Wisconsin Dells, 2014

 We took our first family vacation to Wisconsin Dells July 16-20.  Katie, Brian, Madelyn and Allison all joined us.  We stayed in a 2 bedroom unit at Mt. Olympus.  The place had everything we could possibly want to do, so we never left the resort (except for one dinner out).  The kids weren't as enthralled with the water parks as we had hoped (too small or too scared for most slides and not big fans of the interactive water playgrounds because there were too many sprayers!)  But we managed to get all three kids to go down at least one water slide at the indoor park, and we enjoyed the pools and lazy rivers (Juliana was a big fan of the hot tub since she was just barely old enough to enjoy it!)  The adults also managed to each get in a few slides ourselves, though we wish we could have done more.

 

Connor's "boat"-he was just driving it around in a puddle!

The amusement parks were what the kids enjoyed the most.  So we spent quite a bit of time at both the indoor and outdoor parks.  A few roller coasters were open for hotel guests only at night, so Katie, Joe and I managed to sneak out for a couple hours after the kids were all in bed one night to enjoy 3 coasters, including the BIG one called Hades 360.  It is a wooden roller coaster that also goes upside down!  There is one HUGE drop, that takes you straight underground in the pitch black, then loops you upside down.  It was unlike anything I had ever ridden.  Despite our nerves leading up to the ride, we all really enjoyed it and are glad to have had the chance to go!  (Thanks Brian for staying with the kids!!!)

It was a hard trip, trying to get all 4 kids to sleep in a foreign place and to stay quiet while Allison was sleeping, but it was so much fun seeing them all together!

they were "watching the sunset!"

awww...my favorite picture!!

 Allison's first experience with solid food...she's not quite sure, but she has a lot of cheerleaders!

matching braids:)

dinner at the Moosejaw restaurant...like our Moose antlers?

On Saturday, we headed to the indoor water park right at the 10am opening time so Juliana could have one last chance to get up her nerves to try the water slide.  She did and she loved it!  Then, we headed over to the outdoor amusement park for a few last rides before leaving.  We stopped and had quick picnic lunch on our way out.  Then Katie and Brian headed home, and we headed to The Cave of the Mounds.   The kids were eagerly anticipating visiting the cave that I so fondly remembered from my own childhood.

We had to wait about 45 min until our tour would begin, but that gave us ample time to explore the rest of the area.  The kids mined their own bags of rough.  Juliana mined for gems (of course!) and Connor mined for fossils. Then, they explored a bit in the fossil dig area and ogled everything in the gift shop (Juliana ended up buying a geode which they broke open for her....she was disappointed though with the inside) before we headed down into the cave itself.

The cave was still pretty remarkable, even as an adult.  The kids enjoyed it too.

Connor, exhausted.  That was how we all felt!