Weekend Getaway

This past weekend we had a little vacation to the north shore!  We left Friday morning and headed to Hayward and the National Fishing Hall of Fame!  Jason has been wanting to go for awhile and this trip was a great opportunity - it broke up our drive for the kids :)

Giant musky statue with 2 kids in it's mouth! (click to enlarge)

After looking around and letting the kids explore we got back on the road stopping only to picnic for lunch!

Our first night we decided to hang out at the hotel and swim, order pizza and explore the rocky beach.  The pool wasn't a huge hit but eventually both kids somewhat warmed up to it.

Watching Amelia and Joe run on the beach, throw rocks in the water and wade in the freezing water (their feet turned pink!) was seriously the highlight of the trip for me - they were so happy and free!  We went out both nights and it was the most relaxed I felt all weekend.   

Bath time was fun on the trip because we had a whirlpool tub in our room!  

Amelia begged us to come in the "big bath" with them and on night two daddy obliged.  They thought it was great!  

And now, the reason for our trip...A Day Out With Thomas!  Thomas the Tank Engine made his way to Duluth, MN and we went to see him and take a ride on him!

There were lots of activities set up at the site including bounce houses, bubbles, train tables, story time, meetings with Sir Topham Hat, entrance to the Lake Superior Railway Museum and more!  We got there several hours before our train time and it was the best thing we could have done!  We got to do everything without the crowds and long, long lines :)

Amelia loved the inflatable slide!

Joey could have played at the train tables ALL day!

We took our ride on Thomas at noon!

Excited boy waiting in line :)

It was a short twenty minute ride through the depot and to the edge of Canal Park but both kids had a blast!  It was their first real train ride and who better to give it to them than one of their favorite engines?!  Joe was so overwhelmed he passed right out on that twenty minute train ride:

Little buddy was out cold!

Once again we spent the evening at our hotel :)  

Family photo on Lake Superior

Joe brought his "wormy" with and for some reason kept throwing him in the lake and then he would panic and Amelia would scream, "I'm coming!  To the rescue!"  It was pretty cute :)

 

Jason took Amelia to rent a movie from the front desk and they had a little movie night while I got into bed early.  I hadn't slept well the night before because I had two kiddos right up against me nearly pushing me out of bed!  *we had a king suite so we all shared the king bed!

My morning view :)

Sunday morning we got checked out and headed to Canal Park in Duluth.  We got there just in time to see the lift bridge go up for a ship to go into the harbor.

Waving at the ship's crew!

While Joe pushed the stroller around Amelia chased seagulls - which Jason said was one of his favorite parts of the weekend.

She just could not slow down and kept running back and forth!

On our way home we stopped at Pattison State Park to check out Little and Big Manitou Falls.

We lucked out and there were parking lots nearby both falls so we didn't have to hike (which helped us get home earlier!)  

The ride home was a bit rough with restless kids but there were times where they were both happy.  Proof:

Once we got home they wanted to play trains since they each got a new wooden Thomas character train Saturday.  I was too wiped out to want to drag out our wooden train sets and help them set something up etc so I offered the road rug and (luckily) they Amelia was fine with it!

Overall we had a wonderful weekend.  No matter how wonderful it was I can't deny that it was stressful.  We were out of the (loose) routines we hold at home and we were stuck in the car a lot!  I can also tell you we were quickly reminded of why we rarely go out to eat as a family...can you say stress?  The kids and I eat fast food on Thursday because with speech it just works out better time-wise.  Fast food vs. a sit down, we found out, are two very different ball games!  Joe is just not at a good age for eating out and it doesn't help that we have two very high energy children that feed off of each other, ha!  

We are off to a strange start this week because Jason got called up for jury duty so the kids are spending some time at my parent's house so my sister can watch them and I don't have to miss work!  I suppose we will settle back into things at home later this week :)