Children's Museum and Mall of America

HopeKids arranged for everyone to go to the Children's Museum for free for 2 hours. I'm glad Dan came with, it was very busy there and the boys were just everywhere! Dawson jumped right into the activities and things but Tyler was a bit nervous. He's still not used to having so many kids around and I think it was a bit overwhelming for him at first. It was hard for even 2 of us to keep track of them, especially since Tyler was the shortest one running around most of the rooms. It was a very busy 2 hours and they loved all the different rooms and activities. I'm not sure who was more worn out, the kids or the parents, but we all had fun and it was nice for them to be able to run and play.

The Children's Hospital Oncology team had their annual party at the Mall of America this year. They put on a nice buffet-style supper and gave out free unlimited ride wristbands for the Nickelodeon Universe themepark that's in the mall. Only at an Oncology meal do you find foam hand sanitizer at the beginning of a buffet...and everybody uses it with big grins and looks of relief! The boys were very good during the meal and then Dawson and I walked around to the tables they had set up with different organizations and I talked to a few of them. The one was very handy because I had some questions about their paperwork that I happen to be in the middle of filling out anyway! I also got to talk to the Make A Wish people and found out that we can wait until after treatment is done if we want. They agreed that with his age it'd be best to wait so he can be a little bit older and make the most of it. They said we should do it within a year after treatment though.

The boys loved the rides. Dawson already knew all about what they were and was very excited to get on some. The last time Tyler was around rides was the fair in the summer. We sat him on one, he cried before it got started and they kicked him off. I was pretty sure his issue was being restrained and holding still. Since I'm pregnant, I wasn't allowed on even the slowest of the rides, so Dan went on all the rides with them. Tyler loved watching them and was saying "wheee!" and being very excited. He did cry when they were strapped into the ride, but as soon as it got going he was all about saying "wheee!" and having fun. Each ride though he fussed until it got going, so it was tough especially on the ones that waited longer to get going. After the rides we walked around the first floor of the mall once. The stores were closed, but the boys still had a lot of energy since most of the rides was sitting or waiting in lines.

Tyler's first ride at the mall, he wasn't so sure of it until it got going.

 Dawson was so excited to see Blues Clues! He went on this ride twice.

 Both boys were very excited to see a train, which is pretty much their favorite thing to play with these days.

 Hot Air Balloon ride. Tyler looks so little sitting there! He actually did pretty good waiting for this one to start, he was starting to get the hang of the rides.

 Dawson loves carousels, we did this one twice as well. He does great hanging on by himself but it was nice to see safety belts on this one, I haven't seen that before.

 Tyler liked it too, but was pretty fussy waiting for it to start. It took them longer to check everyone and get it going. I've tried putting him on the little horse at Toys R Us too and he wasn't sure about that either, but he did like the ride once it was going.

 Dawson loved the roller coaster! He went on it twice. It was just a kid coaster. Tyler decided that while it was his favorite type of ride to watch, he was not a fan of riding on it! There's several big coasters in the place and he would point and say "oooh, what that!" everytime they went by. He was so excited to ride and Dan said he was even saying "whee!", but his poor little face looked scared! Thankfully the kid rides aren't very long at all. He never cried though and did really well. I was amazed he even sucked it up and said "whee" with the look he had on his face! Such a brave little guy!

 Another one of Dawson's favorites. He was all giggles during this one. It's a mini version of the Power Tower, that raises you to the top and lets you drop. This one did a lot of bouncing on the way down and he thought that was very fun!

Tyler liked watching as much as he liked riding.

 It's often hard to tell if they can really handle a ride or if they're just excited because it looks cool and they really have no clue what they're in for! Dawson loved the roller coaster so much that we looked to see if there was a slightly bigger mild one to go on. The Flume was the only one he could ride, it's a tamer version than the big drop at Valleyfair. We had watched it earlier and he thought the splash at the bottom was funny. We brought him back over there and asked if he wanted to go on that ride. To our surprise he said no and stepped back away from where we were watching it! He had been all for going on all the other rides and I was impressed that though he had enjoyed watching it, he had been able to realize it was something he didn't want to do and say no. They both slept all the way home and we were able to carry them straight from the car to bed with no complaints!