Sis' milestone birthday (end of Feb)

My sister turned 50 years old at the end of last month!  I used to think that when my late mom was in her mid to late 40s, like that was old.  And now my sister is 50 and that will be me in 2 more years.  We are getting old for sure.  Ha ha!

It was supposed to be a surprise birthday trip to MN but I guess my sister's hubby decided to tell my sister because he didn't want to clean up the house by himself.  I suppose if he did, my sister would have probably suspected that something was going on.  Oh well, not quite the surprise that I was hoping for, but she was still so super happy when we showed up at her doorstep :-)

We decided to drive right after school pickup on Friday.  Probably a good thing because there was bad weather coming towards us. And looks like we would drive all evening into it.  We eventually stop at Wisconsin Dells for the night:

The boys do love all the extra games that they have in the lobby at this particular hotel:

I think it's a bit rowdy for me.  Call me traditional!

We went out for a quick dinner at another German restaurant.  Although it was probably mostly bar than restaurant. The boys order a cream soda and I think the other one was a root beer? I can't remember now - all I do remember is the amount of sugar that in each bottle. How is this legal??!

60g of sugar in one bottle and 57g of sugar in the other.  That's like 15 teaspoons of sugar or almost 1/2 cup!!!

So needless to say, we are not ordering these drinks ever again.  Sheesh!!

Here's the snow tonight:

And the next morning... icicles!

Glad we decided to stop early last night.  Although, that means another 3+ more hours to my sister's!

For lunch, we decided to stop over at a fast food restaurant.  I was wondering why we did, but we were actually at a Play it Again Sports to see if we could trade in Bobby's ski boots for another pair.  He is still struggling so much to get into them despite loosening out those little things at the back of his boot. Nope, no luck at this location!

Anyway, Charlie orders a double burger with bacon! 

And Graham opts for just a regular cheese burger.  Ha ha!  Theses kids, I tell you.  Couldn't be more different:

Charlie is such a character:

By the way, he didn't actually finish his entire burger.  I think he only went through about half of it. He didn't think it was going to be that big!

At night, the adults all head out for a nice dinner, including two other couples. Happy Birthday, Sis! 

I gifted her a cloisonné necklace that I found in an antique store.  So glad she loves it! :-)

Thankfully, I also did remember to bring over her Maggi instant noodles that she could not bring back with her after our trip to Malaysia last December.  Ha!  Us and our instant noodles!! :-P

The next day, we decided to visit the Museum of Illusions at Mall of America.  This mall is so massive that it even has an amusement park inside.  Woah!!

Caden, my sister's younger son (2nd from left) has grown so much since the last time we saw him. And that was just last August in Malaysia.  Looks like my boys have a long way to go to catch up!

Trip to the loo first before we head into the museum. Oh my gosh, this is like the longest hallway ever to the loo.  Ha ha!

Things are already interesting at the first exhibit within the museum:

Everyone is leaning!

This kaleidoscope was pretty cool.  Everything on the screen was actually in motion here, as if you were looking into a kaleidoscope while turning it:

We-fie! So glad we were all able to be together today:

Here's a funny video.  Somehow I didn't get the same sensation when I was going through this tunnel.   I guess I wasn't doing it right.  But it was sure funny watching the boys tip over! LOL!

This was a fun illusion, although I don't think Graham and Bobby were doing this one right.  This is how it is in reality:

And once you take the photo and turn it over on your image setting,... yup, they are definitely not doing it right:

So my sister and I took things into our own hands and climbed up this metal structure:

Thankfully we weren't actually hanging upside down from the ceiling!  But my sister did have a tough time getting down, and we had a good laugh.  Ha ha!

Mirrors can create such funny illusions!

And this is what Infinity literally looks like!

It truly is amazing what mirrors can create:

Here's what a mix of my sister and I would look like:

And top half of Bobby and bottom half of me??! LOL!!  Funny thing was Bobby didn't know that's what I was doing with my legs, so we had a really good laugh when we saw the photo :-D

This was a fun room too.  Those standing on the right would be a lot larger than those in the left corner of the room. Charlie is almost as tall as Caden here!

There's a TV screen in the room so you could also see yourselves:

Graham being silly and poor Charlie crouched down in the "tiny" corner:

Another we-fie! Charlie's definitely larger than me here and look how tiny Graham and Bobby are.  LOL!

This was probably my favorite illusion:

Oh my! we are hanging off the building!!  Except for Graham, who is sitting crossed-leg upside-down. LOL!!

My sister and I tried to do the same but you could see her actual arm at the bottom of the photo.  Looks like Bobby didn't stand on the right spot to take the photo:

Do you see how we're doing it yet?  We are actually laying down on the floor - you can see me and Bobby at the bottom left of the photo below:

And the image is reflected on this large slanted mirror above, and now we look like we are hanging off the building! Well, I'm falling and Bobby has jumped off the floor to reach me?! So many ways to interpret this.  Ha!

Infinite number of me and my sister?!  I was so afraid of losing track of where the door was in this room as every part of it was a mirror.  Ha ha!

This was too funny :-)

Too cute that I had to try it for myself:

Ha ha!  I actually had to crawl into this exhibit.  Totally worth this photo! :-)

Floating prisms - again, they were actually half prisms reflected on a mirror:

Bobby is seen playing cards all by himself here:

It's more realistic when I crop myself out multiple times from the photo above.  See what I mean?!

It's crazy how our eyes really play tricks on us.  Check out this video:

Wait, what??! LOL!!

We couldn't get this red dot out from the bottom of the table no matter what we did.  Urgh! One day, we will have to go back and spend more time on it.  Ha ha!

More illusions... I was debating that perhaps I could draw one of these on our wall at home:

Or this one? Do you see a vase or 2 faces??

Crazy stuff!

Happy Birthday, Sis!  So glad we got to do this today :-)

O.M.G, this is it!!

This large mural was upstairs by the food court.  My sister got a kick out of me taking photos for my next inspiration. Yes, this will be it for the wall in the house :-D

I'll let you know when it happens! Or until I find see another mural and change my mind (again!).

This is how tall Caden is - taller than Bobby!

But no one can be more dramatic than Bobby.  I was actually trying to take a photo of all the hanging lights in the background:

Daddy definitely makes life interesting - also our entertainer.  This is Bobby singing on our way home.  He obviously didn't know that I was recording him in secret :-P

I'm not sure how he ended up singing the Star-spangled Banner. This is what a 6-hr drive can do. LOL!

And my sister received her rosary bracelet the next day on her actual birthday.  So happy she loves it!

A quick but fun trip.  Glad we were able to see my sister and her family again.  It's been difficult for my sister since our dad's passing last December.  So glad we live closer to each other now. XOX