Our Thanksgiving Getaway

Our Trip to Minneapolis!
On Monday, November 21st, I drove to Appleton to pick-up my parents.  We had dinner together and which we turned into a little Birthday Party for my mom.  I made a white cake with chocolate frosting which is one of her favorite desserts.  My parents spent the night as we were all leaving in the morning to head to Minneapolis for 5 days.  It was fun to have extra guests in the house overnight. 
Morning arrived and we headed off to Minneapolis.  We had 7 people in the van since my parents and Dave’s mom were along.  The trip went smoothly, but I believe that Dave was very happy when we arrived at our destination and he could escape from the backseat he had shared with the boys.  Having been trapped in the van for five hours, our first order of business was to take the boys swimming to get their energy out.  We had fun in the hotel pool. 
Since it was my mother’s birthday we let her pick were we went for dinner.  She loves the salad bar at Ruby Tuesday, so that is where we went.  Ruby Tuesday is located at a mall so we had fun checking the stores out.  The best part was the See’s candy store.  This is our favorite chocolate and it was fun to have a sample.  We all enjoyed the Brookstone Store and had fun seeing what cool technology items are available.  Finally, we made a stop at Santa with both boys. 


John arrived as we were finishing at the mall.  We headed back to the hotel so that he could get settled.  Since he had missed celebrating Mom’s birthday with us we decided to head to the Rain Forest Café at The Mall of America and have one of their special Volcano Desserts!  We had always wanted to have the Volcano dessert, but had always been full by the time we finished eating.  It was fun to have the special Sparkler Candle.  Since, Dave’s birthday was in November also and we were using his birthday coupon, the server also brought out a Sundae with a candle for him.

On Wednesday, we headed off to IKEA.  We all enjoy our trips to IKEA.  Ryan enjoyed the play area, Rosi found some new silverware, and the rest of us enjoyed looking at all of the fun ideas.  For lunch we enjoyed the great, inexpensive food from their café.  Then we headed over the Mall of America.  Today was our shopping day.  We had fun checking out the stores, especially the puzzle/game store.  After some swimming time in the pool it was time for dinner at the Olive Garden.
Thanksgiving morning brought excitement to the boys.  It was time for our annual trip to Nickelodeon Adventure.   Just like last year, the park was almost empty.  John, Laura, Dave, Ryan and Josh enjoyed all of the many rides.  Some of our favorites were the Pepsi Roller Coaster and the Log Ride.   John and I were addicted to the ghost shooting ride.  John could not stand that I kept beating him and we had to play the game on the ride until he finally was able to get the high score of the day and win.  Ryan had a hard time shooting the targets, so he was not amused with our challenge.  Sometimes sibling rivalry does not end, even when we are adults and should know better.  I think this challenge and ride was one of my favorites.  Ryan, John, and I rode the roller coaster so many times that we started making faces when we knew it was taking our picture. 









Meanwhile at the hotel, Dad watched the Packers game and checked out the Black Friday specials.  Around 2pm we picked up Dad and headed to the Cracker Barrel.  We had just enough time waiting for our table to enjoy shopping in the store.  Everyone enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner and decided it was more than enough. 


To work off our dinner we headed back to the amusement park.  Mom and Dad went to see a movie, while Rosi decided to rest at the hotel room.  We played at the park until it closed down at 7pm. 
We helped to tired boys to bed and then headed down to the hotel lobby with two laptops and two IPADs.  It was time to begin our Black Friday shopping.  We were able to purchase a majority of our items online.  Shopko’s online sale did not start until Midnight so we left Dave at the hotel with the boys and instructions on what to buy.  John, Mom, Dad, and I headed to Wal-Mart for the 10pm specials. Upon arriving we were shocked to find millions of people at the store and police cars everywhere.  Okay, maybe not millions but it felt like millions.  Dad dropped us off and we divided to get our lists.  By 10:20pm we had purchased our items and were on our way to the Mall of America. 
John thought the Barnes and Noble opened at Midnight, so that is why we were there.  John saw a line of people and it looked like fun so he decided to join it.  It was to get a special bracelet so that you could come back at 5am and see what you won.  In the mean time I went and sat by the Lego store and they were opening at midnight and having some specials.  I was first in line and had a great time talking with the lady next to us.  At about 11:30pm a guy came up to us and told us we could not sit by that door.  I asked “why” and he said that the line was on the other side of the store.  He stated that he had been there for 3 hours and we could not cut in front of him.  I explained that we were not cutting and we were going to stay at this door.  He knocked on the door and asked the staff which door was going to open first.  The store clerk stated that all three would open at the same time.  With that answer he headed back to his door and left us alone.
Finally, we headed back to the hotel and crashed into bed.  I was thankful that I was not John and did not have to get up at 4:30am.  He headed back to the mall to learn that he had won $50 of popcorn.  He decided that in the future this contest was not worth his time and effort.  Around 9am I headed back out shopping with John and my parents.  We went to Barnes and Noble and purchased 8 Lego sets at 50% off.  I was set for Christmas and Birthdays!  We headed back to the hotel and got everyone for a final trip to IKEA for lunch.  Everyone was a little tired so we took it easy on our last night.  Dave and I had a quick date at the Bar in the Hotel and played Ticket to Ride.     
Saturday, brought our trip home and the end to our special trip to Minneapolis.

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