A Fun Finish to a Special Week

Alexis and I are sitting at the computer together to add one last blog post to our fun filled week in River Falls. It adds a different dynamic to our house having a teenager around! :) Alexis says that we should just wait a couple more years...then we'll have two of our own! I guess that working at a middle school should have me prepared by then. At least that's what I tell myself. Really though, it has been a lot of fun having my youngest cousin stay with us for a little while during the summer again. Being the oldest of the cousins on that side of the family, I haven't had an opportunity to spend much time over the years with cousins. I'm pretty glad that Alexis was willing to stay with us again. She's a pretty special girl! (As she would say..."in many different ways.") HA!

This morning, we got up kind of early to go to church. I should clarify, we normally go to church at 8:30am, but Alexis tends to wake up closer to 11am, so it was an early morning for HER. (Just picture us sitting here giggling...)

Then, we drove to the MOA. The plan was to arrive around 10:30am because that's when the rides at Nickelodeon Universe (formerly Camp Snoopy) open. Interestingly, we actually got there about 10 minutes early! Pretty cool! We purchased unlimited ride wristbands for the 3 kids. A little pricey, but at the end of the day, it was totally worth it! Check out a few pics:

Swiper's Sweeper was the first ride we tried out. Since Finn is only 36" he was able to have a chaperone ride for free, so Torey and I were able to get in on the fun for a few rides too.


The traditional carousel ride of course -

I'm not sure if I'd be classified as a bad parent while Julia was on this ride with Alexis, because I couldn't help but giggle. She had a look of fear and surprise on her face and her pigtails were flopping up and down. Poor kid. It probably would have been easier for her had she seen someone else ride it first.

At the end of our afternoon, I asked the kids if they'd like to go on the Log Chute (water ride). Alexis sat in front, followed by Julia, Finn, and yours truly. It has been quite some time since I've been on this ride and I happen to be the one who let out the biggest scream on the first drop/splash sequence of the ride. Jeez. After the ride was done, Julia asked if we could do it again! We did! And I didn't scream the second time. :)

We're nearing the end of our special time together. I get to drive Alexis part way home - we're going to meet her mom at Norske Nook for some pie. Not too shabby!

I hope that you have enjoyed your week as much as we have.