Gophers, Trains and Escalators

What an odd combination for a title?!?!

The Mattila boys were split up this past weekend.

Nick got to go with Daddy and the high school hockey team to their games in the cities and then to a GOPHER'S hockey game. You would have thought the child had won the lottery he was so excited. Ever since the game we are on overload with hockey. Nick says that he is going to go to school at the U of M and play for the gophers.
I told him that in order to play hockey for the gophers you have to work really hard in school to get good grades. What a motivation to work at school - maybe we should have taken him to a game sooner!!

So with gopher mania in our house now we are considering a weekend trip to Minneapolis again sometime in February to watch a game as a family and stay at the waterpark at the Minneapolis Depot hotel. If you ever go to stay in Minneapolis I highly recommend this hotel. The waterpark is geared more towards smaller kids and not as hyper as the other parks.

Now on to the trains. Once the two older Mattila men left for hockey, my mom and I packed up Eric and Ty and took off for Duluth to spend time with Aunt Betsy and Grandma. The highlight of the trip was the Polar Express. Fitgers and the Duluth Depot did a great job at bringing this story to life with a real train ride, story and visit with Santa at the end. I would highly recommend this holiday activity!! Eric was chosen at the end of the story to sit in the real train and ring the bell to signal the passengers to get back on the train. He was so excited.

But, the real highlight for the weekend for Eric and Ty??? Ride up and down and up and down again on the escalators!! I wonder if you can get one installed in your home???

So that is our weekend of gophers, trains & holiday magic. Can't wait until next year to do it all over again.