The Deters: August 2011

After our weekend at Big Fish, Jake and I left for Duluth Monday morning. We were heading up to The Edge Water park to meet Haley, Cade, and Calli for our annual summer trip to Duluth. We were staying one night. We decided to try a different hotel than last year, one that was more "kid friendly". What could be more friendly than a water park, right?

I love driving up to Duluth. I get excited every time! It brings back so many memories. I wonder how many times I had made that trip. It was a little different this time because part of the drive was "under construction". There wasn't any work being done because the government was shutdown at the time, but it was only two lanes for about 15 miles. The drive down the hill into Duluth has always made me nervous, no matter how many times I may have driven it. I am not sure why. I think I am afraid that I will slide down it. I know, it doesn't make sense, but it is ingrained in my brain and I cannot help it.

It was hot all over MN the day we were in Duluth. It was hotter in the Cities, but it was still hot for being in Duluth. At one point we went to a park down in Canal Park for the kids to play at and we could only last about 10 minutes because it was so warm. I am sure it was even warmer on the hill.

We spent most of the day on Monday at the hotel. Once we were checked in, it was off to the Water park! I was really hoping Jake would like the toddler area. He did, after a while. It had a large bucket that dumped water every-so-often. Jake and Calli thought it was really loud and made a big stink about plugging their ears. I'm not sure what the big deal was, it wasn't that loud, but you cannot convince two three year-olds that! We spent most of the time in the bigger pool that had basketball hoops and a vortex pool. Jake was being a stinker and would not wear his life jacket, so I had to hold him most of the time. There were a few cut-outs in the pool that had benches, which Jake loved to play on. We learned our lesson from last time about staying in for dinner. We went to our favorite restaurant last year, which was not "kid friendly" and was the dinner from he%$. Pizza it was for us! We were all asleep by about 9:30, which felt amazing! The next day we had breakfast at the hotel. The kids all had eyes bigger than their stomachs and wasted a lot. It was free though, so what can you do? We swam for a little bit and were able to get Jake and Calli to play more in the toddler pool. Pretty soon it was time to get showered and check out of our room. We drove up to campus because I needed to get a new Bulldog Hockey t-shirt to wear on Mondays at school. The kids were crazy in the Bulldog Shop. I am sure we had a few dirty looks as the boys were going nuts with the football. Thank goodness it is the summer and there are not that many people shopping there. We walked around a little bit before we realized it was starting to rain and we needed to get to our cars. After we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, there was a severe weather announcement on the radio. A severe thunderstorm with hail and wind was heading directly toward Duluth. I was going to hit it, no matter what. Haley could possibly get a head of it before it moved in to Wisconsin. I started driving and got about 10 miles out of Duluth before the rain was so bad that I had to pull into a gas station. We sat there for a bout 30 minutes. I stuck a movie in for Jake to keep him entertained. I was following the radar on my phone and left when there was a slight break. I drove about 1 mile and had to pull off again. Once I started again, it was pretty much smooth sailing. Of course when it went down to two lanes there was a 5 minute downpour! As if driving through a construction zone isn't hard enough, even if there isn't any real work being done... I was really excited when I saw the sign for Forest Lake and knew we were going to be home soon!