Wisconsin Dells - A Little Getaway

What a weekend we just had! We left Friday night and arrived in WI Dells about 8pm... just in time to check out all of the waterparks in the hotel... 3 waterparks, an inside playground, arcade, restaurants, shops, pottery painting... We went to bed early so we'd be ready for a day full of entertainment! Saturday morning we go up nice and early to go to breakfast with Don, he'd be leaving for the day to do a Hockey Coaching Clinic... After breakfast we headed down to the arcade, then to Waterpark #1!! This one was crazy... it had huge waterslides, an indoor/outdoor hot tub (very cool!), playground with a big bucket that dumps, lazy river and the huge Hurricane ride (which no one in my family was brave enough to go on)!! We must have climbed the stairs to the slide a dozen times that morning.. Little did we know that Ella just happens to be a bit of a water slide junkie... Next ...to the waterpark with a Wave Pool! Hang on to your raft, this is one wild pool! We spent a little time riding the waves until our arms were tired of holding on! Then a quick stop for lunch and a little tv time (although I was actually reading... "Twilight"... I couldn't put it down.. so any little chance I got I was reading). Then on to pottery... I have to admit that this was way more fun than I imagined it would be! The thought of something entertaining a 5,9 and 13 year old seemed rather impossible, but to my surprise everyone loved it! Ella painted to small ornaments for the Christmas tree, Gavin painted a penquin bank, Alex did an Army Tank and I did a coffee mug. We spent about an hour painting and then left them to be cooked (? is that what they do to pottery??)in the kiln. They were ready for us the next day before we left.
Let's see.. after pottery we went back to the arcade/playground area and were happy when Don surprised us by meeting us there! We didn't think he'd be done that early! Now that Dad's back it's time to show him all the cool things we found at the hotel! Back to the slides and wave pool! Oh yeah and the outdoor hot tub to let our hair freeze!! (no kidding it really did freeze) Then dinner and chill time! Actually Ella and Don were crashed by 8pm... of course I was back to Twilight, Alex played PSP and Gavin watched TV.
Fast forward to the next morning... out to Breakfast again, then a quick trip to the water slides! After the third time up those stairs ( I swear it was a half mile up!) Ella turned around and said, "MOM.. are you coming!!!" Of course, I was the one carrying the raft up!
A quick change of clothes and we were on our way home :( It was such a great weekend it was hard to leave! But back to work and school on Monday.

Tis The Season..

Thanksgiving, Parades, St. Nicks Day, Christmas... we're in the midst of it now!

I have to say that although spending 5 hours in the car for 4 hours of visiting seems crazy, it felt great! We haven't seen Don's family in what seems like forever... so with a little bit of arm twisting we were going home (Escanaba) for Thanksgiving! We arrived right on time.. we ate, visited, checked out some of Grandpa Krause's newest wood creations and caught up on life! It's amazing how much everyone gets older and older and Grandma and Grandpa seem frozen in time! I sat looking at Grandma admiring what a beautiful woman she is and how I really don't think she's changed since the day I met her... almost 17 years ago!
After our meal at the Krause's we stopped by my Dad's house for a quick visit and for the kids to see Molly... Papa's newest Golden Retriever... The kids were excited to see her, but being a puppy she liked to jump and bite and do all the things that puppies do.. also all the things that Ella didn't like about puppies :) Sooo, Ella spent the time sitting by Holly (the older, calmer one) rubbing every inch of her!
Then.. back in the car for the drive home!

It's time for a change! I'm going to try hard to be the organized mother that I've always dreamed I could be. I want a record of all of the wonderful things happening in my life. I want my children and husband to know all of the little amazing things they said and did for me when they didn't even realize it! I've never been good at writing things down and I have a ton of guilt about it. I'll start one thing, like scrap booking and then before I know it years have gone by and I haven't had the time to finish anything! I'm embarrassed to say that my children don't have baby books... I guess to my defense I did have one for our oldest, Alex, but is was ruined in a basement flood. My excuse has always been that there isn't enough time.. Well, now's the time for a big change.. No more excuses. I'm going to blog my life and the life of my family for us and anyone else who is interested! I will have a beautiful diary of my life... because if I don't do it now I never will!