August 22-23 - Valleyfair and State Fair

Big week...as summer is winding down we are finishing off our summer activities. We still had the 2nd set of Valleyfair tickets left from our July vacation, so Brent took Thursday off and we went to the park after Noah got back from summer band in the morning (had a week of band camp to jump start the beginning band experience). 

It turned out to be a nice weather day.  Humidity dropped from earlier in the week. Crowds were low too because it was the first day of the State Fair too. 

We were skipping the water park this time and just concentrated on fave rides or ones Noah had never tried before. 

We all had a good time and Noah tried a couple new ones like Looping Starship and RipTide that he had never done before. He even went solo on the ones that make us sick. Very adventurous. 

Prize:

I used to love this. Now Noah went solo...

Another solo for Noah, on the right side dangling in the water. Brave. 

Then the next day after work we hit the State Fair for a few hours in the evening for snacks, snooping and to get hammock chairs that we promised Noah last year we would get this year (and he did NOT forget that promise. ). 

It wasn't a long time there but enough to satisfy til next year. (Me and Noah love the Fair, Brent not always so much)

Farewell til next August, Mn State Fair. 

Newspaper museum in Heritage Square (last year in its current location)

Miracle of Birth barn:

Our Hammock Chairs we got:

Nelson Family Vacation part 4 of 4: back to the cities

Thursday 7/18 we had to check out of our little condo on the mountain at Eagle Ridge in Lutsen. We love it there. I think that will be a place we keep returning to. We made our last big breakfast there and finished packing up to be out before 11:00 am.

It sure was a foggy departure!! Wow. Made it a little easier to head out though to not have perfect weather to leave. 

We started the jaunt back to town with some extra stops planned to get some more Park stamps and patches for Noah. When we visited Split Rock last trip he didn't yet have his Book so that was one of the stops then we would see what other parks we could reach on the way back. Once we got past the lakeshore (just past Duluth) wow what a temperature change!! Hot hot hot!

The day got longish with the heat and some parks that took us off course and onto slower routes. Once we did Taylor's Falls we agreed we were done on the treasure hunt for the day.  It was in the mid 90's and we were all tired of driving. Poor Brent got a bad sunburn on the arm out the window (unfortunately it was the injured one too).

Once we got home we unloaded to repack a bit for our weekend adventure. We were going to stay in Shakopee and do 2 days at Valleyfair (the theme park substitute since there would be no Disney this year). The guys decided they had enough of their longish hair that bugged them during the week so went for quick haircuts while I regrouped to downsize cases, get rid of dirty clothes and put our leftover food away. My mom was there too since she was watching the Fur Babies for the week (they were VERY excited to see us). 

Repacked and simplified we headed out again. Didn't get in to Shakopee until after 8 pm. After a few challenges with check in and our door lock not working in the room to let us in (they came to fix immediately) we finally got dinner (and a free beer) at like 9 pm at one of the restaurants at the hotel after a very long travel day. The waitress told Noah he could play pool for free with the leftover balls from a previous game. ;)

 No swimming tonight though the pool looked good to Noah in the Atrium. Off to bed for another day of adventure to come. We got a package with discount park tickets too. 

Friday 7/19 we got up and had a great complimentary breakfast at the hotel ( much more than the usual cereal and bagel table) and got on our way to Valleyfair. 

We didn't go last year so Noah was excited to start the rides.  Thankfully the crowds seemed light. We started with Renegade. Unfortunately technical difficulties made for a long warm wait. Some other favorites from the day were Wild Thing (Noah finally agreed to try it and loved it), Power Tower, Xtreme Swing, The Wave (you will get wet, you may get soaked) and Noah and I did Soak City water park. Brent sat out of that due to getting overheated in the afternoon and doing The Monster which TOTALLY did not agree with him.  Mostly good day though it was hot. We did IMax and a musical show to cool down and ate at retro Coasters Diner. Brent hung there with the A/C for a while to feel better. We left a little earlier than planned and headed back to the hotel to swim. 

Noah's first time on Wild Thing:

After The Wave:

Ran into Josh Tooze & family...Brent and Noah had to show him they've missed him. LOL (and they were soaked at the time since they just got off the Wave.. ;-)

Saturday morning we all were dragging a bit after our week of fun, and decided at the last minute to check out early and save our park tix for another day in August when we could go less tired and Brent felt better. We all agreed on it as a good plan. Noah had said that except for Disney this had been the best vacation ever...can't argue with that...I'll take it!  It was good for us to have some family time away from the daily stresses. Brings us all closer together again. It is a good thing.

A few farewell shots of our hotel - our room looked over the Atrium (on 2nd floor)

from out our little atrium door:

So homeward bound to chill in our own home with the Grammies stopping in and our Fur Babies super excited to have us back. 

My mom said Delia (cat) sat on our suitcase we left since Thursday. She want going to chance getting left behind again. They were happy to have their family back. 

Home Sweet Home after our 950 mile adventure ...for a while anyway. ;)

(Full set of Pix will eventually all be uploaded to https://nelsonpix.shutterfly.com/)

20110709 - Day at Valleyfair

Another Shutterfly album post to expedite pics making it to the blog. We spent a family day at Valleyfair earlier this month since we got season passes at the end of last year so we would be able to go when we wanted this summer. Noah is tall enough for pretty much everything now (well too tall for most of the new Planet Snoopy stuff - which was disappointing), so he can choose how brave he wants to be for the adventures. We didn't hit everything, but we were there a really long day (from open at 10:00 a.m. until about 10:30 p.m. after fireworks). It was crowded, but not impossible, and we had a really fun time as a family making our way through the rides and did the water park for the first time as a family. Lazy River is TOTALLY up my alley.. :) Wish the tubs had a beverage holder though -that would have made it perfect. LOL.  Fun times!!

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