The Mall of The 'Merica

This weekend we had much to look forward to!

We were going to the Mall of America to enjoy our fabulous Christmas gift from Joe and Christina and baby Grace, which included tickets for the aquarium, rides, and staying overnight at a hotel.  What fun!

Every day for the past month or so Elin would ask, "When are we going to The Mall of The 'Merica?"

After many countdowns we were finally ready to go on Sunday.

First up was the mall's aquarium. Tunnels of fish.

We got to see the rays being fed.
And sawfish, and arapaima, and shark rays.
And found out how old the turtles there are (not that old . . . mostly in their 20s, in case you are wondering).
We even saw some small groups of fry in them that were being guarded by anxious fish parents.
Viggo and Svea were fascinated with the clouds (schools? shoals?!) of fry.
Are fish authorized to have babies at the Mall of America?  
Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was a little weird.

Viggo was excited to feel the texture of a slipper lobster in a touch tank. According to Viggo, these are nocturnal creatures and he was very happy they were awake.

 The jellies . . .

 . . . Elin and Svea loved them. They are really incredible.

Then we did a little shopping.

Svea and Elin went to Build-a-Bear, which was a hugely anticipated event.
They have been saving their money like crazy, by reading books and doing extra chores.
Here Svea and Elin are "fluffing" their bears post-stuffing.

If you are not familiar with Build-A-Bear, you pick out an un-stuffed bear or other animal, go through a process of stuffing it, and then add accessories.  I mean, acce$$orie$. Thankfully our girls preferred the bears in their fluffy birthday suits - no dresses, shoes, undies, or wigs (really??) required.

Elin was concerned she would over-fluff or under-fluff her bear, Buttercup.

Buttercup, post-fluffing, looked remarkably well. Perfect job, Elin!

 Svea brought her first bear, Stuffy, along on the trip so her new bear, White Chocolate, could have a friend.

Two girls and three teddy bears went to bed very happy.

 Nate took the kids swimming in the morning - the hotel had a really nice pool, which I completely forgot to take a picture of. Three wet, screaming, happy kids - there you go. Then we had breakfast and watched - oh joy! - Dirty Jobs until the mall was about ready to open.

Svea and Elin are all set with their boxed bears, backpacks and suitcase.

Back to the mall! On Monday we spent pretty much all day at Nickelodeon Universe.

By the way, Monday is a good day to be there. Slow in the morning, and semi-busy, but never packed.   All the lines for the rides were very short - or even better, there was no line.

Viggo informs me of his extremely high point score on the Ghost Blasters ride.

I thought for sure the girls would be scared by this ride.

I was completely wrong. Elin loved shooting at ghosts - and at the end of the day, this ride was revisited. Who you gonna call?!

 There was a ropes course and Viggo got to do some climbing.

Can you spot him?

While Viggo was climbing, the girls did the slide. They hiked up that huge circular staircase (not fully pictured) and slid down many, many times.

Then there were kiddie bumper cars.

And big kid bumper cars.
Svea's driving . . . oh dear.

And then Nate and the big kids went on the Brain Surge.

Yes, that is a huge, electric green cerebrum. And it lights up!
Light-up brains signal one thing to me: that this is a ride to avoid.

 What the Brain Surge does is - well, it's kind of like a giant wheel (the green brain is the cog). Each spoke has two seats at the end. The seats are conjoined and they have a joystick. One person can operate the joystick, which can tip you over - while you are spinning in circles.  So you can be spinning around in circles while spinning around in circles. Does that make sense? Good.

Nate and Svea sat in seats together. Nate let Svea drive, and she was unexpectedly reckless. Apparently they were upside-down or spinning most of the time while they were spinning.

Elin and I opted for something a little more kind and gentle.  We took in the view on a hot air balloon ride. Several times during the ride Elin kissed my hand and told me I was her queen.

There's no hand-kissing or queen declaring on the Brain Surge, so I felt we made the right ride choice.

 After the balloon ride Svea and Viggo were on this thing.

 And then everyone got a little wet on the log ride.

 Viggo and I had a cozy catch-up chat while we waited for the swing ride with the girls.

I was wearing clogs, which might not have been the most practical footwear choice.  I was a little afraid  they would fly off and hit the nice people from Iowa that were seated behind us, but thankfully they stayed on (not with a little effort).

 Svea surprised us all with her love for crazy rides and was more than ready for this one, which carried you up into the air.

 She and Viggo discuss tactics before the flight.

Viggo and Svea were seat buddies for most of the rides because Elin was either with one of us, or wasn't able to do some because she wasn't quite tall enough (but there were options for shorties like her, that Viggo couldn't do either, so everyone always had something to do no matter what).

The V-man was always conscientious of Svea and made sure she was secured in her seat before he was seated, when it was just them doing a ride together.

What a nice big brother (:

 And then they got whipped around a lot, which Svea totally loved.

Svea convinced Viggo to do the Brain Surge again.
While in line, Viggo told Svea she could steer - for the entire ride.
Svea was overjoyed!

Here it looks like Viggo may be having second thoughts about that moment of generosity, though.

 Elin snuggles up with Nate.

 They survived - Viggo, only just, though.

Elin watches her big brother and sister do a zero-gravity plunge thing.

They were ready!
This was moments after the Brain Surge. I mean why not.

They went up really high, and then got dropped.
And then went back up again, and got dropped again.
That was pretty much it.
And they loved it.

Many rides were not pictured, like the ones we all did together - Elin loved the roller coasters especially, but in one she told Nate to hold on to her so she wouldn't fall out. We had a really fun day, no accidents, no flying clogs, or lost children, etc. Just a few surged brains.

I can't forget to share that while we walked around the mall, Elin often had one or both hands on her hips.

We stopped at the Lego store - again. Why not? It was right there.

The girls wanted their pictures taken with Olivia (:

We had so much fun! Thank you, Joe, Christina, and Grace!!