Erin’s Guide to a Weekend in Grand Forks
To start, make sure you get a hotel with a water slide and nice hot tub. Very important when bringing your children (or Erin). We chose to stay at the Holiday Inn and at first glance the water slide didn’t look too challenging. Deceiving! One time down and I was hooked. But I did have to master the art of coming off gracefully. It picked up so much speed on the way down and kept throwing me into the bottom of the pool. I took a few injuries until I figured out how to not bounce off the bottom and scrape up my extremities.
This is one of the injuries I got on my back. Doesn’t really look like much today, but that’s 3 days after receiving it…you can imagine what it looked like the day of the incident. Rather raw and about 5 times the size. Jer gasped when he saw it directly after I came out of the pool.
But this didn’t stop me and eventually I had the beast mastered. Us adults spent as much time going down the slide as Taylor and Rebeccah. We had a grand time! The one down side was that our girls couldn’t go on the waterslide because they were too small and we couldn’t take them down with us.
Luckily they have a nice kids pool with 2 small slides, a big bucket that dumps water, geysers and other waterworks. Ella spent most of her time doing water ballet or sitting in her floaty turtle. She and this turtle had a special rapport going on. When I would glance over at her, she would be chatting it up with “T-Turtle” (it’s name). She even gave it swimming lessons and when it was time to come out of the pool she lovingly dried it off with her towel before drying herself!
Aidan spent time playing with Rebeccah, going down the little slides, floating in her ducky ring and just splashing around in the pool. She found extreme joy in splashing Bentley, who she adamantly declares she doesn’t like : )
When we weren’t sliding we were soaking in the nice hot tub. I appreciated the fact that this was a HOT tub. Some hotels we’ve been to have what should be called lukewarm tubs.
In the food department, Mexican is a must. Paradiso (”chips free, dinner extra”) is our favorite stop on the Grand Forks agenda. In fact, this weekend we hit it twice. You get so much food and the price is great. Sunday’s the kids 8 and under are free. We fed our family for $17. Can’t even go to McDonald’s for that!
Another goody not to be missed is Culver’s. Mmmm…I had my first burger and fries in 6 weeks. Enjoyable!!
Then of course it’s time to shop. And shop we all did! Jer spent THREE HOURS in Gordman’s!!! I was done after half an hour. The rest of the time I spent waiting for him. He came away with a whole new wardrobe.
I didn’t find much this time around for clothing, just one pair of white capris, but what I did find was such a steal of a deal that I was ready to do a happy dance. At home my perfume (Ralph Lauren “Style”) costs $90.00 and I found it for $30. To make it even better I had a 20% off coupon which made it $24.00!!!! That was worth the trip for me. I ran out a few weeks back and was cringing at the thought of paying so much for it. So yay for me.
A few other fun purchases were some treats we don’t have here. Like the bestest chocolate ever! Notice I bought 3…well actually I bought 4, but have already consumed one.
And no trip can be complete without some goodies from Archer Farms…Mmmm! My new find this time. Oh.So.Delectable!
My big splurge…I finally gave in. It’s been 7 years since I first became addicted and about 5 years since I last played.
And the best part? They have “Kitchen and Bath Interior Design” for the Sims! How cool is that? I’m so very excited. I could hardly sleep last night because I wanted so badly to play, but I restrained myself and I’m waiting until later when I can play without neglecting my children, duties and life in general. I feel like a kid again : )
Of course, you can’t go to the U.S. without making the mandatory Bath and Body Works stop. I was looking for perfume (this was planned before I found my RL perfume at Gordman’s). Little did I know that since my last time at B&BW they have come out with perfume in all the signature scents. I LOVE their soap scents and to see them in perfume was heavenly. Now to choose! How?!? I stood there for about 15 minutes getting high on yummy smells and finally came away with Midnight Pomegranate. I’m not sorry. It’s so yummy.
Finally, make sure you go to with good friends. In the downtime between swimming and shopping we had a lovely time visiting with Bentley and Helen and their girls. Lots of laughs and good times. It was relaxing and enjoyable from beginning to end. I just wish it had been longer. Although I’m sure my girls were happy to go home. They were up until midnight both nights, and no naps for Aidan made for some harrowing moments with her. But we survived and happily, they both slept on the way home.
THIS is why we are friends! SIMS ADDICT?! Me too!!!!
Though I haven’t played in forever, I need to get back into it again, SO fun:)
Comment by Randi — May 5, 2008 @ 11:56 am
Oh yeah,
Archer Farms White Choc. amaretto has been a weakness of mine. You can not order them because Archer Farms is made specifically for Target. So it’s usually a once a year indulgence with a few boxes to take home.
Comment by Kathy — May 5, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
ohhh so perfect. mmmm that chocolate look yummy. i haven’t tried that one. but i LOVE the choc chips you can get down there. GUITARD. i could eat a whole bag.
Comment by Ruth — May 5, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
Oh yay…sounds so idyllic! Dang girl, you has gots a good life!
Comment by Kimberly — May 5, 2008 @ 12:30 pm
Glad you had such a good time!
Comment by Elin — May 5, 2008 @ 12:33 pm
Ouch! Other than that injury it sounds like a blast. I can’t wait to live near a border town that actually has something good in it again.
I’m not dissin’ Montana - it’s beautiful and all, it just doesn’t offer much in terms of good shopping even after the 6 hours drive to get to the nearest town.
Comment by Nicole — May 5, 2008 @ 3:18 pm
I love the sleeping photo of Aiden!
I love, love, love Gordman’s. Their frangrances are such a great price. Next time check out Kohl’s for fragrance as well.
Comment by Jen H — May 5, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
Sounds like a blast!! Great pics!
Comment by Louise — May 5, 2008 @ 4:41 pm
Sounds like you all had a great weekend! I tried to get Jer’s REALLY white shoes dirty but he would not go for it..Lol!
Comment by Tara — May 5, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
Oh Erin your poor back hope its feeling better soon
sounds really nice
Comment by jen — May 6, 2008 @ 1:55 am
Sounds like you had a great weekend with the family. How fun!
So…are you happy the flyers are in? I know the Penguins are too so we were a bit sad.
Comment by TCC — May 6, 2008 @ 7:53 am
How fun! Glad you had a great time and got some good deals. Even if some bumps and bruises came with the fun…
Hope you’ll take a minute to stop by and comment every day this week to help me raise money for maternal health causes over at BlogHer Acts.
Comment by smtwngrl — May 6, 2008 @ 8:51 am
Owwwww!!!
Archer Farms and Pomegranate — why of course! :):)
The girls are too cute. I can’t wait for a getaway. We get one in a couple weeks — woohoo!
Comment by Val — May 7, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Looks like a fun family weekend. Now I want some of those yummy treats.
Comment by Alexis — May 11, 2008 @ 9:05 pm