Family Vacation

For Christmas 2012 my parents were generous enough to get us all Twins tickets! So off to Minneapolis we went. The first day we left Fargo midday and did a little shopping in Albertville with my family. While we were there I finally bought James some tennis shoes to fit over his new AFOs. James hasn't had shoes in a couple of years because his AFOs have had grippers on the bottom-he didn't really need shoes. As winter time came this past year I realized that we were outside more getting on and off the bus and the poor kid had just socks and AFOs on! For the winter we used a blanket to cover his little toes but this coming year he'll have shoes!! Shopping for shoes to fit over his AFOs was interesting. I found the easiest way to do it was to try shoes that tied instead of velcro-I just found it easier to make the shoe as wide as a could. We had the lady at the shoe store measure his AFO and then we tried Wide shoes with shoelaces. First I loosened the shoe up and fit the AFO in. Once I knew I could fit the AFO in I tried to the shoe on while James was wearing the AFO. Definately a learning experience. On the easier end of shoe shopping, Elliot got himself some Spiderman shoes. Man does that kid like Spiderman! He was pretty excited.

That night we just hung out by the pool and ate supper as one big family in our parent's hotel room. The pool was pretty awesome for kids. The kiddie pool was a walk in pool that was heated with a pretty neat slide. The kids all loved it! James and Elliot even went swimming in the big pool with mom and dad and had a blast. James loves swimming! I've been meaning to get him into lessons-we just haven't had much free time! Elliot thought swimming was great and kept saying "kick kick kick paddle paddle paddle" He even started repeating that as we watched swimming in the Olympics this past week!

The second day we headed to the Mall of America. We did a lot of walking and a little shopping. The kids' favorite part was the Disney store. Elliot is all about the Marvel comic guys right now and we couldn't get pas the first part of the store without stopping to look at Spiderman, Iron Man, Hulk and Captain America. Of course later in the store we got to see Mickey Mouse stuff which made James' day. The kids got so tired they took nap in their strollers.

After the Mall of America we headed to Target Field to see the Twins play. James loved it! Elliot liked it when he sat still long enough to watch. To no surprise the Twins lost, but it was a pretty good game. They tried to make a come back at the end, to no avail.

Wednesday we took the kids to the Como Zoo. It was pretty good and free! The kids love looking/seeing animals, Especially James. It's fun to watch Elliot see them all too since he's learning the names and sounds that go with each animal.

All in all it was a good trip. Short and not far from home, but still good.