This morning, after hitting up the hotel breakfast (pancakes today!), Blake, Erin, Max and Jade joined us for swimming in the hotel pool and a grilled cheese lunch made in our hotel room.

Nova helped Katy put on the acrylic nails she bought at Claire’s yesterday and then Katy was pretty much helpless until she removed all of the nails at 4pm today. 

We met up with the whole gang at Sustainable Safari. Asa and I came here once in 2022 and I was excited to come back with the girls.  The capybaras have grown since we were here last. 

Besides the capybaras, we also got to feed parakeets and Nole held a baby kangaroo.

Pete and Jodie headed home after that and the rest of us went to the food court for a snack. 

Nova got to play with Jade, which made her super happy.

After we left Maplewood Mall (where Sustainable Safari is located), Kelly came with the Martin Clan to the Mall of America.  We discovered that there are THREE Claire’s stores in the MOA!  Here are Kelly and I trying on some of the latest fashions.

After some dinner and more shopping, it was time to go back to Nickelodeon Universe to use the tickets we bought yesterday.  Kelly decided to ride the Pepsi Orange Streak with us.  It’s described as a “family friendly” “scenic coaster”.  This was Esme’s first roller coaster and a good one to start on. It had some twists and turns but no big scary drops.

After our ride (which Esme declared she did not like) we took the shuttle back to the hotel and said goodbye to Kelly. 

Back in our room, I finally watched K-Pop Demon Hunters with the girls after listening to the music for months.  Then I had the girls pack up tonight since a couple of them are really hard to get moving in the morning.  We had a fun packed few days here and it was great to see our family too!