bed we all were able to enjoy the movie Vantage Point before finishing our evening with the Olympics.

Tomorrow will be our last day here. We head out Friday morning for a night in Iowa before visiting our friends, the Dinkins, in St. Louis.

Day Eight...Burnsville, MN...Mall of America

Well, we will be in MN for the next several days. Lots of laundry, cleaning out the van, reorganizing packed materials, resting and gearing up for a few more days in the car. While we are herewe will get to play some. Tonight we all headed over to the Mall of America.

I had never been there and wanted to check it out. I also had a great coupon for Gymboree and Samuel needed some back to school clothes. We wanted to limit our time so we headed over after dinner.

Samuel thought it was great. He rode a few rides with Daddy. Here they are on some of the favorites.

The train ride

Deigo's bus

After going to two select stores the boys played in the Lego store before we all made a pit stop at Cold Stone. By then we had all had enough. I can't imagine that I will ever care to go again. It was crazy busy and way to many stores to take in all at once.

Day Seven...Burnsville, MN

Pretty laid back day of driving. When we got up we checked out the weather and realized that it was suppose to rain near the Badlands all day. Instead of driving back 20 minutes to rain we decided to forge ahead and try to get into MN tonight instead of tomorrow.

The boys did great. They seem to really be getting use to being in the car. Liam slept and Samuel watched The Incredibles yet again. We made a stop for lunch at Ruby Tuesdays. We then rode for a few more hours before making a quick pit stop for a potty break. We had dinner at KFC (not recommended) then pulled into Angie and Caleb's around 9. Overall it was a pretty uneventful day.