We stayed at the Wilderness Resort and rented a condo on Lake Delton. It had two bedrooms and a loft with double beds (and a pull out). We let the three year olds take over the loft. Brandon and I won the coin flip so we took the master bedroom. The little boys (15 months) got to bunk with their respective mommies and daddies! The layout of the condo was actually perfect. Instead of having a traditional deck/balcony, it was completely finished with a sitting area with a fireplace and a jacuzzi tub. You could open the outside sliding doors to get fresh air, but the best part was it had sliders to the inside as well and it gave the adults their own space at night and kept the inside quiet for the sleeping kids. I can now say that I have added the card game "500" to my repertoire, although I am far from perfecting it!
We took food for breakfasts and lunches and we ate our dinners out. We had been given some excellent suggestions by friends who have been to the Dells. The first night we dined at a sports bar called Monks. The second night we ate at MooseJaw - excellent pizza! Friday night we had made reservations at Buffalo Phil's. This is restaurant that delivers your food and drink on trains. The kids loved every minute of it! They sat right next the tracks and we had to remind them more than once not to touch the other people's food as it went by! Saturday night we ate at a place called Schriefers (pretty sure that is not how it is spelled, but you get the idea), it was a nice German pub. I had an open faced pot roast sandwich on beer bread with beer cheese potatoes - delish! Is it ironic that I would talk about all the food before I even mention the water parks?! In food conclusion, we had great meals!
The resort was next to empty Wednesday and Thursday. The crowds picked up a little Friday and of course Saturday. It was so nice to not fight any crowds in the water parks or restaurants. Obviously, all of the outside attractions were closed, but there was plenty to do inside. There are several different water areas but they rotate the ones they have open during the off season, but we got to do them all.
When we arrived on Wednesday we ate dinner first and then did Cubby Cove's which was the water attraction at our place. It was geared towards the little ones and is a little smaller so it isn't so overwhelming for them. It had a great water slide that the kids loved. Grant even held his arms out to Brandon to have him take him down it again and again! As we were leaving we spied the indoor/outdoor hot tub. The next night Jessica and I negotiated to help get the kids in bed and we went for a soak. It was perfect sitting outside in hot water, just chatting and relaxing!
The next day we went to the wave pool with the glass ceiling, "for year round tanning!" There was a kiddie area right next to it that Elizabeth enjoyed as well. Just next door was a the area with kiddie water slides and a lazy river. There were even swings in the water for the little ones. I put Grant in one and he was doing find until the "big bucket" of water dumped and although he didn't get wet, there was quite the rush of air and of course the noise and it scared him. From that point he was pretty content to just stay in my arms. Since he isn't walking yet(!) he wasn't to anxious to get down and I think crawling on the shallow pool areas hurt his knees, so in my arms he stayed!
We had great family rides in the lazy river. In fact, one day the little boys both fell asleep in our laps while floating in the tubes. There was only one problem. There were two places in the lazy river were you had the option of going under a waterfall. Of course I never wanted to go under the waterfalls. If it wasn't for this obstacle I probably would have fallen asleep too! However, I had to be on full alert in these two spots! About the third lap around, when Grant is really zonked out, I get forced under the waterfall and when I say forced, I mean forced. Some man and what I believe was his daughter thought it was hilarious. I tried my best to paddle to the other side to avoid it, but I couldn't get it done and no one helped. They pushed me and my sleeping baby right into the direction of the water. To make matters worse, we kind of got stuck under the waterfall. Needless to say we were drenched and awake. If looks could kill.... Now, I realize we are at a water park, you might get wet...yeah, yeah, yeah I know, but it was the lazy river!! He was able to fall back asleep and both boys actually sleep for a good 30 minutes and I had to be pried out of my tube!
One morning we participated in the Ken-Ducky-Derby Duck Race. The kids got to pick out cute rubber ducks and they put their names on them and then there was a duck race in the famous lazy river. Elizabeth didn't win any of the races, but our friends did and they graciously shared a duck whistle with Elizabeth!
Saturday morning we took the kids on a horse and wagon ride. We were the first riders and it was a nice ride, but the coachman (man steering the horses? I don't know what they are called so I'm going with coachman, Cinderella style) was lacking personality. When I asked what the horses names were, he mumbled "Ned and Ted." It is important for Elizabeth to keep track of all of the horses she has associated with. So far we have Charlie, Poncho, Ned and Ted. We then took the daddies to an indoor playground that we had taken the kids to when they played golf a few days before. It was a four story playground with foam ball blasters...pretty cool. There was a soft play area for Grant, which he loved! We opted to do a water park after dinner and it was one we hadn't been to yet. It had one slide that I could do with Elizabeth, but the other two (commonly referred to as the orange one and blue one) she had to do alone. She had had trouble the day before on a slide by herself. Every time she went around the corner she was losing her balance and ending up on her back and then got a face full of water at the bottom. She was a little scared of the solo slides. However, I had been watching the orange and blue slides and every kids came down sitting up so I was confident that it was not as fast and that if she would just try it she would be fine. Our Elizabeth is such an observer. She has to soak it all in before she will try anything. So I stood there with her and pointed out how everyone was still sitting at the bottom. Brandon took her to the top, but they turned around and came back down. We watched some more and then Brandon told her we would get her a special treat if she would just try. Yes, we bribed our daughter to go down a water slide. Guess what? It worked! She did it and she loved it! She did it several more times and I don't know how but one time she did come down on her back and one time on her belly, but she thought it was fun!
A family who was leaving had given some free passes, so the dads took the big kids to the bumper boats. I think the dads had more fun than the kids! Our friends took their kids back to the condo for baths, but we weren't quite ready yet. We had passes for a mirror maze and haunted house. I thought the mirror maze would be fun so I took Elizabeth and it was cool. I am not sure she really understood it, but it wasn't scary. Then we entered the haunted house. Now, I was extremely cautious and took all corners before her and was prepared to exit at anytime. Well one corner came too fast and there was a bloody mannequin with a pistol and the grim reaper. I quickly grabbed her and we left. I don't think it was soon enough though because she started asking a lot of questions about the "spooky hotel." Nice mommy fail moment Alison. Should have left after the mirror maze. To make matters worse she is now asking for her special treat and we have no money! We finally compromised with a cookie when we got home and she seemed happy with that....phew!
Some highlights:
- Brandon reading the kids bedtime stories on the iPad
- The resort shuttle - the kids loved riding the "bus!"
- "Do you want a snack?....You know." We have no idea what this means or where it came from but we had a couple of three year-olds that thought this was hysterical.
- There were several "stuffed" animals through out the resort. Elizabeth was particularly fond of the baby bear in our lobby, which at one point she tried to milk. I totally blame the cow milking at the State Fair for this! We told the kids that there was probably bugs in the fur and they should stop touching it. Of course later when the father's were with us the kids asked about the bugs and the guys looked at us like "where would they get that idea?!"
- The free moose and buffalo hats we got at the restaurants provided lots of entertainment!
- The guys golfed one afternoon and even though they were cold, they said the course was beautiful.
- The girls shopped the outlet mall one afternoon and then dragged the families back after dinner because we were pretty sure we had left a few coats behind in Gap that had our names on them. After going back and actually trying them on, we decided they were better off staying at the Gap!!
- Overhearing the chit-chat from the loft, when the kids were supposed to be sleeping!
- The pushing of the elevator buttons...Elizabeth was responsible for pressing "4"
- The Indian trading shop that not only had cigar indians, but full head dresses as well!
- The jacuzzi tub - the big kids loved it!
- Good times, great friends, awesome memories!!!
I made Flip video of the trip, but didn't take a lot of great pictures, but my friend blogs too, so I will just reference her blog! http://schreurssnapshots.blogspot.com/
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