Whew, what a weekend! I’m fighting some major jet lag today after 4 days of traveling, mixed with daylight savings and Mason’s fun new habit of getting up at 5:30 every morning.
5:30 is the new 7:30!! All the cool moms know that.
In 4 days, we drove a total of 14 hours (11 of those with a 1-year-old in the car) and visited 4 different cities. The breakdown of events went like this:
- Thursday morning: drive 3.5 hours from Madison to Brent’s and my hometown, Rochester MN. Spend a few hours at my parents’ house.
- Thursday afternoon: Leave Mason with my parents and drive 1.5 hours to Minneapolis. Go to a Muse concert and spend the night with friends.
- Friday morning: drive 1.5 hours back to Rochester. Spend the day with my family.
- Saturday morning: drive 1.5 hours to the Mall of America (in Bloomington, MN). Wander around in the madness for a few hours.
- Saturday afternoon: drive 1/2 hour to St. Paul for our nephew Pete’s 1st birthday.
- Saturday night: drive 1.5 hours back to Rochester. Spend the night at Brent’s parents’.
- Sunday morning: drive 3.5 hours back to Madison.
Kid is obsessed with bottles. (Don’t worry, it was closed tight.)
It was a cuh-razy trip, and I’m still not sure if we’re completely sane for having done it.
BUT: it was fun.
I’m too exhausted to recap the whole thing in detail (not to mention that it would probably bore the crap out of you), so I’ll just let the pictures (and some dorky PicMonkey creations) speak for themselves.
We did the most driving this day (5 hours total), but it was worth it: by the end of it, we’d dropped Mason off with my parents and made it all the way up to Minneapolis to see Muse in concert!
The show was INCREDIBLE! We were all super impressed with the stage and lights!
If you ever get a chance to see these guys, DO IT!
It was my first night away from Mason in a long time, and I had been nervous about it…but in the end, it was SO. NICE. I really, really needed the break.
This day, we did a little mini-celebration for Mason’s first birthday at my parents’. A few weeks early, but it was the only opportunity we were going to have to celebrate with my parents.
Highlight of the event: Mickey Mouse balloons!!
And Mickey Mouse decorations…
A (100% vegan) birthday cupcake:
A very unsure birthday boy…
And a desperate escape attempt:
He would barely look at the thing, much less eat it. It probably didn’t help that it was right before his bedtime, so he was a total crankypants anyway.
The next day, when Mase was better rested, we thought we’d tried the cupcake thing one more time…
No dice. To the floor it went.
I thought he’d at least let me get a picture of him with his Mickey Mouse hat on…
No dice there either. Oh well! Better luck next year.
Saying goodbye to Grandma…
Then, off to the Mall of America! Brent and I both used to go here all the time as kids, but hadn’t been there in years. It was cool to be back, and to witness the insanity that is a Saturday at the biggest mall in the country…
We were hoping to check out the aquarium, but ended up short on time, so we just wandered around for a few hours.
Mase chewed on this bag of travel wipes for approximately 2 hours straight.
At the Disney store, we found Minnie Mouse…IN THE FLESH. (!!)
Lunch was from a place called Healthy Express. Not bad for fast food.
Catching up on some reading during lunch…
Next on the agenda: cousin Pete’s first birthday party! Happy birthday, Pete!
I think they were looking at a balloon?…
The rest of my pictures from the party came out pretty dark and grainy, unfortunately…but it was a great time!
Brent’s mom cranked up the fun level on the jumper by adding balloons:
By this point, we were all pretty ready to head home…
Finally…homeward bound!
…with an awkward, giant Mickey Mouse balloon overhead.
And we’re BACK! There’s seriously no place like home.
Which reminds me…
If you live in the Madison are and are interested in joining Kelly (!!), Sarah (!!), and I to see Oz: the Great and Powerful, please let me know ASAP! (You can shoot me a message through my Contact form.) We’ll be seeing the movie this Wednesday, March 13.
When you contact me, I’ll send you more details about the place and time. Hope to see you there!!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
it looks like it was a really fun weekend – but exhausting, i’m guessing! do you need a weekend to recover from your weekend?
can’t wait for the movie on wednesday! :)
sarah @ sarah learns recently posted…project life 2013: week seven
I LOVE the last pic of Mason with the Mickey balloon! He looks in such awe of Mickey staring at him. Sounds like a fun weekend despite all the traveling. We have the traveling joys too when we want to visit family. Fun but always exhausted by the time we get home. Especially with a toddler! Happy early birthday to Mas! Almost 1, woo hoo!
Giselle@myhealthyhappyhome recently posted…MIMM – Bloggiversary!
Good luck with that Mickey balloon – they last FOREVER! We still have a Chuck E Cheese birthday balloon from December and I am planning to sneak down to the playroom one night and make it “disappear.”
Hahaha! Well, his actual birthday isn’t for 2 more weeks, so at least we’ll have it for that…I doubt if he’d notice if it disappeared after that. :)