Summer Bucket List: The Dells

We are kind of sucking on our Summer Bucket List, and I'm no longer certain we'll get to all of the things since it's already August, but we did get one done- the Wisconsin Dells! 

I had booked two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge, which we've done before. They have a much better pool area for kids that can't go down huge slides than Kalahari did so I decided we'd go back here. Maybe the next time we go we'll try a new place but I figure I'd stick with tried and true for this trip. Sadly, I didn't end up taking very many photos and that's mostly because I forgot. I know people are very much into the anti-photo and living in the moment but with my memory loss I can't really do that. I already don't remember much of this trip and it's only been two weeks. Give me a year and I won't remember any of it, so the photos really are all I have. 

I have to get better about taking photos. 

So we left on a Monday because you get cheaper room rates than on a weekend though it's still outrageously expensive. 

This time the kids knew where we were going, unlike the last two times when we told them we were running an errand and ended up driving 4 hours to the Dells and they had no clue until we were in the parking lot. They were all pretty excited about it, despite the long drive.  

Of course as soon as we got there the kids wanted to swim right away, so that's just what we did. They swam for a few hours and then it was bed time. We tried to do their night time pajama dance party, but Lucy was over tired so Matt took her back to the room and I hung out with the three other kids. Penelope did alright but it turned out to be kind of lame so we left half way through it. I promised Penelope we would swim all day the next day and she crashed hard. I didn't sleep a wink but that was pretty much expected. 

The next day we got up early, I had brought breakfast stuff since I knew we couldn't afford to buy breakfast there, and that actually worked out really well. After breakfast we got dressed and headed down to the pool area. 

Penelope was so fascinated with the large bucket that drops a lot of water onto the ground but she was terrified to be near it. I stood under there a couple of times with her but that still didn't help. Lucy was all about the water, she was all over the place. She mostly floated in all of the pools and a couple of times actually fell asleep while floating. Penelope is not a good floater and was terrified for awhile and by the end of the day she was kind of OK with it. She was trying to swim on her own, which she actually did pretty well so I think this fall I  might try to get her into a swim class. Jackson and Olivia were all over the place and we only saw them a few times. I was pretty exhausted after the day because I legitimately swam the entire day. I didn't even really hurt the next day which was surprising.  

This was a picture of the kids before the pajama dance party we tried to go to. It's hard to get all four kids to look at you at the same time. I figure I'll just take what I can get.  

I took this on our last night there because the line was almost done and we were just walking through and they were all kind of looking at me! 

Penelope and Lucy, playing like they do. 

On the day we were leaving we decided to go to the outlet mall which was across the street and I ended up getting a couple of shirts for the kids for school, so that was nice. We stopped in the Disney Store and the little girls got some figurines and we looked at the dress up dresses- which Penelope is obsessed with. I found a couple I thought were really nice and I'm thinking I might get one and use it as a Halloween costume and then a play dress afterwards? 

But then we went to Buffalo Phil's for lunch, where your food is delivered by a train.  

Penelope was pretty excited when toys were delivered by train for her to play with.  

When we were leaving they wanted to pet the buffalo by the door and Penelope asked if she could ride it. 

Of course she would. 

Overall it was a nice couple of days. The kids had a really good time but it was nice to come home. We didn't get to do any touristy stuff around the dells just because we were trying to save some money but it was a fun mini vacation anyways!

Spring Break Fun: Kalahari, Wisconsin Dells

The kids were really lucky this year that they got to do something fun over spring break. The first few days were them going to Minneapolis/St. Paul and being tourists with my inlaws and family friends. Olivia took some photos with her phone, but most were blurry and I have no idea what they were of. But both Olivia and Jackson said they had a really good time and it's good for them to get new experiences. 

Matt and I knew we couldn't do any kind of fantastic trip some of their friends were taking, but we decided we would book two nights at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells and just not tell the kids.

And that's just what we did. We went to lunch, told the kids we were going to run an errand and almost five hours later we're pulling into the parking lot. They had no idea I had packed our bags and it was right behind them the entire time. To say they were surprised is an understatement! 

We had a great time in the Indoor Theme Park! The big kids basically left Matt and I and did their own thing but I was able to get one quick photo of them on the ferris wheel in the cart behind us.  

Penelope LOVED IT. She kept saying she was "so happy" and it was "so fun". I'll have to get her to the fair this summer but I think Disney would be so much more fun for her!  

Even Lucy had a great time even though she didn't really understand what all was going on.  

We rode the carousel, Lucy loved it.  

Ugh... how huge am I getting?!  

Nobody loves the carousel more than Penelope. Absolutely nobody.  

The entire next day was spent in the waterpark area, which was the reason we came!

 Penelope was ready for it in her new swimmy suit. 

 Lucy didn't much care for the swim diapers and kept grabbing herself. Such a lady. 

 Once again the big kids ran off to find water slides they could both do so we didn't see them again until lunch time. But Lucy had a great time in the toddler area. I do wish the toddler area was a bit bigger because when you're stuck in one small area all day it gets a bit boring for the grown ups. 

 Penelope kept laying down and telling me she was floating. She in fact, was not floating, but I wasn't going to argue with an almost three year old. There is no point in torturing yourself. 

 You can tell we swam hard because little Lucy was zoned out waiting for lunch and I thought for sure she was going to fall asleep on us. We decided I would take her back to the room for a nap and both her and I took a three hour one! 

Matt ended up taking all four kids to the pool, by himself, later that night because I wasn't feeling well and didn't think I could sit in a chlorinated area anymore. 

We left the next day and man, we were exhausted. 

I would highly recommend Kalahari, it was a fun resort with a lot to do. If you're travelling with little kids, I'd probably opt for Great Wolf Lodge, there was more for the younger crowd. I also highly recommend going literally anywhere else to eat versus Kalahari. Everything is SO expensive (a mediocre breakfast for us was $70 and two of them got cereal). The last morning we ended up spending $25 on donuts and milk and calling it good because I couldn't spend another $70 on something that would normally cost us so much less. They do have a nice buffet that had "picky eater" selections, so you know where I went! 

Overall it was a great couple of days. I'm glad we splurged and went away for a bit, it's kind of nice to do that once in awhile. Jackson had been telling my mom that we used to do fun things and now we don't. Part of it is because traveling with six people is an undertaking, but also because I have limitations that I didn't before and that makes it hard. I have a hard time planning things because I don't know how I'm going to feel and that's a big part of us getting out. But this ended up being OK. The car ride back was a bit rough but I managed. 

Wisconsin Dells was... the best decision EVER.

Before I get into the post, I want to announce the winner of the Sleepless in Manhattan book giveaway that ended yesterday...

Congratulations, Ada!! You'll be getting an email from me soon- I hope you love the book as much as I did!

I have SO many photos for you and so many fun things to talk about so go get a drink and get comfy. So if you remember we didn't tell the kids beforehand where we were going. I gave them vague and ambiguous clues that were in not intended to be helpful at all. I really wanted the first trip to the Dells to be super exciting. It's truly rare for us to do stuff like this and I want these to be fun memories of their childhood.

So we got in the van after taking Twinky to my mom's so he didn't chew our furniture. I had everything loaded the night before so it was basically a no stress morning. We drove and drove. And then drove some more. We decided to not go to the hotel first and make them squirm some more so we went on our Upper Dells Boat Tour.  We truly didn't have money for this trip so the "splurges" were going to be few but I knew I wanted to do one touristy thing outside of the hotel and because we like hikes and boats, I decided this would be fun. And it WAS.

We met a bunch of super nice people and the kids kept giving them the clues to see if they could figure out what we were doing. Of course they couldn't.

We also learned Penelope absolutely hates car rides and boat rides. Crying and wanting to run free.

But the boat ride was gorgeous. It wasn't a full boat and honestly? That's OK because we got to know the folks on the boat with us. All of which kept asking me if I was going to have the baby on the boat. Har, har, har folks.

The kids had a really great time.

Especially on the two stops you get out at for quick walks around the area.

Even Penelope kind of got into it at that point but was pretty irritated to be contained in the carrier.

And I managed to walk with no issues. Sure, my feet were swollen and my back was sore as hell, but there was no way I was not getting off the boat. The tour itself was about two hours, so by the time we were done our room at Great Wolf Lodge was ready.  I wish I could share the video of us revealing the surprise (I made them close their eyes as we got closer) but Matt's phone won't for some reason. But rest assured, they were SO surprised, Olivia said thank you immediately and Jackson says, "I always wanted to go here!". I have never felt more grateful for them, truly.

Our priority for night one was to eat and go to MagiQuest because one of the clues was that they could get a wand. And I have no pictures of MagiQuest because it was STUPID. It was seriously the dumbest, most expensive thing we have ever done. My kids are 8 and almost 11 and even the easiest game was kind of over their heads and they don't do riddles well so I got annoyed and took Penelope to bed and let Matt try to last it out with them but even he gave up.

The second day was going to be our full swimming day. We could only afford to stay for two nights so I knew day two was going to be nothing but swimming and that actually turned out to be smart.

Penelope had a GREAT time. This was her first adventure in water, outside of the bathtub, and she totally enjoyed it.

She missed nap time and meals/snacks were screwed up but she took it in stride. Of course, we paid for this dearly when she screamed for three hours at bedtime, but during the day we thought we were the smartest, luckiest parents ever. HA!

It was also the first time my kids have ever been to a waterpark of any kind. We've done hotel pools and our little yard pool but nothing like this. I was worried they'd be too scared to go in but nope- they took off and it was literally hours before I saw them again. They went on every slide there was and there wasn't an inch of the park they didn't visit.

Oh yes, and Penelope learned how to use a straw. Who knew giving her an ICEE would be the motivating factor. Once she figured it out she was like a total addict. Even now, she sees a straw and she wants it.

After a LONG day of swimming, it was decided Matt would take her to the room to sleep (laughable), and I would take the kids to the arcade, then go back to change into pajamas for the night time party stuff.

Most of my kids' arcade tickets came from my winnings at Skee-ball. You guys should know I play some mean skee-ball.

I went up to the room and hey- baby is NOT tired. At all. I'm assuming it was from the 7 ICEE's she had on her own so I thought I'd bring her down to see part of the party to burn off some energy.

It's hard to see but she was petting Violet, the lodge character.

The kids played games and won some prizes.

We took photos of them being cheesy tourists.

Jackson refused to dance and Olivia was the oldest kid there, but she was a sport and tried to dance with Penelope.

But Penelope didn't last long so her and Matt left while I stayed back so we could see the Clock Tower Show.  Honestly, the best part about Great Wolf Lodge is that if you have kids six and under? They will keep your kids BUSY. Older kids like mine.. meh. The activities aren't really for them anymore but we still hung out because I'm all about seeing the experience. We ended up not staying for the big kid dance party because they were tired but yay us- we got to hear Penelope scream for three hours. She would not sleep in the pack and play, and I don't know if it was because it wasn't her bed, she is teething, who knows. But it was a rough night with very little sleep.

But the next day we had about an hour or so to do something before checkout, so I told the kids to get their swim suits on because we were going to swim until the very last second to get our full money's worth.

So that's what we did.

I even got a GREAT picture of Matt and Penelope being splashed by the big bucket!

And the kids waving to me on their way to the slides.

Penelope loved this little splash things so much I feel like maybe she'd like the sprinkler at home.

Oh yes, and my 32 week pregnant self got into a bathing suit BOTH days! I didn't swim a whole lot, I mostly followed Penelope around, but still. This is a total first for me in all of my days as a pregnant person. And it was alright. I had a lot of people staring at me and I had one guy tell me I was "brave" which was kind of offensive and irritating, but I can see how he maybe thought he was being supportive and kind. But still. It's not brave, I'm in a swimming suit because I'm in a water park. That's kind of what the appropriate attire is. Sigh.

Oh and Matt got a picture of us being splashed because I didn't hear the bells warning you it was going to dump.

To be honest, I think the big kids tricked me on purpose.

So yes. Me and all four of my kids (!!!) had a great time. Matt even had a good time, which is saying something because he hates people. But coming during the week (Monday check in, Wednesday check out) was really nice because it was not crowded at all. Yeah, there were plenty of people there but it wasn't bad at all. The restaurants had great food and a good variety, even for picky eaters. The only thing I wish I had done was buy the souvenir cups on Monday instead of lunch time on Tuesday because they were $12.99 a piece and you got free refills your entire stay. And by god, we drank $26 worth of drinks over three days (we bought two cups). So if you're going, maybe hit up the snack shop and pick one up because you can take it into the restaurant, too.

Our drive back was horrible and long. Penelope cried most of the way. The big kids fell asleep and Matt drove while I tried to entertain a 13 month old in a car seat for five hours. It was pretty brutal. But oh well. The trip overall was absolutely worth it and they already want to go back!

To hell with bills and financial responsibility! We're going on a mini trip!

A sure sign that I have lost all rational thinking is the fact that I am basically snubbing my nose at financial planning and responsibility. A friend of mine asked me the other day why I worried so much about being debt free and being so hunkered down and not doing anything fun and my answer was that I can't afford it. I'm trying to plan for the someday bad thing that will inevitably happen.

Then I got to thinking- planning has done nothing for me. Something always comes up. I am always broke. Somehow, some way, I figure it out and we don't end up homeless. And knowing that we have medical bills out the ass coming, another baby coming, and just the stress of all of that- I decided to stop giving so many fucks.

I'm done.

(Which is hilarious because you know tomorrow I will have a panic attack when I realized I just booked a fully non-refundable trip and I would be out the $279.02.)

OK- honestly, it's under $300 and it isn't that much. Granted, we will be driving like five hours away or something, we'll have to purchase some food, and obviously a souvenir because it's practically a rule, and then we might do something fun on the way home to really poop them out for the drive. So realistically, this will end up being around a $600 trip unless I find some really good deals and gas prices stay low. But plan for the worst, hope for the best is my motto. HA!

So where are we going?

Well my kids have never, ever been to the Wisconsin Dells. It feels wrong to say that because we live in Wisconsin and it seems like all of their friends have gone. We haven't gone to an indoor water park EVER. Not even the one 20 minutes from our house. Mostly because we're poor and I couldn't justify the cost. But these kids have been so damn great with all of the changes we've had this year, are absolute troopers when they realized yet another baby is coming and that means even more changes, and they have helped me tremendously. They didn't even cry when I told them that the road trip to Florida we all thought we would be taking this summer wasn't going to happen and I don't know if it'll even happen next year. They were disappointed but they both told me it was OK and that it's probably best we feed Penelope.

I mean, bless their little hearts. Seriously. I don't know how I have managed to raise two super great kids so far, and that's terrible because I have two more and I really don't know how I did it.

Anyways.

So this is where we are going to spend two nights because mama cannot afford any more than that...

Great Wolf Lodge, Wisconsin Dells!!

We have driven past this a few times. The Dells is this mythical place everyone else gets to go to and the closest we ever came was eating at a restaurant that brings your food out on a train. We spent an OBSCENE amount of money for that experience but they still talk about it years later. But we drive by and look at all of the fun Dells stuff from the vehicle windows. I feel like I need to record their reaction when I tell them that not only do we get to GET OUT OF THE VAN, but we get to stay there!

This tornado water slide thing looks amazing. I'm only kind of bitter I likely won't be able to go on it being ridiculously pregnant. I also doubt either kid will dare to go but I hope Matt does and I can take a picture of his face as he comes out.

MagiQuest? I don't know what it is, but we're DOING IT!

Swimming and relaxing for two full days. Well, probably not me so much because I'll have Penelope but still.

We'll be doing the story time thing, the dance party thing, lunch time crafts, Great Clock Tower show, nature walk, all of it, folks. It might be the best thing my kids have gotten to do aside from Disney. Well no, our South Dakota trip was cheap and amazing too. But they are going to lose their minds when they find out about this. I can hardly wait! So I have basically a month to put some spending money aside. I also want to look for something to do in the Dells before we head home that isn't over the top expensive. I figure we'll check out early, go do fun thing, have lunch somewhere, and then head home so we're home around dinner time since Matt has to work the next day.

EEK!! I am SO excited for this. I don't know if I'll be able to keep a secret from them, they'll know something is up. HA!