Meanwhile... Back At The Ranch...

Wisconsin Dells, Day 6...

We wrapped up our trip today...

After cleaning out the room (which was no small task), we used our fun passes to play lazer tag.  I think I had the best score I have ever had, but if I'm going to be honest that is partially due to the fact that this was Ian's first lazer tag game ever, and in an attempt to not lose him in the arena I followed him around most of the time... and... uh...  I shot him in the back every time his vest started glowing...

We did some souvenir shopping next and then headed to the Amtrak station to drop off Grandma and Grandpa for their long ride home...  

And then we were off to The Pizza Ranch...  one of our favorites when we are within driving distance... which isn't often.  You just can't beat the cactus bread.  And on very full tummies, we started to make our trek home.  

We had uneventful travel and pulled into the driveway a little after 11:00pm... tucked the kids in... and unloaded and unpacked much of our stuff.

What a fun trip!  At some point during our time in the Dells, Caleb exclaimed, "Grandma was right!  We needed this vacation!"  And we did...

Trip Pic of the Day:

Getting Ready to Go Home

Lisa

It Was Another Busy Day...

Wisconsin Dells, Day 5…

We spent most of the day in the water, hitting the last outdoor waterpark, “Lake Wilderness,” where we utilized the double tubes to navigate our way through a pool that was deeper than expected and enjoyed another tube slide and some more body slides.  Ian took a trip down a medium sized body slide, and the kid literally flew off the end.  Grandma caught him by the life jacket.  I don’t think he’ll be doing anything like that again anytime soon, but I am glad that he’s getting a little bit braver…  I had some fun taking underwater pictures of my “big kids”, and Phil played basketball with them at one of the pools while I chased Ian and Miah around the baby play area.

Miah really loves it here.  She has thrown the best temper tantrums ever, pretty much every time we take a life jacket off of her.  We have begun to call them “fun jackets”!  I have a feeling she will be every bit as much of an adrenaline junkie as her mommy and big sister when she gets older…

We also returned to “Klondike Kavern” today and rode the lazy river something like 10,000 times!  We played in the kids’ fort area, as well.

Waterpark #3 on the day was “New Frontier”, where Phil and Grace took a spin down both a tube slide and a body slide… because Grace challenged Daddy to ride at least one body slide while we were here!  They’re not his favorite, by any stretch of the imagination, but there’s not much he wouldn’t do for our first princess…

We took a brief respite from the water at the mirror maze, which was very fun and extremely funny…  We literally could not distinguish between the real people in our party and the reflections at times.  I ran into myself on more than one occasion…

After returning to the room, Phil, Seth, Grace, Caleb, and I headed out to the “Lost World” park to make sure we made it to a few last attractions.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that the dual layer lazy river actually has a ramp that you can ride up!  Earlier in the trip it wasn’t running, but Caleb tried to get on it anyway.  We thought it was only for tubes and teased him about this, but the truth is… people can ride the tubes right up the ramp.  We had to take part in this novelty, of course.  I had promised Grace that I would race down the mat slides with her at some point, so this was the time.  It was far less than fun for me, because I started sucking water up my nose within moments of pushing myself down the slide.  I am rather shocked that I didn’t drown.  I did win the race though… even though Caleb insists that I was second.  (A lifeguard shoved him down the slide on the count of 3, but made the rest of us wait until he’d counted all the way down, so Caleb was actually feeling bad for “cheating,” but the truth is, he didn’t win anyway…  I didn’t bother to tell him that…) Grace was the only one of us willing to try the slides with the bottoms that drop out.  Unfortunately (for her), she didn’t weigh enough to ride the looping slide, but she did ride the vertical one, which was enough to just about give the rest of us heart attacks just watching her.  In typical Grace fashion, she did her earsplitting scream all the way down and then jumped off and exclaimed that, “IT… WAS… AWESOME!”

Dinner time… followed by TV time… followed by bedtime for the kids…

Phil has done an excellent job repacking our stuff, and we’re gearing up to get out of here tomorrow…

Lisa

Trip Pics. of the Day:

Hanging Out in the Cold Jet Pool

 Underwater Adventures

Golfing, Playing, Climbing, and Sliding…

Wisconsin Dells, Day 4...

We actually spent the morning doing “dry” things, which was a plus.  We played two separate indoor mini golf courses, which turned out fun… perhaps especially for Ian who thinks he won, because he had the highest score!  We also climbed around in the indoor play area, which was great because it was huge and adults were allowed to play with their kids!  I am having second thoughts, at the end of the day, regarding my decision to go down one of the slides, but I think I’ll recover…

After really wanting to try the high ropes course, myself, I had my doubts when I got up there with Ian, and he started to panic.  In the end, it turned out alright, but it was sure a lot of work, because I had to basically support Ian’s weight through the whole course, because he was afraid for me to let go of him.  I really loved doing it, but I simultaneously kept thinking, “This is probably the worst thing I have ever done for fun on a vacation!”  We were supposed to have 30 minutes on the course, and at some point Grace found me and said, “Mom… this has been the longest 30 minutes of my life!”  Since I agreed with her, I started looking for a clock and found that we had actually been working our way through the rafters for about 35 minutes… which would explain both the feeling that we had been up there for too long and the exhaustion!

We decided to sit down for ice cream (well… technically I had rainbow sherbet… yum…) while Phil took his turn on the ropes course with Seth and Caleb.  This was an excellent choice, both because the ice cream was super good and because we found free water… which might seem like a silly thing to rejoice over in a waterpark, but we were sure thirsty! 

We went back to the room for dinner… spaghetti… and then headed right back out again for some more waterpark fun…

We enjoyed the “New Frontier” outdoor waterpark and then returned to the “Wild Waterdome”, where we splashed around in the wave pool and rode the family raft ride again.  Phil, Seth, Grace, and Caleb actually rode it again… and again… and again… (3 times)!  

Perhaps the only moment I would rather not relive was when I almost lost my swim shorts… twice… in the wave pool!  In case there was ever any question, I would definitively risk public humiliation before sacrificing my youngest three children to the waves.  And just in case you ever wondered…  it is a real challenge to hold on to the straps of your two year old’s life jacket and the handle of a raft with your five and eight year olds in it!  I honestly thought my right elbow was going to come out of its socket with the weight of those boys!  It was worth it, though, because this afforded Phil the opportunity to send Grace crashing through the waves.

I feel like my trip stories are lacking the excitement that they usually have, but we really are having an excellent time… I’m just beat at the end of every night!

Lisa

Trip Pic. of the Day:

 Finishing Up the Ropes Course!