Day 9 - Mall of America!

Hello All!

Today was the big day of the trip....going to the Mall of America.  It's a very hectic and long day but it's also one that the students really enjoy.

We woke up early to make sure that we would get to the Mall of America with time to spare.  There was also some road construction between Duluth and Minneapolis and we wanted to make sure we wouldn't get stuck anywhere.

Our first activity was a behind the scenes tour at the Sea Life Aquarium in the mall.  We got there early so we all chilled out and waited for my mom to arrive.  She wanted to join us for a day and decided on the Mall of America day.  The students took bets on which direction she would be coming from, they couldn't get over how BIG the mall was!  She could have come from anywhere!



After meeting up with mom we got to meet our tour guide, Grahm.  We were still pretty early but he totally went with it and gave us an extra long tour.  He took us through the room where they do surgical procedures.  We learned that they just had surgery with a piranha that ate a bunch of rocks....and we got to see the rocks!   They also got to see the machine that dries out certain samples; they learned what a mermaids purse was.  He also showed them samples of passed animals like octopus, squid, etc.

Mermaids Purse

Next he showed us where they prepare all of the animals food in the aquarium.  They got to see everything from the sharks lunch to the jellyfish's meals.  There were a lot of questions and oohhs and ahhs.

The Lunch Menu for the Animals

Jellyfish Food

 




Lastly we took us behind the scenes of the big tanks.  We couldn't bring cameras but we got to see some animals in holding and what the tanks look like from above.  They learned a lot about how the aquariums breed animals, rescue them, or rehabilitate them.  Overall it was a great experience the students learned a lot.  Grahm was SUPER informative and did a really great job interacting with the students.



After the tour we went through the actual aquarium.  They got to touch star fish and urchins and sea horse crabs!  They also got to see the jellyfish exhibit and the rainforest exhibit.  There were a lot of new animals that they loved to gawk at.  We also found Nemo and Dory!  SO COOL!  The last part of the aquarium is the big tanks with the sharks.  Needless to say they LOVED that part.  Sharks literally swim right over your head.  Some were a tad freaked out but they all loved it and we all left with big smiles.




 

The Timberwolves were here!

 


Next on the activity list was Nickelodeon Land.  We had a few issues with getting our tickets (reservations were lost for a little bit) BUT we found them and the students had a blast!  Two solid hours of riding rides, drinking icee's and getting cartoons drew of them.  There was A LOT of screaming and shaking going on but it was worth it.  They all tried the rides and they ALL survived. 


Now everyone's favorite part....SHOPPING!  We split up into two teams and shopped our little hearts out!  Most of the students were broke in under an hour.  There was a lot of buying basketball hats, and new shoes, so that left little money for little else.  Mom and I took them to Claires (always a favorite) the Disney store, and a few other fun ones that are great to just walk through and see what's there.



It was a lot of fun watching them explore this GIANT mall and see all of the new types of stores.  Even Payless impressed them! 

 




By 7:30 everyone was dead and ready to be done shopping.  Cassius took some of the students to the car to drop off their bags before we went to dinner.  We all met up at 8 at the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.  It's a fun restaurant if you've never been.  They have thunderstorms every 45 min, which is funky and cool. 



There were a lot of exhausted people at our table by the end of that meal.  I was asked more than once if we could be done shopping after dinner.  Obviously my answer was YES.



We all said good bye to Mumushka (Mom).  There were a few tears because she was heading home and they only had two more days left on the trip.  We all packed up our vehicles and made our way to the hotel.  After checking in we found out they had no roll aways so Cassius and I got to sleep on the floor....boo....but we survived. 



LONG DAY doesn't even cover it BUT they learned a lot and got to experience so much it's totally worth it.  We just kept reminding our selves that we can die after the trip.