MSP: Day 1

Being a pilot wife I have to put up with airport codes and aviation abbreviation interpretation or AAI (made that up).  The Captain leaves me his schedule tacked to the fridge and I have to figure out the code before I know where he is on overnight. I just wait for him to call that night and he lets me know where he ended up.  I can't keep track.  Then again I work in the medical field, where we too have our share of abbreviations.  Conversations regarding our workdays can get somewhat muddled. 

Anyway, what I was getting at was MSP is Minneapolis/St. Paul.  And that is where we went on a little mini vacation this past week.  The girls had a small taste of MOA (Mall of America) and NU (Nickolodean Universe) last year when we flew out of MSP to go to RSW (Fort Myers, FL) and on to Captiva Island. They have been begging to go back ever since.  So being the endlessly accomodating parents that we seem to be these days, (slight note of sarcasm - but it is birthday month after all) and wanting to stay relatively close to home to help out with Dad if needed, we complied.

Honestly, I am not a big lover of theme parks. I can handle a mild roller coaster or two, but the circles and the up and down along with the circles give me the queasies real quick like.  But, I have to give credit to whomever designed NU.  They crammed a large amount of entertainment into relatively low square footage.  It is indoors, air-conditioned, but has a glass ceiling so you don't feel all closed in and the lighting is great.  See?

These were taken on the Ferris wheel, aka, EL CIRCULO DEL CIELO.  I can handle el Circulo Del Cielo with Dora y Boots.  Puke Factor: 0 (on a 0-5 scale. 0=no puke 5=highly likely and almost guaranteed)

This is JIMMY NUETRON'S ATOMIC COLLIDER. Puke Factor: 3.5 I did not ride this ride. EVER.

This is the SPLAT-O-SPHERE.  Puke Factor 3.  Princess Maren survived it.  The funniest part was that every time it dropped M&M would scream at about the exact same decible level for about 3 seconds or so and then stop at the exact same time when the ride would go up again. 

The sound your puke would make when hitting the MOA floor.

Your good old log ride.  The girls hit this one three times in a row.  Once with Dad and the the other two by themselves.  Puke factor: about a 1. Puke factor after eating Qdoba rises to about a 3, so I passed.

If you think NU is just for the kiddos, think again and go find the Avatar Airbender and Sponge Bob's Rock Bottom Plunge.  The  puke factor is off the charts in my book. Only the Captain was brave enough to do the

Rock Bottom plunge.  He is a pilot and it's required of him, but he screamed like a little girl the whole ride.

Sweet Marissa gave into her Daddy's pressure and rode the Airbender with him.  It is this giant skateboard with two circular platforms that have four seats strapped to it so the platforms spin independently while this giant skateboard drops into a stationary halfpipe dug into the MOA floor.  My puke factor rose just watching people get on it, let alone my firstborn and my daredevil hubby.

Sweet Marissa looked positively pale after getting off this ride.  Bless her little NU lovin' heart.

Believe me, we rode a whole lot more rides, multiple times over.  If you go after 5 pm the unlimited ride wrist band is $20.00.  We happened to go on a weekday night and the lines were short and many times the girls could hop off the ride they were on and jump right back on again.  If we needed a little break, Legoland and the American Girl store were right there for the perusing.  It was great fun.  Bet you can hardly wait for MSP Day 2.