Our Grand Forks Trip!!

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend!

This weekend the family and I went down to Grand Forks, North Dakota, to take the kids to the CanadInns Splasher’s of the South Seas Water Park! We drove down on Friday, well Paul drove and I was white knuckling the arm rests because of the weather- see below:

It was blowing snow like crazy you couldn’t see a thing! My parents' car is the car in front of us and at times we couldn't even see them! Once we got past the border it cleared up though so it wasn’t too bad. This was the first time we went as a family to the states, first time with Boston going anywhere, and overall, it went really well! Everyone was great on the ride down- no crying or fighting!

We had a great time at Canad Inns BUT- there are some things that I would do differently the next time we go- because I do think we will go again- the water park is just so much fun for the kids and it’s a great mini-vacation in the winter without crazy cost and a ton of time away. I was thinking of doing like a Do’s and Don’ts type of list but I don’t really feel comfortable telling people what to do (I’m sure Paul would insert a comment here lol) so. . . . Instead I thought I would list the things we would do differently the next time we go down J

For Next time:

1.       Look into getting a two bedroom suite on the main floor. We had a one bedroom suite this time on the seventh floor and the elevators are always crazy busy and it takes forever to get one. There wasn’t a two bedroom available this time that’s why we got the one bedroom and it worked out okay- Boston was in the bedroom in a pack n play and the boys were on the pull out couch- the only problem is when the kids go to sleep- you don’t really have anywhere to go! My parents came too and had the room next to ours so that was an option- but we didn’t really like leaving the boys in the room alone-even though we had a monitor for Boston.

2.       Actually- next time we would look at getting a two bedroom suite in a Hotel across the street. It was nice to be in the same building as the water park especially because Boston in only 6 months old but in the future, when Boston’s past napping 2-3 times a day I would definitely look into different hotels. The rooms at Canad Inns were nothing special and you can purchase water park passes separately and come for the day.  Canad Inns was nice but they were really understaffed- all the restaurants took FOREVER!! The staff was nice but there just didn’t seem to be enough of them. After we went to Aalto’s once (where Boston projectile  vomited all over the floor, me and my dad; but that’s another story) we learnt our lesson and we didn’t go to another.

3.       Definitely bring fruit, cereal and almond milk with disposable plastic bowls and spoons for breakfast again! This was a great thing to do! The rooms all have fridges and microwaves in them so you could even bring instant oatmeal if you wanted to. It was just so nice to be able to eat in the room and not have to do take out or restaurant food in the morning. Paul even asked me for a green smoothie when we got back to the city so I know it’s not just me that can’t do take-out food for two days!!

4.       I think going the two days without a kitchen is my max!! If we were going for any longer I would look at getting a suite with a kitchenette. It was not too hard to find places with gluten free options in Grand Forks but whenever I mentioned the word vegan to anyone their eye’s kind of glazed over and I got a deer stuck in the headlights kind of look as they proceeded to tell me they could probably figure out something which does anything but fill me with confidence! The one place we did go to that was awesome ,  (Paul and I, that is, my parents watched the boys one night so that we could go for dinner, which was so nice!)  was The Toasted Frog but I will be talking about that in another post!

I think that’s about it- really there wasn’t too much I would change and overall it was a great time that the kids and adults really enjoyed! Having my parents come along was also great! The kids have so much fun with them- and then my mom and I could go shopping and I didn’t have to feel  bad/guilty about leaving Paul with all the kids lol!

I think we will definitely be going back to Grand Forks as a weekend getaway in the future and if anyone else has gone and has some tips let me know!!

I will have a recipe soon for you! I got some neat ingredients while I was in the states so stay tuned lol!

Stay Warm out there!