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| Cheese Head for a Day in Wisconsin! |
I thought that I was sneaky last night when I put Keaton in her pack n play but she noticed around 2 that she wasn't near me and politely requested to rejoin my bed! Ha! I move pretty quick in the middle of the night when there is a possibility of her waking up four other children. Around 5, I woke up to a thud-Anderson was on one side of me, Keaton on the other and Graham had been on the other side of Keaton. Had been, until he fell off the bed. He popped right back up and I told him to go lay with his Daddy.
This trip has been 13 days long and the kids are still loving the hotel breakfast. The plan tomorrow is for Robby to go downstairs and bring some food back to save us some time. We explained all of this to them but it still probably won't go over well. They eat more stuff for breakfast than you could believe. It is almost comical how much they eat.
We managed to leave the hotel 9:20 a.m. this morning and we drove 284 miles yesterday. Our first stop this morning was Wisconsin! Most of the kids needed Wisconsin so I was very glad we could make it across the border. Quite a few kids needed Idaho too but we weren't able to make it so that will have to be done on our next Yellowstone trip.
Anyway, we went to the Bass Lake Cheese Factory. Not a whole lot was going on there but we were able to look in the windows and see where they make the cheese. We finally finagled a sample from the lady and even got a few cheese head pictures-and isn't that really why you come to Wisconsin anyway? We ended up buying cheese curds for a snack along with some cranberry cheese. Both were very good-actually, I might have some of that cranberry cheese now. We were about to buy some cinnamon cheese but the lady warned us that it was very sharp. She even gave me a sample to try it out. Later Reagan asked me if it was any good and I told her that if I had been a kid I would have spit my sample out on the floor but since I was a grown up I had to swallow it and smile.
We went to a picnic table on the grounds of the cheese place to eat our cheese. We pulled out the plates and crackers from the car and just had ourselves a little mid morning snack. It was pleasant with the sun out. We decided to wear shorts today and when the sun is out it is fine but a bit chilly when it gets cloudy. But no one really wanted the ever wear their coats so the kids must not have been cold.
Robby's folks are currently in Helena, Montana and he was saying that Helena was the capital. And then we started trying to remember where Minnesota's capital was. Even though the kids and I sing their states and capitals song weekly, I still couldn't think of it. Robby was pretty sure but we did have to double check to make sure it was St. Paul. As we were trying to decide, Robby told the kids that he would give a candy bar to anyone who knew the capital of Minnesota. Graham replied "is it the letter B?"-like capital letter B.
We circled and circled trying to get to the capitol building. Finally we made it and Reagan, Anderson and Graham all climbed out to take a few pictures. When we were driving up, Reagan asked if they would be able to run again like they did at the last capital. We didn't know but fortunately there was plenty of running space and they were able to run around the grass for a few minutes before getting back in the car. Keaton and Campbell were snoozing so I stayed back with them.
We had been given a tip to eat at Mickey's Diner in St. Paul and it was right near the capitol so we did that. It was a tiny, tiny place-not really made for a family of 7! Ha! But we squeezed in one of their booths-and I mean squeezed! Robby, Campbell and Anderson on one side, Me, Reagan and Graham on the other and we wedged Campbell and her carseat up under the table. Seriously. It was one tight fit but we made it. The food was typical diner food and we had a burger, pancakes, 2 grilled cheeses and a BLT and we pretty much devoured everything.
After lunch, we went to Bloomington and played at the Hyland Park Playground. I had somehow found it and let me tell you, that playground was amazing! It was like 20 Mcdonalds play areas combined, plus the normal park slides, along with a neat ropey climbing area and there was even a play area that had not yet opened up. Crazy! I had never seen anything like it-the kids would have still been there playing. When we drove up, Anderson caught a view of the playground between the trees and he was trying to tell the others about what he had seen. Robby told him that we were going to sit and read some books before we started playing and the child had the most horrible look on his face. After he figured out we were kidding, he ran ahead of us to look at the playground and you should have seen his face-like a kid on Christmas morning. They were so content and there were zillions of things to do. We let them play for over an hour and then it was time for me to go to my playground-Ikea!!
Reagan, Anderson and Graham are big enough to go to the kiddie area. Campbell is not potty trained (and will probably never be at the rate we are going) so she could not go. I distracted her while we dropped the others off. When Robby returned with out them she started asking where they were. Robby said that were at school and then asked if she wanted to go to school. That child kept saying "yes, I go school." She knew something was up for them not to be there. Though after a bag of fruit snacks, she forgot about those brothers and her sister. Actually, she really enjoyed shopping with us since we let her walk around-it helps when there is just one kids walking and not 4!
I found quite a few things to put on my Ikea wish list/return list. And I bought a bag, straws, kitchen scrub brushes and a spatula-woo hoo! I am one exciting gal! Ha! I love me some Ikea. In just a few weeks when our addition is finished, I will need an immediate return trip to Ikea to pick me up some things to fill our new space.
After Ikea, we went right across the street to the Mall of America. We had mentioned getting Reagan an outfit for her American Girl as her souvenir. I know that isn't really something you can look at and remember about the trip but it is better than a stuffed animal. That is what she wants to buy everywhere we stop and we sure do not need any more stuffed animals. Anyway, we looked and looked and looked finally she narrowed her choices down to a soccer outfit, pajamas and a beach outfit. It was a pretty hard pick and probably if she would have pushed the issue I would have bought her all of them (don't tell Robby). I can be a sucker like that sometimes. She finally picked the pajamas as her choice.
The boys, Campbell and Keaton spent their time playing in the lego play area. As Reagan and I were leaving, I looked at Campbell and saw she had climbed INTO the bowl of legos. They enjoyed playing and even took a picture of something they wanted to put on their Christmas list. And then someone offered them a few ride tickets that they were not going to use.
So as Reagan and I walked out, I saw Robby buying more ride tickets (he is a sucker like that too sometimes). Everyone was able to do one more ride tonight. Anderson was my brave little guy and rode a roller coaster that we had seen and not rode yesterday-actually was the same one that Robby and I rode when we were on our way to Hawaii about 8 years ago. Reagan and Graham rode the log ride again and Campbell rode a little roller coaster that we didn't do yesterday. i was on the little roller coaster with Campbell and that child started screaming on the ride. Not screaming because she was scared-just screaming because that is what she realized you do on rides. She is a mess!
After all of the rides were finished, we headed back to our hotel. It was nearly 8 but we still let the kids go swimming. They started out in the hot tub and just sat around for the longest time. Eventually, everyone but Graham moved to the big pool and played. Graham just sat in the hot tub-that child was so exhausted. After swimming, Robby hosed them off at the pool and they came upstairs and put on pajamas.
It was around nine, when we finally had supper. I made supper in the hotel room and they all sat on towels to eat the sandwich, chips, yogurt and milk. After Reagan and I read a book to everyone, it was bedtime and it didn't take too long for everyone to go to sleep!
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