Our short trip to MN

Dave found out last minute that he had to attend a two-day training class in MN at the Calix HQ MN office. So...since we missed him so much last week when he was gone, I decided to take the kids along and go with him for this short trip. We made reservations at a hotel with a big water park, so that made things much easier for me. Both mornings we spent 2 or 3 hours at the hotel kiddie area splashing around. They had so much fun! Right now I'm typing in a very dark hotel room. The kids are trying to get themselves calmed down to take naps, but its proving to be difficult today. It may be because they're in bunk beds! We booked a room that had a separate walled-off area for kids that has bunk beds in it. Violet is on the top (and extremely excited about it, actually. The first thing she said is "Its a bed just like Ivy's!!! And like Evan's!! I get to sleep on the top like Ivy, and Calvin, you get to sleep on the bottom like Evan!") She could barely contain her excitement, she was jumping and screaming around the hotel because she was so excited to sleep "wayyy up on top"! We decided to brave it and let Calvin sleep on the bottom bunk. I rolled up the comforter the bed came with and formed a long rolled up barrier against the edge of the bed and tried to tuck it in on both ends. It seemed to hold pretty well, so we hung a big thick blanket across the opening so it seemed more like he was closed in like the crib he is used to. Dave was confident he could sleep in it so I tried it. When we arrived on Tuesday night late we got them in bed pretty quickly and they both fell asleep. The night went well, and Calvin stayed in his bed the whole night. I was pretty proud of him, I didn't expect that. And he must have learned a thing or two from bunk beds at camp. He didn't stand up at all and smash his head on the top bunk, he was careful not to. Dave took off for his class on Wed morning and I went to the pool. The kiddie area has three slides - and Violet went down all three of them constantly. Calvin crawled around the water most of the time and was too scared to go down any of the slides. He's such a cautious kid. For lunch we ordered a pizza, and then I got them back down for naps. They slept well - for maybe 2 1/2 hours. I took them for a walk outside the hotel and checked out some shopping. We wandered around a kid toy store for about a half hour, then Dave got back from his training class around 4:30. His cousin Jeff came over to hang out with us for the night. Jeff just got engaged, and you could tell. He was just beaming the whole evening, and couldn't stop talking about the wedding plans, his fiancé Denise, and just the whole thought process he's going through about being engaged and planning a wedding in 2 months. Dave is going to be his best man in the wedding. We went to Buca di Beppos - an italian family style restaurant (where the servings are large and everyone eating shares). Violet ordered mac and cheese (of course, the girl could live of that and that alone if she had the opportunity, lol) and Calvin shared it because the serving was so big. Jeff, Dave and I split some prosciutto-stuffed chicken with a creamy sauce, mozzarella caprese (fresh tomato slices, fresh mozzarella slices, fresh basil leaves, and olive oil), and a dish of baked sausage rigatoni. Everything was really good. We walked over to Coldstone Creamery across the street and enjoyed some ice cream creations. Calvin was all over the ice cream, begging for bites from everyone around the table. Violet didn't want ice cream...she isn't a big ice cream fan yet, apparently it is too cold for her. Oh well. She started getting REALLY whiney, so we called it a night and got the kids back to the hotel so they could get to bed. It was nice to hang out with Jeff. He is always enthusiastic and great company. Violet picked up on his friendly energy - she sat next to him and ended up crawling all over his shoulders and didn't stop talking to him. Normally she isn't so friendly with "strangers". Jeff isn't exactly a stranger but she doesn't see him more than twice a year or so. She must have a memory of seeing him earlier in her life, who knows. So..the kids finally fell asleep, and Dave, Jeff and I went down to the pool area. Jeff left b/c he didn't really want to swim (plus, he had to get up at 3 am to head to work the next morning!) so Dave and I stayed to swim for awhile. Somewhere in the middle of the night, Dave heard a noise. He got up and checked the kids to see what was going on. Poor Calvin was sleeping on the FLOOR. Somehow he had pushed his way over the comforter barrier and through the sheet that was hanging over the opening. Dave almost stepped on him. He picked him up and put him back in bed and Calvin seemed to be very happy about it. He snuggled into his blanket and went right back to sleep. Maybe we'll keep him in a crib for a little while longer after that episode. This morning we hit the pool again after another pancake breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I decided to brave the deeper pool with the kids. Violet and Calvin were in my arms the whole time, splashing and kicking. I ended up in the shallowest end of the pool (3 feet deep) and found out Violet could touch the bottom and her whole head was sticking out of the water. She was SO excited to find out that she could touch. So she didn't want to go back to the kiddie pool - she was determined to walk from edge to edge while touching the bottom, and she did multiple times. She can't swim, so I was watching her like a hawk. She was so proud of herself. She said "You didn't realize that I could touch the bottom! This is so fun!" She said she can't wait to tell daddy about it. Then we all had to get out and deal with a dirty diaper from Calvin, and Violet had to use the bathroom, too. I decided Calvin was done swimming so I put a regular diaper on him and strapped him in the stroller with a towel wrapped around him so he could just watch us swim. I could finally enjoy letting Violet swim/walk by herself with out having to worry about what Calvin was doing. He was getting too fussy anyway. So she then jumped off the edge of the pool multiple times into my arms. She insisted on doing it herself because she knew she could touch, so I went ahead and let her - she soon found out that means she could still go under water, haha. That was the end of that...I had to catch all subsequent jumps into the water. She said she was done...so both kids got good and tired by the end of that swimming experience. After a crazy time of me showering and bathing both kids, they had some left over pizza from yesterday's lunch for lunch today. I'm glad we have a fridge in our room. It has kept Calvin's milk cold during this stay here and allowed us to eat lunch in the room with out having to go anywhere. I put them down for naps about 30 minutes ago but Calvin is still kicking the wall and humming. I hope he falls asleep soon! That's about it...we'll head home tonight when Dave is done working. He said he's really enjoying the training class he's taking and is glad we came with him.