Wisconsin Dells Trip, Day 3

Another fun-filled day! This day was spent entirely at the Kalahari. Our morning was spent at the indoor amusement park yet again.  This time we tried more attractions such as mini golf, and the ropes course:   

My cute family at the Kalahari!

Erik and Gabe tried out the ropes course while I took Elisa and Ian on an (unsuccessful) mini-golf round. Gabe did not finish the ropes course, but I'm just happy he was willing to even give it a go.

Ian "playing" mini golf

Erik and I switched--he played mini golf with Gabe and Ian while I went on the ropes course with Elisa.  It was a bit scary and intimidating--despite the harness, it seemed like the only thing between me and the hard ground a hundred feet below was a thin rope!  I stayed right behind Elisa as her cheerleader/coach.  She did a fabulous job and finished the entire ropes course! 'Atta girl.

And back to the climbing wall! I did not try it, but this time Elisa and Erik did! I think Gabe tried another time as well.  He didn't get too far, but Elisa made it pretty far up and Erik made it all the way up.  I am not too fond of climbing walls because they bring back icky memories of 8th grade, haha! Plus I'm probably no good.

The kids rode the same rides as they did the previous night.  We really liked this spinning room!

After enjoying the indoor amusement park, we headed over to MACS mac n cheese restaurant for what else but mac n cheese! I enjoyed my BBQ mac in cheese.  Gabe and Elisa didn't really like it that much.  Ian, of course, ate all of his. 

After lunch we went back to our hotel room to change into swimsuits.  We were to spend the rest of the day at the water park.  Due to my phone not being waterproof, I did not get a single picture of us at the waterpark, but it was an awesome waterpark and we had  a great time! We enjoyed the wave pool, various waterslides, and the Gabe and Elisa spent a good amount of time trying out the lily pad pool.  We stayed and played until Ian fell asleep on me in the pool.  Then for dinner we ordered a pizza that was too big and too expensive, but there weren't many options in the resort for food.

  

On the way to the pool, we stopped at a little stand to decorate some sugar cookies.

Wisconsin Dells Trip, Day 2

Day two was another day full of fun activities!


Our first activity was breakfast.  We pre-ordered/paid for breakfast.  It was a family-style breakfast with tons of delicious food. We sat down and the kids colored some pictures.  Then a big gooey cinnamon roll was placed in front of each of us. Our main course was a huge platter full of bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, and pancakes.  And to wash it all down, a choice of orange juice or hot chocolate.  What a breakfast! 

Gabe in front of the window looking out to the indoor waterpark. We were waiting in line to be seated for breakfast.  Yes, he has his shirt on backwards!

Ian being Ian.

Coloring while waiting for the food.

So much yummy food!

After breakfast we headed back to our hotel room to pack up.  We only reserved one night in that resort, and two nights in the next, the Kalahari.  We put our swimsuits back on. We were going to get our money's worth out of our Great Wolf Lodge resort reservation! We spent the next several hours at the indoor waterpark.  The kids enjoyed everything they enjoyed the night before, plus the lily pads and a couple other slides.  Ian found a slide he liked and spent most of his time going down it.  Erik and I took shifts watching Ian and watching Gabe and Elisa.   We ended our visit to the Great Wolf water park at the water play ground.  It was a pain in the rear getting me and Ian and Elisa dressed in a gross wet stinky bathroom, but I managed.  We ended our stay at Great Wolf Lodge with a short visit to the arcade while Erik checked out. 

Ian loved this slide so much! He would only slide down this one slide.  I cannot believe how much energy this kid has when it comes to sliding down water slides.  He was literally non-stop with this slide!

Elisa and her mermaid tail.  If I'm remembering right, she did slip or trip and hit her face on the floor hard enough to leave a mark, but not so hard that she didn't enjoy the water park.

Gabe allowed himself to get splashed by the huge bucket, kind of.  Most of the time he was too chicken, haha!

Ian back at the kiddie area.  This time he was a little fiesty and mean to any kid that got in his way.  He does not like sharing.

Elisa enjoying the huge bucket splash!  See the rainbow?



I couldn't decide which picture of Elisa I liked the best so I just kept them all!

After getting dressed, we headed over to The Pizza Lab for some pizza.  Gabe and Elisa shared a pizza and decided what to put on their half of the pizza.  Erik and I got a BBQ chicken pizza.  We all shared with Ian.  At the end, we also all shared a piece of chocolate pie. Yum!





Cuties waiting for their pizza

 

Then we headed over to the Kalahari.  I'd always hear about the Kalahari as a kid, but this was my first time actually being at the Kalahari! It was a little nicer than the Great Wolf Lodge, even though the GWL was by no means icky.  Just an older, more mature crowd, I guess? Kalahari had a huge indoor amusement park, in addition to a huge indoor waterpark. Our room was really nice; we got a free room upgrade.  Gabe and Elisa got their own room with their very own twin (or was it double?) bed and Ian got his own room with a pull-out bed.  Erik and I got our own room with a king-sized bed and a huge jet tub.  As a bonus, there was a nice warm fireplace! There was one at the GWL too, and I think they are a necessity when it is below zero outside! I spent a good amount of time in front of the fireplace while we were in our room.   

Our first stop after dropping off our bags in our room was the amusement park.  We spent a fair amount of time exploring it.  Our first stop was the ferris wheel.  You can see the wheel from the road outside! Here are the pictures of that night at the amusement park.  It is also an arcade; but we didn't bother with it the first night. We paid a flat fee and we could ride just about any ride as many times as we wanted.



Erik and Eesa on the Ferris Wheel.

Gabe and Elisa on a fun little kiddie ride.

I took Gabe on the go-karts.  He really wanted to go, but in the end decided he didn't like them afterall.

Elisa and Gabe on the Merry-Go-Round.

Gabe and Elisa loved this little train roller coaster! Too bad Ian was too little to go on it.

Ian had fun exploring the little arcade cars while Gabe and Elisa ran off riding whatever ride they could get on.

Erik got first place on the pirates ride, a 3D game where you shoot stuff.

Gabe trying out the climbing wall.  I was suprised that he wanted to try it at all, so I wasn't bothered when he didn't get very far, lol.

On to day 3...!

Wisconsin Dells Trip, Day 1

Our long-awaited trip to Wisconsin had finally arrived! It was such a fun and memorable trip.  I've been there a couple times as a kid (going to WD was the only vacation I ever got as a kid), so it was fun to revisit! Wisconsin Dells itself was pretty much the same as I remember it.  I've been to Great Wolf Lodge once as a teenager, but I'm pretty sure its been remodeled since I've been there, that or I have a horrible memory.  I'm pretty sure its the former. We left for our trip the same day Grandma and Grandpa left our house.  Christmas was officially over, and is there a better way to bring in the new year than going on a super fun vacation? I don't think so!

Our flight left in the evening and we got to Milwaukee pretty late.  My brain must have been tired because I don't remember much about that night. And for the record, I absolutely was not drunk, haha! I have zero recollection of our first hotel in Milwaukee, but here are some pictures of that evening:

Cutie all ready for the plane! I bought her some nice snow boots at Goodwill.  I figured it would be helpful for her to wear some warm boots in the below-zero temperatures, courtesy of Wisconsin's winter.

Ian, mid yawn.  Me too, Ian.  Me too.

A very tired but excited Elisa on the plane.  She was happy to enjoy some hot chocolate.

Ian was so adorable in his winter coat! Unfortunately, it was a little bit small on him, despite it being a size 3, but it worked for this trip.  

The next morning we went to downtown Milwaukee to pass the time and explore what Milwaukee had to offer in the dead of winter.  Even though Ian had a sweater on, he started crying when we took him out of the car because the wind was so cold. He calmed down after we got his coat on him. Our first stop was Milwaukee Public Market to try a famous lobster roll from St. Paul Fish Company. The market had several other offerings such as bakeries, candy shops, and lots of places to buy cheese.

A lobster roll from St. Paul Fish Company.

We got the kids chocolate suckers from the candy store. Gabe had a shark, Elisa the Eiffel Tower, and Ian a motorcycle.

The kids were hesitant to try the cheese curd at first, but Ian and Elisa devoured it after they realized how good it was. When we sliced the wedge of local cheese, Gabe shouted "Eww! What stinks?"

It was still too early to check in to our hotel, so we drove around Milwaukee for a while to see a few famous buildings. When we drove by the Pabst Mansion, we decided that we had enough time to take a tour. Captain Pabst worked on a ship briefly in his youth. After that, he went into business with his father in law as a co-owner of the company. He mostly worked in marketing and was able to expand the company from a local business into a nationally recognized name. When his father in law died, he became the owner of the company and he also became very wealthy. He had this mansion built in the 1890s over a 2 year period. Unfortunately, he died just a few years after the mansion was completed. What, you may ask, was his successful company? Being Wisconsin, it was Pabst Beer, of course.

I think the most amazing aspect of the mansion was the detailed woodwork in each room. It's amazing to look at the intricate molding along the doorways, windows, columns, cabinets, and ceiling. I suppose it's the small details that make a mansion so glamorous.

A gorgeous German piano that I wasn't allowed to touch

All decorated for Christmas, still.

Erik in the dude's fancy schmancy office.

A huge painting of kids drinking beer.  Classy.

All tired out!

Our first night was spent at the Great Wolf Lodge. We got a room with a Kiddie Cabin, which included a walled-off "cabin" for the kids with a twin bed and a bunk bed.

The outside was how I remembered it.  The inside, not so much.

The kids loved their fun beds!

After getting settled into our hotel room, we decided to try out the indoor waterpark.  Afterall, that is what we came all that way for! The park was much, much busier than I had anticipated, but it was still lots of fun! I couldn't take my phone into the water for obvious reasons, but I did manage to sneak a few. Was it cold? No, not really. They kept it at 84 degrees, no matter the sub-zero temperatures.  Was I cold? Yes, I am always cold! Lol but it wasn't too bad.  Our first stop was the wave pool.  Gabe and Elisa absolutely loved the wave pool! And right by it was 4 different slides.  The kids rode all of them at one time or another.  I even went down a few with Elisa.  Ian liked the water too, but he was too little to ride the water slides.  Okay, so I didn't get any pictures of that, but tucked away in another section was the water playground.  It is an impressive sight to behold when you first walk in the room.  It is huuuuuge and there is a ginormous bucket that fills up with water and when it gets too full, it dumps it all out.  I swear you can hear that thing a mile away! The Gabe and Elisa ran into the playground and were practially lost to me, but I was able to spot them here and there. 

Ian discovered the kiddie pool and seriously had the time of his life.  I've never seen him so happy to play in the water! He was in that pool the entire time Gabe and Elisa were roaming the water playground.  It was a cold walk back to our hotel room (especially when we passed a door to the outside). That concludes our first day at Wisconsin Dells! What a day!