A boy and a stick

Words are even necessary.

Sea gull run

When we arrived, this wall was covered in seagulls. They were everywhere. It took William 2-3 seconds to figure out how fun it was to run along the edge and make them fly away....

Duluth day 2- another lighthouse

After watching the barge go under the bridge, we walked back towards the car. The walk took us right back to the aquarium. Our day passes were still good, so when the kids asked to go back in for a minute, we were happy to indulge them.

When we left the aquarium, we had to walk by the playground and of course, you can't just walk by the playground MOM.

While standing at the park, John pulled out his phone and conducted a little research about our next destination. What did we do before smart phones?

We took a quick drive to the Wisconsin side of the lake and found this isolated gem. It was pretty, it was free and the kids were DELIGHTED at the opportunity to play in the sand with a stick again. They loved the beach. Loved it. We could prob lay do a beach only vacation and they would be in heaven.

The biggest boat

Initially, I was worried we wouldn't get to see the bridge in action at all. Luckily, we caught it going up and down multiple times during the day. This was the most exciting. We were walking back to the car and the bridge went up. Way, way up.

Of course, we needed to see what was coming. Or John did at least. The rest of us were not as captivated by this point. It really was very impressive. The bridge went way, way up and let through this giant barge.
It was so big, it was unbelievable.

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On the trek back to the car, we walked quite a distance along the lake front. We had been walking most of the morning and I was tired. The kids were tired and starting to squabble. Someone drove by with their windows down and music blasting. The 80's tune "Girls just Wanna Have Fun" was playing. All of a sudden, Gemma was dancing. She dropped my hand on the and stopped walking in order to focus all her attention on the dance. She threw her hands in the air and kicked her leg out to one side.

"Mom!!! Listen!!! It is a party! You need to dance!! she yelled at me.

So pronounced was her reaction, the people in the car slowed down to yell out that they thought she was pretty awesome. They danced for a heartbeat with her from the car window before moving on.

At the same time, there were other pedestrians walking the sidewalks coming towards us from another direction.

When Gemma's dance party started, they were just about even with us and had to stop and wait as Gemma's dance party took up the width of the sidewalk. The people on the sidewalk took it in stride and as I hustled her slightly to the side to make room, the boogied on by.

"You can't NOT dance at a dance party!" they laughed as they were finally able to pass us.

And just like that the dance party was over and everything went back to normal. Except for my face because it had a huge smile. These kids. These kids bring joy in ways you could never have predicted and at the times you least expect it.

Canal park group picture

It seems like if you have a sparkly lake and a lighthouse behind you, you should take a picture. Usually, I pick the best ones, but let me tell you, there weren't many to pick from on the trip!

More bridges

After the aquarium, we walked to get some pizza. It can be hard to find pizza in St. Louis, so we were delighted to find an old Chicago pizza restaurant within walking distance. We admired the bridge as we walked. After lunch, we decided to take a closer look at the bridge and we were able to walk over the bridge and back as well as check out Canal Park.

Our kids were troopers. They ate their body weight in pizza and were ready to go again. We didn't bring the stroller with us, so Gemma did a lot of walking. Mom and dad did a lot of carrying as well. We were very impressed with all the kids and their stamina!

More aquarium

Our other favorite from the aquarium was this albino painted turtle. He was so cute!

There was a fascinating map of the Great Lakes and ocean with temperature information. Lake Superior is a chilly 42 degrees!