The Dells - 2012

Last year we went on a family vacation with our good friends to the Wisconsin Dells.  We had such a good time that we went again this year.  The kids were so excited!  Actually Elizabeth was so excited the day before we left that she woke up three times in the middle of the night asking if it was time to leave yet!  Last year the little boys (Grant & Brady) were just babies!  Brady had just started walking and Grant hadn't taken his first steps yet.  Wow, what a difference a year can make!  First we didn't have to pack the baby gate and we didn't have strollers.  Instead of being attached to our hips the "little boys" followed their older siblings and walked right into water!  They did a slide by themselves and were even able to do a family tube ride!  The family ride was probably the water park highlight for me. There was something about the entire family being able to enjoy the same thing that just warmed my heart.  Grant's eyes were as big as saucers when we got to the end (well maybe the whole ride, but it was completely black, so who knows!) His verbal response was "Whoa!"  When we asked if he wanted to do it again he quickly said "yes!"

A trip down the slide solo!

Yes they both came down on Brandon's back!

Love the smiles!

 The place where we stay has a small water park area in the building.  It is really just the perfect size for our kids.  This year we were able to sit back and just watch them make circles between the steps and the slide.  This is the infamous green slide that everyone was able to do by themselves. The other great part is this area is small and it doesn't get a lot of attention so it often feels like we have the place to ourselves!

We did the Ken-Ducky Derby race again this year.  The big kids were making a big deal about who was going to win.  We told them that it would just be great if one person in our group/family/team won.  We were really tying to instill a team spirit.  Grant ended up being the big winner and we were ALL very happy for him!

 We went to train restaurant (aka Buffalo Phil's) again too.  The kids still seemed impressed with the train delivered food.  Brandon however was not so impressed with his meal (lemon peppered fish, advertised as all you can eat fish fry).

The last night we were there the guys grilled out steaks for us.  While the grill was getting hot the kids feed the ducks.  I initially was not a big fan of grilling out and thought it seemed like a lot of work.  But the guys took charge and it ended up being a really nice relaxing evening.

The boys didn't golf this year but the girls still managed to find time to shop and have a little hot tub time (something the boys won't let us soon forget!).  Overall the kids all did really well and we all had a blast hanging out together.  Such a good time with great friends :)  Too bad we never got a picture of the 8 of us together!

Jessica posted different detail than I did so here is a link to her blog! http://schreurssnapshots.blogspot.com/2012/10/wisconsin-dells.html