Having a Dell of a time

Every year when the rest of the country is starting to warm up and my non-Wisconsin friends are all blogging about taking their kids to the park, we have to do something to keep us from crying about the 16 degrees that is still showing on our weather forecast. So...we go to Wisconsin Dells.

Wisconsin Dells is a tiny town a few hours away with nothing but hotels and indoor water parks. This year we got a condo that was almost identical to the one we had last year but we had a slightly different cast. The Harrises and the Hesses have both moved away. (Waaah!)

Our returning families from last year included...

The Johnsons, that's us! We love the Dells. Our kids love the Dells. Seth is the one who plans and organizes the trip each year and we truly look forward to it all year.

The Mortons. Jared and Katelin are super fun adventurous people. They are always game for anything. They are a blast to be around even if Jared did call me, Jen and Emily dumpster garbage (hee,hee...you shall never live that down). The Morton kids, however do not love adventure (they are still fun though). John was bribed into going on a few slides and poor Sara was too sick to do much of anything.

The Vanyperens. The Vanyperen kids were also not crazy about the slides. They did warm up to the water though and had fun crawling around or hanging on the lazy river. We were afraid this might be their last trip to the Dells with us because JJ is just finishing podiatry school, but they got offered a residency in KY this week so they will only be 6 hours away and they have promised to come back and continue the Dells tradition with us...YAY!!!

And new this year...The Hawleys. The Hawleys moved here last summer and we are having lots of fun getting to know them. Their girls LOVED the water. I think Mimi was the last man standing, or should I say sliding, at the end of the trip. Jen is pregnant so she missed a lot of sliding but we had lots of fun chatting and hanging out and she is our new secret weapon for board games, because she killed the guys! Of course the Hawleys are in the military so they will only be here 3 years. I told you , everyone moves. But we still have 2 more years with them at the Dells.

Anyhow, we all had lots of fun. Alyssa and Alex never slowed down for a minute at the water parks. We also had a lot of fun eating too much and sleeping very little. We stayed up late and played and chatted and laughed really hard. It is always fun to have friends you are comfortable enough with to be obnoxious.

By the time we left yesterday afternoon we were all so tired. I was afraid Seth wouldn't be able to stay awake for the drive home. I usually stay awake to talk to him but I could not keep my eyes open. When we got home we were so excited to just rest.

But...as I got Chloe out of her carseat she puked all over herself. So I came in and bathed all 3 kids and got them ready for bed. Then we threw our wet and puky clothes in the washing machine. A few minutes later what sounded like someone bowling in the basement, turned out to be our washing machine dying a loud and painful death. So, as tired as Seth was he took the clothes down to the laundromat. I put the kids to bed and about 20 minutes later I heard Alyssa crying. She puked all over my bed, and her Snuggie! I called Seth to come get our bedding but the laundromat was getting ready to close, so I tried to wash the bedding in the bathtub but all I managed to do was spread the puke chunks around and make everything even nastier.

So now I am home with my puky little girls and Seth and Alex are at church. But here are LOTS of pictures of Wisconsin Dells 2009. This is the first year we have pictures because Seth found out they make waterproof digital cameras and could not live without one of his own.

Where we stayed and NO it did not look like that outside. It looked like ugly winter. I found this pic online. My kids holding hands. They are always best friends at the Dells...I love it! Alex Alyssa Mike and Annie in the wave pool Chillin on the lazy river Alex going under a waterfall Alex in the hot tub Mike and his girls The Mortons The Hawleys Seth's super sexy underwater shot Alyssa Alex wipes out! No more water! Just Chooch Al and Chloe on the lazy river We ended our trip with our traditional stop at Cracker Barrel and Garrett sat at the table and did what I think we all felt like doing. Here is a fantastic video that I took of me, Emily and Katelin on The Hurricane. The water that you see at the end is me falling into the water and under the raft. Moral of the story: Hold on with both hands while riding the Hurricane.