Wisconsin Dells

This year we decided to try out the Wisconsin Dells for our family vacation.  We’d heard from numerous people that there are a ton of places to stay as well as a lot of waterparks, both indoor and outdoor.  It was a hard decision, as we love going to the Ozarks!  With three kids- 5, 1 1/2, and 3 months, and with a shorter time frame to work with, we decided traveling 4 hours sounded much better than 6 1/2-7 hours!

We left Friday, June 17th around 12:30 with the Garvins in one van and my parents and us in another van!  

By the time we checked in and unloaded the vans it was getting close to 5:00.  We decided to eat supper before heading to one of the waterparks that was right outside our condo. 

Ella was wound up and super excited!  She was so proud that she was taller than 42”!  Kenna has a few inches to go!

Instead of starting with the waterslides we decided to find the kiddie pool.  McKenna was very hesitant to get in the water.  It was rather cool out, but I didn’t think the water felt too bad.  We finally got her to let us put her down in the dinosaur egg.  She stayed and played in there and wouldn’t get out!

Ella on the other hand had no fear of the water.  Daddy Garvin was a good sport entertaining her while the rest of us sat out and watched!

The waterpark closed at 8:00 so we weren’t able to stay that long so we headed back to our rooms for baths.  Ella had just a few too many bubbles in her bath!!

Saturday morning the girls were up and ready to hit the waterparks! 

Mr. Sun wasn’t very kind to us over the weekend.  He pretty much refused to show his face!  The one good part about that was that Lily could be outside with us and Ella and McKenna could be out longer.

Ella once again loved going from pool to pool, while McKenna sat out and watched!  She had more fun playing with her Princess water toys, relaxing on the cute little kid chairs, and cleaning her stroller with a wipe!  She had NO interest in getting in the water.  Mommy was okay with that though because that meant she didn’t have to get in either!

While the girls napped Grandpa and Grandma stayed back in the room so that we could go and enjoy ourselves for a bit in the water.  Matt, Garvin, and I laid out for awhile and then I decided I would go sit in the chairs that were in the water.  The sun came out every now and then, but not for long.  : (  I am a girl who likes to be at a waterpark only when the sun is BLAZING! 

We had a few people recommend the restaurant Marley’s for a fun place to go out to eat.  We are so happy we decided to try it out!  It was a really cute atmosphere and the girls loved it!  

A few highlights:
*Little umbrellas in every drink
*White paper was used for table cloths so we could color on our table
*Open dance floor (at night the one side turns into a dance club)
*Awesome food
*Only 5 minutes from our resort

After supper we headed to the outlet mall to go shopping!  We ended up only making it to the GAP because the little girls we ready to head home.  We did make time to stop at the ice cream shop for some really yummy ice cream! : )

Sunday turned out to be even colder!  At one point in the van it said 62 degrees.  Are you kidding me, it’s the middle of JUNE!  We decided to try out one of the indoor waterparks.  The resort has transportation for you to take to get from place to place.  The van picked us up right outside our cabin and took us to the cabin with the indoor waterpark!!

Once again McKenna wanted to sit out and watch while Ella ran from section to section!  I decided to take McKenna down the slide, completely against her will.  She LOVES going down slides, so I thought that she would end up having fun and then decide she would do it on her own.  All the way up the stairs we got sprayed from all directions, which caused her to cry even harder (the girl doesn’t like to be splashed)!  I sat down with McKenna on my lap and down we went…. FAST!  Matt was waiting for us at the bottom but we were going so fast I didn’t have a chance to tell him to try to grab her.  Too late- under the water we both went!!  Mommy and Kenna were now soaked from head to toe.  Ah! 

I think the slide incident pretty much scared her to death so she decided from then on she wasn’t going anywhere near the water… wonderful!  We then spent the rest of our day sitting out watching everyone else in the place have a ball! 

Then my dad came up with a great idea- take McKenna on a stroller ride IN the water!  We didn’t know this was his plan until we saw him walking around in the water (in his clothes) with McKenna in her stroller!  He even got her to put her feet in the fountains, which was a BIG step for her!

While the girls took naps the moms headed back to the outlet mall to shop.  It was nice not having to worry a time schedule.  We took as much time as we needed at each store and it was great!

 When we got home the girls were up from their naps so we decided to head to the go-carts. Ella had been asking about when she would get to ride from the time she saw them the first afternoon we got there! 

Grandpa, Matt, Ella, and Daddy raced while Kenna and I watched!  When they would drive by McKenna would say, “Hi Daddy!  Hi Grandpa!  Hi Uncle Matt!  Hi Ella!”  

Ella wanted to take a quick dip in the water before we headed back to our room.  Kenna just played with Ariel while we watched Matt and Ella swim!

Sunday night we headed to the other indoor park.  This time we walked through the sky walk to get there.  As soon as we entered the place McKenna started crying.  As we got closer to the water she flapped her arms, cried louder, and then would hold on for dear life!  This was going to be a long night!

We tried warming her up to the water by letting her put her hands in the water trays.  Every time we would try to put her feet in the water she would hold us even tighter!  

I went over to take some pictures of Danielle and Lily in a different part of the pool.  As I headed back to the table where our belongings were I saw McKenna in the swings!!  We had tried before with no luck so I was completely shocked that she was actually sitting in one!  

McKenna had a great time in the swings.  We didn’t dare take her out because we weren’t sure we would get her back in it!  Each time the big bucket would dump water we would have to pull the swing away from that area because it would send over a pretty large mist, which McKenna did NOT like.
 Grandpa kept testing how wet he could get her, making her swing go under the little spray fountains! 

We spent the rest of the evening at the swings, taking turns on who was going to push her.  You also had to push Ariel in the next swing because she had to have her Princess in the swing too!  We were desperate so we granted her wishes!

Since it was Father’s Day we let the daddies decide where we should order pizza.  They made a really good choice as the pizza was really good!  Check out how big the pizza was!  We had a lot of leftovers since we ordered two pizzas (the other one was smaller!). 

The sun was still MIA Monday.  We were bummed since we were heading home in the afternoon.  We loaded up all of our stuff and then drove back to the first indoor waterpark.  This was the look McKenna had on her face the entire time!  We finally got her to sit in the jump-a-roo style swings but she hated it because her legs were in the water too much!  She was too big to swing because her feet drug on the bottom.  We found this out the hard way, poor girl!  

Matt and I were pretty frustrated by this point and I think my parents could tell!  They offered to sit with Kenna while we went down some of the slides.  I felt like we better make the most of it (sun or no sun) so we joined Ella and Matt on one of the tube slides while Danielle took pictures of us!  We also went on the “family” tube, which was a lot of fun.  The line for that slide started getting pretty long so we decided to change it up and go on the tube-less slide.  Ella wanted to go too, but according to the sign she was too short.  When we asked the lifeguard if she could go she said yes!  I went down at the same time as Matt.  You had to lay on your back with your arms across your chest.  I was amazed at how fast this slide was!  I found myself taking deep breaths the whole way down!  As soon as I got out of the water I tried hollering up to Danielle to tell her NOT to send Ella.  I thought it was too fast, not to mention it was completely pitch black!  I watched as Ella sat down and then disappeared into the tunnel… Danielle hadn’t heard me!!  I quickly walked up to the spot where Ella would enter the water, prepared to pick up a freaked out child!  Well I was wrong- here shot out a smiling blonde haired little girl. The first words out of her mouth were, “Let’s do that again!”  I couldn’t believe she liked it!!!  Matt and Danielle were the next ones down.  They couldn’t believe it either, as Danielle said she had to breathe the whole way down as well!!  

Ella and Matt did bumper boats while the rest of us packed up.  She had been waiting to ride them!!  While we were waiting for them to finish McKenna peed through her swim diaper all over Daddy and the floor… nice!

The Goetz’s!

The Lindgren’s

We gave the girls quick showers in the locker room before heading to good ol’ McDonald’s for lunch.  Then it was into the van to head back to Cedar Falls!

Even though McKenna was a turkey and the weather wasn’t what we had hoped for, we still had a wonderful vacation!  Just spending time with family, playing cards, shopping, and eating together consists of a good time in my book! 

A HUGE thanks to my parents for always providing opportunities for us to create memories together.  We can’t thank you enough for taking the time to spend another vacation with us and for loving our little girls! 

Thanks also to Danielle for getting the trip booked!  I’m already looking forward to next summer’s vacation!