Travels with Children

We’ve thought about getting passports for the family for a while, 1) just in case we ever decide to go out of the country again (Canada’s not that far away), and 2) to establish an identification piece for the kids.  The cost had always stopped us.  The new Passport Cards, however, are not as expensive and allow land or sea travel to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.  (The office reminded us that we wouldn’t be able to fly outside the country with the passport cards.  We assured them that we were not planning to fly with four young children anytime soon, especially out of the USA.)  We decided to take the plunge and packed up everyone to head to the County Recorder’s office to get our passports.

I had used the Passport Application Wizard to fill out the paperwork online and had it printed and ready to take with us, along with the necessary documentation and enough blank checks to pay for the six passports.  Having the paperwork done saved us a lot of time, so while I went over everything with the clerk, my husband and the kids had their pictures taken.  In all, the process only took 30-45 minutes, which is a manageable amount of time with the kids in tow.

It also gave the kids a chance to see the rotunda of our historic county courthouse, and to see some old maps and documents that gave the history of our farmsite.

While our adventures will still primarily be close to home, it’s kind of exciting to know that our passports are on their way.

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Because our summer schedule is shaping up to be quite hectic, and it’s hard for my husband to get away in the summer as it is, we seriously considered taking our “summer” vacation during the kids’ 6-day Easter break.  I had put quite a bit of time and planning into it, even making motel reservations, before we decided against the trip.

Here’s what it would have looked like:

Six-day trip to Saint Louis

• 10-11 hour drive to St. Louis, one day there, one day back
• Five-night stay at Comfort Inn and Suites, St. Charles, MO (20-30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, but we had a suite for the six of us booked for under $100 a night and it had very good Tripadvisor reviews)
• Gateway Arch (probably the only thing for which we would have paid significant admission)
• St. Louis Zoo
• St. Louis Science Center
• Union Station
• The Magic House, St. Louis Children’s Museum
• Art Museum
• Missouri History Museum
• Transportation Museum

Do you think that would have kept us busy for four days?  Many of the attractions were open on Easter Sunday, which might have been a nice, quiet time to visit while others spent the day with their families.

When it came down to it, we decided against the trip for the following reasons:

• Work.  My husband says he has to do some once in a while, and going into the busy season, this wasn’t a good time to get away.
• Family.  We would have missed being away from our own extended families for Easter.
• Money.  Even though we had money budgeted for a vacation this year, and our trip would have been relatively inexpensive, it was still a substantial cost.
• Family sanity.  Our kids really travel well in the car for the most part, but those would have been two very long driving days for both us and the kids.

Maybe we’ll be able to sneak away unexpectedly this summer, or maybe we’ll save our summer vacation for sometime next winter.  Still, it was fun to make some plans, see if I could find a hotel room, and meet our vacation budget even if we ultimately didn’t get to go.

When I have a free day with the kids, I usually want to go somewhere.  But where to go?  Sure, some of the places are well-known and popular, but when I want to go somewhere different, I have an arsenal of sources to give me ideas.

I have seven or eight local interest/travel books that live in the car (until my husband cleans a little too well, at least).  Books like “Oddball Minnesota,” “Minnesota Museums,” and ”Off the Beaten Path” are great to keep in the car so I can plan a great adventure while we’re on the way.  Going to the Kelley Farm in Elk River?  I check the books to see if there’s anything else interesting nearby.

Our local paper has a weekend calendar that it publishes each Friday.  Plays, concerts, community festivals, and more are included in the calendar.  It’s a nice way to find things to do that are close to home.  Likewise, there are segments on news stations like “Finding Minnesota” and “Trip on a Tankful” that point out interesting destinations.

I have memberships to the Minnesota Children’s Museum and the Minnesota Historical Society, and their membership mailings include special events.  I mark any that look interesting on my calendar, just in case we’re free to take advantage of them.

Online, I check out a few websites regularly.  The Museum Adventure Pass website has led me to some new places, with the advantage of free admissions from the library.  Playtime Plan-It has ideas for outings and more in the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area.  My favorite is GoCityKids, where I can enter a date on their events calendar and have a list of family-friendly happenings, complete with age recommendations, that range from storytimes to museum exhibits to theater productions.  I use the Minneapolis/St. Paul GoCityKids site, but it’s also available for several other metropolitan areas.

Generic searches, such as “free museums Minnesota” have turned up some gems.

If we’re traveling farther from home, I try to plan ahead enough to request a visitor’s information packet from the local convention and visitor’s bureau, which can take 3-6 weeks to arrive.  I visit as many websites as I can before we go, and take printouts from locations on our “might-do” list.  I browse brochure racks at museums and hotels.  If possible, I take a laptop computer so I can get additional information at our destination.

My latest tool is a portable GPS unit for the car.  It’s been helpful in navigating to new places, especially when I’m without a human navigator in the vehicle, and it also includes phone numbers for many points of interest so I can call to check on hours, admission rates, etc.

Do you have any ideas for finding places to visit with your kids?  Please leave a comment!

The Edge: Edgewater Resort and Waterpark

• 2400 London Rd, Duluth, MN
• 800-777-7925
• www.duluthwaterpark.com

Our trip to The Edge was our first waterpark experience with the kids.  We booked a nice-sized room for the six of us, and it included our waterpark admission.

The lobby is not huge, but it does have a nice window overlooking the waterpark to keep the kids occupied during check-in. Our room was huge.  A waterpark view “suite,” it had two queen beds, a pull-out sofa, a table with four chairs, large dorm fridge, and microwave.  Our room overlooked the waterpark; in fact, all of the pictures below were taken from our room.  I have heard that not all of the rooms are as nice as ours was; we were in the newer section, I believe, and the room was very nice.

Parking is not ideal–the lot was usually full and many cars parked on the street.

Board games are available for free check-out from the front desk, which is a nice touch for families.  They also had daily coloring contests and weekend craft activities for kids.

The breakfast area is a large room with double lines, lots of tables, and plenty of high chairs. The usual cereal/pastry/fruit fare was available; nothing fancy but not a disappointment. The cereals were kid-friendly.

Lifeguards are on duty in the waterpark, and life preservers are available for check-out.  There are several different pools, a zero-entry splash/small slide area, and the big slide which empties into the lazy river. I took a ride on the lazy river in a tube with the 1-year-old, who enjoyed it except for the three spots where you can’t avoid the “rainfall” from above. This river is really lazy–we stalled out a few times and had to paddle our way along at times. Stairs at various points make entry and exit easy.

No outside food or drinks are allowed in the pool area, but they have pizza and short-order items available for purchase.  Towel carts are located throughout the waterpark, and there are locker rooms with showers as well.

Although there was a lot of pool noise when the waterpark was open, our room was quiet when the waterpark was closed. The beds were comfortable, and the pillows were good.

There is also an outdoor pool, play area, and basketball court that are open in the summer.

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Bill & Bonnie Daniels Firefighters Hall and Museum

• 664 22nd Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN
• 612-623-3817
• www.firehallmuseum.org
• $6 adults, $5 seniors, $3 ages 3-12, 2 and under free
• Free parking
• Participates in Museum Adventure Pass program
• Stroller accessible
• Restrooms available; no changing tables

I had noticed the Firefighters Museum as part of the Museum Adventure Pass “Sirens, Whistles, and Signals” adventure, but since it’s only open on Saturdays, we hadn’t fit it into our schedule yet. We finally got a free Saturday and headed to Minneapolis. We were greeted by a man who showed us where the restrooms and coat racks were located, and then talked to the kids about the museum. He explained that although much of the museum is hands-off, there are several activities that the children can do. Then he brought them each their own fire hat (complete with elastic band to keep it from falling off).

There is one fire truck that kids can climb on and pretend to drive, complete with lights and sirens. There is a fire safety video they can watch. They can work an old hand pump that actually pumps water. There are two stations set up with TV’s so they can pretend to drive the back end of a hook-and-ladder truck. They can dress up in gear, pull the fire alarm, and slide down a fire pole. And if they get bored with all of that, there are two train tables set up so they can play. In the summer, fire truck rides are offered as well. There’s also a birthday party room that can be rented for $25.

The fire pole was definitely the favorite of our troop. They went on it over and over and over and over again. In between, they drove the trucks, pumped the water, and pulled the alarm. The kids’ activities were centrally located so that adult could keep an eye on them all if necessary.

This was a fun museum, and perhaps one that’s not widely known. My girls were just as interested in things as they boys were.

Just save time for one last slide down the fire pole at the end of your visit.

I really liked the bell that they had.

My favorite thing was going down the pole.

I liked ringing the bell. I liked the whole place. It was cool. The bell had a typewriter which had patterns of the bells ringing which are triangles and the patterns that they go on there were some different things and that pattern gets to go to a place in Minneapolis or St. Paul. (5-year-old’s description of the fire alarm telegraph system)
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I had to run some errands in New Ulm on a Saturday.  Normally I try to avoid shopping on Saturdays, especially with the kids in tow, but when we’re out of milk, a trip to the store is necessary.  And if I’m taking the kids to a store, I’m most certainly going to do something else with them along the way.

We started out in downtown New Ulm by ducking into Bookshelves and Coffeecups, at 123 N Minnesota, and swapping out some old books for some that were new-to-us.  This is something I like to do on occasions when I’m in New Ulm.  There’s a great selection of used books in the store, and once in a while I treat myself to a Chai Latte while we’re there.

From the bookstore, we walked two blocks to Subway, on the corner of Center and Minnesota, for lunch.  The walk took a little longer than expected because the stroller was missing from the trunk of our vehicle and the 2-year-old had to walk.  Fortunately for us, the sidewalks weren’t busy so my chain of children didn’t get in the way of anyone.  We spent most of the walk back teaching my four-year-old how to pronounce the word “Glockenspiel” as we heard bells.

Then we were off to the New Ulm Civic Center for the Farm-City Hub Club’s annual farm show.  The kids enjoy the farm show, because along with the usual booths from local businesses that may or may not be agriculture-oriented, the local Runnings Farm & Fleet store always has baby animals on display.  The kids love to look at, and sometimes hold, the baby chicks, ducklings, rabbits, and more.

From the upper level of the civic center, the kids had spotted people ice skating in the other half of the building.  Smart or not, I asked the kids if they wanted to try skating.  (Keep in mind that I was outnumbered 4 to 1, none of the kids have been on skates before, and I haven’t skated in 20 years or more.  Did I mention that I was outnumbered?)  For just under $20 we paid our entrance fee and rented skates, and after the 20 minutes it took me to lace up five pair, we hit the ice.

It was a blast!  They had little walker-type frames that the kids could hang onto as they skated.  At first it was pretty slow going, but it didn’t take long before the three older kids were trying to go fast, skate on one foot, turn in circles, and even go a few feet without the walker.  The little one wasn’t much of a fan of the walker, but her balance was pretty good, and mine was better than expected, so I held both of her hands and she skated along with me.  The ice even succeeded in helping defy the laws of gravity and friction so that sometimes she did the footwork and pulled me along behind her.

We had so much fun.  I only had two regrets:  1) that I didn’t have my camera along, and 2) that my husband wasn’t there to enjoy it with us.  (I had asked if he wanted to join us for the day, but he decied to go to a meeting and enjoy a nice free meal instead.)  I had fun watching the kids have fun.  We skated for about an hour before I dragged them away, and I actually enjoyed listening to them argue about who had the most fun.

After a quick stop for groceries, we headed for home, and my five-year-old lasted until the next morning before asking if we could go back again, this time with Dad.