Travels with Children

We recently went to visit my parents in North Dakota, where they’ve had a real winter this year.  Mind you, it’s been plenty cold here in Minnesota, but the black fields are testament to our lack of snow.  As a result, the kids were happy to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s, where there was plenty of the white stuff.

My parents also have a nearly-perfect sledding setup.  There’s a small ravine beside/behind the house, and the top of the hill just happens to be where my dad piles the snow when he clears the yard.  Most years he backs the loader down the hill to make a nice smooth surface, but this year there was too much snow for that, so there was a good layer of white fluff to plow through with the sleds.

When we got there, the hill-top pile was pretty primitive and the kids were having a hard time getting up it with their sleds.  My brother got the loader, shaved off the top of the hill so there would be a smooth loading zone, and then cut steps into the hill.  What more could you ask for?

The first day we were there, it was about 30 degrees and sunny, with no wind.  In my opinion, that’s perfect winter weather.  The kids (and adults) had fun sledding, we borrowed some snowmobiles for slow-speed rides in the “cat cutter” trailer, and it only took about 10 minutes to make a big snowman.

The next day, it had cooled off significantly, and due to the amount of sledding on Day 1, the snow was nicely packed and the sled rides were fast.  We warmed up the rosy cheeks with hot chocolate and cookies.  That’s the other benefit of sledding at Grandma’s house.

We’re contemplating a spring trip, possibly to St. Louis, but it’s not as easy as picking a location and having our choice of any motel. The problem is that once you have more than three (or sometimes two) children, motel rooms that will accommodate your family are pretty hard to find. I’m not a person who will lie about my family size in order to get us in somewhere; nor am I willing to split up my family into two separate rooms, so our choices are limited and I have to do my homework early.

On the Accommodations for Larger Families page of this site, I’ve listed a few places where we’ve found a room for our family of six. Today, while searching for a room online, I came across this article with some good pointers: Sneak ‘em, Save ‘em: Big Families and Motels. 7 Travel Tips for Large Families also offers some advice.

If you have a large family, how do you handle travel accommodations? I’d appreciate hearing any tips. Especially if you’ve found a room in St. Louis.

Mall of America

• Hwys 494 and 77, Bloomington, MN.
• 952-883-8800.
• www.mallofamerica.com.
• Free (except for shopping, eating, and rides in the amusement park!)
• Stroller accessible.
• Restrooms and family restrooms available.

Only when you live in Minnesota can you run into the country’s largest mall just for a few errands. Of course, the four places I needed to go were on each of the four different sides of the mall, so we got a workout just getting things done.

On this February Monday afternoon, the MOA was very, very quiet, which is a dream-come-true for me. I’ve lived all my life in rural areas and I don’t like crowds, so an uncrowded Mall of America is perfect. On the downside, I only had my five-year-old with me, so I didn’t have an excuse to bring in the stroller. That meant I actually had to carry my bags myself. (This has been a rare occurrence in the last seven years of my life.) We left our coats in the car, which is a benefit of the parking ramps at the mall, and headed North, South, East, and West to get what we needed.

We stopped at Legoland to get brick separators (I wish I’d have known about those tools when I was a kid! Much better than breaking fingernails and teeth in prying the Legos apart) but didn’t stay to play. The Lego play area has changed slightly since the last time we were there; now there’s one Lego table with a race track built in, and a Duplo area for the younger tots.

My son talked me into just one ride at the amusement park, and he chose the roller coaster. It wasn’t until we were seated in the cars that I remembered how much I dislike roller coasters. He had a great time, however, yelling “INERTIA….” as we rounded the bends. Some of the rides in the park were closed as it is transformed to a Nickoledeon theme. Walking through the park, I spotted new or remodeled rides featuring the Backyardigans, Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, Rugrats, and other Nick and Nick Jr. characters.

We sat down for an early supper at Rainforest Cafe. It’s not my top choice because it’s expensive (the kids’ meals are $5.99), but it’s one of two restaurants at MOA that we consider to be allergy-friendly. (Famous Dave’s is my first choice, but we’d eaten there recently and needed a change of pace.) The entertainment at Rainforest is a factor, and we were seated right next to a fish tank, but the jungle “storm” no longer holds the interest of this five-year-old.

On the way out, we stopped in a few more stores before heading back to the car. I have a love/hate relationship with Mall of America. On the one hand, it’s just another mall, except bigger and usually more crowded. On the other hand, they do have some unique stores, and the kids love seeing the amusement park and begging for rides.

On very rare occasions, I have the opportunity to do something special with just one of my children. The Minnesota Historical Society sponsored a “History Matters” Day at the State Capitol, so I took my five-year-old, who prefers all of our outings to be historical in nature. When we arrived at the capitol, we took a few minutes to look around at the historical society’s displays and information, and then gathered for a tour of the building. The tour was very interesting and informative, and our tour guide, Jayne, did a great job of saying things so we could hear them amidst the commotion of the capitol. She was also great with the kids in the group.

After the tour, we bought a sandwich at a food stand on the second floor and sat on a bench to eat our lunch. This gave us an opportunity to talk about demonstrators and protesters, as there were people in the hallways with signs supporting various legislative items.

We then went to the House gallery to watch the legislature in action. Although we didn’t stay for the entire discussion and vote, we saw part of history being made as a motion to override a veto was introduced and debated. (It ended up being overridden by the House and Senate, which is a rare occurrence in this state.)

All in all, we spent almost four hours at the State Capitol, and my youngster enjoyed every minute of it. I enjoyed the time as well. It was nice to see the building in its busy legislative state after having visited previously on quiet Saturdays when the legislature was not in session.

Heritage Hjemkomst Center

• 202 1st Ave N, Moorhead, MN.
• 218-299-5511.
• www.hjemkomst-center.com
• $6 adults, $5 seniors and college students, $4 ages 5-17, Free for 4 and under.
• ASTC membership reciprocity.
• Family rate of $10 on Tuesdays from 5 to 8 p.m.
• Stroller accessible.
• Restrooms available.

I’d heard about the Hjemkomst when I was in elementary school, but although we’ve driven through Fargo-Moorhead many times we’d never stopped to see it. When I told the kids we were going to see a Viking ship, they were very excited.

The Hjemkomst is a replica of a real Viking ship, built by Robert Asp and his family in the 1970’s, and sailed from Duluth, MN, to Norway in 1982.

We started by watching a 30-minute movie on the building and voyage of the ship, and then went to look at the ship itself from both the main museum floor and the balcony area that allows you to see inside the ship.

A replica of a Norwegian Stave Church is also part of the museum, but it was closed for renovations.

After seeing the Hjemkomst, we went to other areas of the Heritage Center, including the Clay County museum which had a kids’ activity table, an exhibit on the Red River Valley with various furs that the kids could touch, and “Woman’s Perspective” Shoe Art exhibit that included a scavenger hunt for the kids.

We spent about an hour and a half at the Hjemkomst Center. The kids loved seeing the Viking ship, but the other exhibits held their interest as well.

I saw one of the guy’s life jackets. It was really fun. I liked getting the sticker and I liked watching the movie. The ship was HUGE. When my sister saw the building, she thought there was a castle in there.

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Pizza Hut

Sometimes it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  So although our family and friends aren’t rich or famous, we’re not below using their careers for our adventures.

In this case, my brother is a manager for Pizza Hut.  While that may not be the most glamorous career around, if you’ve got a 5-year-old who had a school field trip to a pizza place and was disappointed because he didn’t get to make his own pizza as promised, it’s perfect to have a brother in high pizza places.

We headed to the Hut just after 10 in the morning with seven kids, ages 2-7, and four parents, including the aforementioned pizza guy.  My brother helped the kids enter their orders in the computer and then allowed each of them to make their own personal pan pizza, and ended with a tour of the kitchen while the pizzas cooked.

The kids had a great time, and the best part was eating the pizzas when they were done.

You may never have thought about it, but your family and friends’ careers may be an adventure waiting to happen!

I liked watching the pizzas go through the oven.

Contrary to popular belief, we actually do stay home on occasion.  Since it’s been miserably cold here for the past few days weeks months, I took advantage of being indoors and changed the look of the site.  Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

We’ll be on the road this weekend and I’m hoping to squeeze in a fun stop somewhere along the way.  Keep watching for our latest 2008 adventures!