We took a quick trip up to Duluth on Saturday morning for business purposes. We hit the road at 4:12am, 12 minutes behind schedule. I had grand plans of carrying four sleeping babies out to the van in the hope that they would continue to sleep until we arrived in Duluth at 7:30am.
Ha!
75% of them didn't sleep a wink. The other 25% slept for about an hour. But Daddy slept and I spent the drive reminding the kids to quiet down so he could get in some beauty rest before his test at 8:30am.
They marveled at the black clouds looming on the horizon and the lack of other cars on the road and the prospect of being in Duluth, next to a huge lake. They argued over books, barely even being able to read in the darkness of early morning.
We arrived in Duluth at 7:05am, 25 minutes ahead of schedule. Google maps, you lie. We stopped at the rest area on top of the hill so the kids could see the lake.
Ha!
No lake was to be seen as a thick layer of fog covered it up. They had fun running around on the sidewalks, stretching their stiff legs. Milo wobbled mostly, but kept up with the crowd.
We dropped Chet off at the U of M Duluth campus and made our way to Chester Park. 8:05am. The plan was to wait for Chet here for the next hour and a half.
Ha!
Avery went down the slide and promptly soiled her only pair of pants. There was a giant puddle at the bottom and the sand was also wet. Milo fell off the merry-go-round and Tucker announced that he needed the bathroom. 8:10am.
I put everyone back in the van and as I did so, I panicked at the fact that every single one of them was covered in wet, red sand. So much for planning ahead. They all went back into their pajama pants and we made our way to the local McDonald's.
I'm sure we were a sight. Muddy kids dressed partially in pajamas and a big, preggo mama pushing a double stroller. Some guys kept staring and made some comments to themselves as we walked by, but I made a point not to hear them.
Chet finally came out of his test at 10:00am and by this time, most of the kids' clothes were dry. I put them back into their normal clothes and we made our way down to Canal Park to watch the boats and see the lake.
Ha!
You still couldn't see the lake. And there were exactly zero boats planning on coming in.
We spent a great deal of time inside the museum and the kids loved it, until they saw the wedding party outside. Then they stood and stared.
This little darling spent the day spaced out in his stroller, extremely overtired. I didn't complain as he didn't make a peep.
Some little girl was feeding the seagulls some popcorn and leave it to my kids to run towards them, scaring them all away. She dumped out her popcorn and walked back to her grandparents. Poor thing.
I have to chuckle at this picture. Tucker walks everywhere hiking up his pants, whether it's rain or shine. He does it again here on the dry side of the dock while the girls trudge through the puddles.
Then, at last, a boat! It happened to appear from the fog and the kids could finally see the lift bridge going up. By this time, they were absolutely soggy and drenched and not one of them complained.
At 12:30pm, we started for home. I was looking forward to a quiet drive home, as I assumed the kids would sleep.
Ha!
75% of them were asleep by the time we hit 35 south but when Chet got a wild idea to stop in Willow River to throw a line in the water, 100% of them woke up. And whined. The rest of the way home. The van stunk like wet, soggy dogs and nothing sounded better than getting home, throwing everyone in the tub, putting dry clothes on everyone and crawling into bed.
Good times had by all.
The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and despite all the kinks in my schedule, I did too. But hopefully, next time we go, it'll be a beautiful day.
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