Stockerts Visit the Big City

We did something unusual for us - took a vacation! Although it was quick and close, the Mall of America was fun for the boys. (Yes, I dressed them alike, which seems silly, but turned out to be a great idea. They were easy to keep track of in the crowds.)

We started in the Underwater Adventures Aquarium, which was pretty cool. This is a young alligator.

The main attraction at the aquarium is the enormous shark tank. The viewing area is a long, winding tunnel through the aquarium, so you can see the sharks from all angles. It was pretty cool! This picture doesn't do it justice, but maybe you get the idea.

One of the objectives of the aquarium was protection and preservation of sea life, and sharks in particular. We watched a movie about the mistreatment of sharks and efforts to protect them.

After the aquarium and lunch, we bought our ride wristbands for the amusement park and rode the rides until 10 pm. This park used to be called Camp Snoopy, but Nickelodeon recently took over and re-branded all the rides with their characters. It was actually really fun! The rides are full-fledged amusement park rides, some so intense that we didn't even try them. This one was a vertical drop.

This roller coaster was my favorite.

The Mall of America also houses a Lego store, which features many giant Lego models, like this one of Boba Fett.

The next day we visited the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. That was super fun, too. There are several levels of kid-centered exhibits.

There were the usual dinosaurs and such, but they also had a huge exhibit on the human body, another on germs and illness, and one on weather. Those exhibits were totally hands-on.

The boys loved it.

Here's a sign that we were on a totally American vacation - the hotel we stayed in was right across the street from the Mall of America, but they ran a shuttle bus to the mall every hour from 10 am to 10 pm. We walked a couple of times, and we rode a couple of times. Admittedly, the street was several lanes wide of very busy traffic, but we did just fine, and it was a 5-minute walk at most.

Although we vacationed at one of the largest malls in the country, the only shopping we did was at the Lego store. It was a great family vacation, and I hope we created some lasting memories for the boys.