We left Wednesday July 4th for our trip out to Minnesota to meet with my baby group. We left bright and early at 5 am and hit the road. The drive was estimated at 10 hours but with 6 stops along the way so Aiden could run around it took us 12 hours. The first night we got dinner and just hung around the hotel. The next morning the group was heading to Valley Fair, an amusement park, since Aiden wouldn't have as much to do there we headed to Mall of America.
Day Three was the Minnesota Zoo. When you first get there you walk through a building with some smaller animals and birds. It was quite impressive walking through that part. We were very excited to see the rest of the zoo. We headed outside and stopped to see a bird show.
After the bird show we headed for the tractor that took you back to the farm. While waiting for the tractor to get there Aiden played on the playground. The farm was a full working farm with cows they milked. A litter of pigs had just been born so we got to see those also. After some lunch at the farm house we were off to the dolphin show. The dolphins were hard to take pictures of b/c they were so fast. Aiden had fallen asleep before we got there so he and Gary sat the show out.
From there we caught the monorail that ran all around the zoo.
It drove slow enough to see all the animals from above. The odd thing about the zoo was it did not have very many animals. They didn't have the typical animals you think of when you think of the zoo. No elephants, zebras or lions but they did have a moose...
That night consisted of taking over the hotel's room again, the kids playing and the adults drinking.
Saturday we were off to the Mall of America again to the Underwater Adventure Aquarium. They have lots of neat fish and a ton of sharks. We even got to touch a shark or stingray.
From there some were off to the mall to shop, since we had already been there we headed off on our own adventure. I had been looking online and found a park, Minnehaha Falls, that wasn't too far away so we decided to go check it out. The park was beautiful with lots of trees and a gorgeous waterfall.
That night things were quiet , as three families had headed home. We said our goodbyes early and headed to bed. We had an early wakeup call and were out the door at 5 am. With a slight detour that took us through downtown Chicago we still made it home in 12 hours. Aiden was such a great kid in the car, but I think it's going to be awhile before our next long road trip!