Weekend Recap (Duluth Edition)

Yeah, I'm totally late on this...since this was LAST weekend. But we had a fun weekend, and I want to document. So...better late than never right?

So LAST weekend we went to Duluth! Jeromy and I both took Friday off, so that we could make it a little bit of a longer weekend. We headed out mid-morning. We stopped for a quick lunch, and made it up there around 2:30 or so.

When we came into town it started raining, so we stopped at the mall quick, and then checked in at the hotel. Since it was still raining at that time, we hit the pool for a bit. I REALLY wish we would have taken some pictures, because Linnea LOVED it. Lots of happy shrieks and smiles.

After our splash in the pool we got cleaned up and went to Fitger's, one of our favorite Duluth restaurants. Linnea was a little squirrelly, but it was nice to enjoy a nice dinner out.

When we were done with dinner, it typically would have been about Linnea's bedtime at home. But we wanted to stretch the time a bit since we were staying in a hotel, and didn't want to be totally in for the night by 7:00. Additionally, when we were at the mall earlier we saw that Barnes and Noble was having a Frozen party. Our girl LOVES Frozen, so we decided to check it out.

The party was fun. They had a little storytime, treats, crafts, and a sing-a-long. They even had costumed characters! Interesting story though...is that the characters were not affiliated with Barnes and Noble, and weren't hired characters! I overheard them talking after the event, and they were just two adults who were Frozen fans who showed up! They turned out to be big entertainment for the gaggle of little girls that were there - they did pictures and meet and greet afterwards. Barnes and Noble really owes them one!

Linnea called them the "girl Elsa" and the "Elsa man." LOL!!

After the Frozen party, we made our way back to the hotel and got ready for bed. Bed time was one of the things I was most nervous about for the trip. Linnea was really little when we spent our last night in a standard hotel room, and it wasn't a great experience. I was running a half-marathon, and Linnea was up half the night crying. I was so on edge that she was going to wake other people up, and we had a really hard time getting her back to sleep.

I knew this time would likely go better, but I was still nervous about just how well it would go. It helps that Linnea is sleeping in a "big girl bed" now. So we got her settled in, surrounded by pillows. We had her pillow, blankie, and stuffed animals. We did our same bedtime routine. And headed out of the room. We were hoping to be able to hang out in the lobby, but the reception for the monitor wasn't good in the lobby. So Jeromy hung out in that area, and I sat outside the room. I got a few funny looks and comments, but it was actually okay. I brought my pillow and blanket out there, and just laid and read my book. There was a couple "Mama, I have to go potty"'s, but before long, she was out!

After a bit, Jeromy and I snuck back in, and went to bed ourselves. That first night, we all slept great! What a relief!

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning, and got ready for our morning with Thomas! We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel (which was surprisingly really good), and hopped in the car to go to the train depot.

We booked our tickets for the first ride of the day, to beat the rush as much as we could. Even for the 9:00 ride, it was already a zoo!

We got into the gates and picked up our wristbands and event map (yup, there was that much going on!) and got ready to board Thomas! (Note: they had a professional photographer taking pictures. I had them take one, thinking it would be maybe what...$7, maybe $8 for a print? No. Try $19!! Needless to say, we just took our own pictures). Thomas was pretty cool. His eyes moved and he talked! Watching Linnea see that was really awesome.

Ready for the ride! Linnea was really excited to get on the train, but then was pretty underwhelmed (as were Jeromy and I) by the actual ride. It was about 20 minutes total, very slow, and mostly through the train yard. Wahhhh wahhh...

My girl and I on the train

After the ride, we checked out the train museum. Lots of old trains to explore, and a really cool, HUGE model train at the center of the museum. It was super, super, busy, but still had fun.

Once we made it through the museum (Linnea's favorite part was playing with the Thomas play sets), we headed back outside, where they had a ton more fun things to explore - bounce house, inflatable slide, face painting, bubbles, and more Legos and trains to play with. It was tons of over stimulation, but lots of fun too.

Linnea LOVED the bounce house and inflatable slide

My turn to pose with Thomas with Linnea and her painted face

By about 11:00 or so we had had plenty of Thomas fun, so we decided to leave, and find some lunch. We chose to head to one of our favorites...Betty's Pies! Yum! They have the best wild rice burgers! (It was my second wild rice burger in as many days, because I had one at Fitger's too. I think Betty's Pies version is my preferred one...so good!!).

After lunch we went back to our hotel. We were a bit late with Linnea's nap, but we were all so tired that it wasn't long before all three of us were crashed for a couple hours. By about 4:00 Linnea woke up, and we (FINALLY!) had the opportunity to go down to Canal Park and enjoy the lake!!

I think Linnea would have thrown rocks in the lake all day if we let her...

This is what we ended up with as our family picture, since Linnea was being such a stinker about taking a nice picture.

Linnea loved watch the boats, and seeing the bridge go up and down. We walked around Canal Park a bit and did some shopping, and then had dinner outside at Little Angie's.

We went back to the hotel, and did our typical bed time routine. Again, it went well! This night we did not sleep as well. For some reason I was up EVERY hour of the night. I couldn't get comfortable. Jeromy was snoring, and Linnea was talking/making noise in her sleep. That, and the hotel was so quiet. I sleep better with some white noise. All in all, sleep in the hotel went well, and for that I am relieved.

On this morning, Sunday, we once again had breakfast in the hotel (yay free, yummy breakfast!), and got ready for our boat cruise!

Jeromy and I had gone on this same boat ride during our babymoon trip, chronicled in my old blog here.

The weather was really nice. Pretty warm, but overcast with a nice breeze. The boat ride was nice. Our tour guide was better than the last time, and it's always fun to be on the water. Linnea was a little stir crazy, but did okay, all things considered.

We got to go under the lift bridge...it was fun to watch.

Such a pretty city...

This is how she spent most of the boat ride. Why yes, that is a teeny tiny little seam of the boat that she is insisting on standing on.

Don't worry, Daddy (or Mama) was always close by...

It's too bad she's such an unhappy child...

Family selfies... (us-ies??)

By the time the boat docked again, it was time for lunch. We debated for a bit about whether to eat in town before leaving, or to eat on the road. We would have preferred to eat in town, but when we wandered into Canal Park, everything was really busy, so we opted to eat on the road.

Random awesomeness - I ran into a neighborhood best friend from my childhood right after we got off the boat! She lives in CA, but was in Duluth for a family reunion! It was crazy, but great to see her, her dad, and brother (and his family). It had probably been at least 5 years...if not 10 since I last saw any of them!

We left Duluth just as it started to rain (good timing!). After a quick pit stop for lunch (and a few fun pictures), we were back home!

Although it was a whirlwind, we had a great trip. It was nice to get away, and always nice to be on our favorite lake. As much as we love Duluth, we are looking even more forward to our trip to Grand Marais at the end of September. It's much more our speed...quiet...relaxed... less than 2 months! Woo hoo!