Going north, part II

Part 2 of our spring break trip was an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells.  We were looking forward to the trip since none of us had ever been there before.  It was only an hour north of where we were, so we didn't have to wait too long for fun.  First stop, lunch.

We thought it would be nice to eat at more of a sit-down restaurant that was not the golden arches.  For the price we paid, we should have classed it up a bit more.  Or just settled for fast food and spend way less.  Also, Kinley treated everyone to one of her famous meltdowns.  You know, since we were out in public.

We got a 2 bedroom condo for the night.  The kids loved the space.  Ewan brought along his "Preposition Peter" person (a spring break homework assignment) out for some photos.

We did the water park for a bit and the took a break for dinner.  Clearly, Kinley was done for the day.  After dinner, Andy and the boys went back to the water park.  Kella and I hung out and watched Netflix.

Love this picture-go family!  We are superheroes!

Making our way over to the water park.  There were lots of cool wooden furniture along the way.

Be impressed that I took a total of 3 pictures in the water park itself.  This slide was part of a little area that the girls played in most of the time.  

Ewan and his Prep-Peter guy in front of one of the many slides that the boys went down multiple times.

Gotta have a pic in front of the cool lobby display.

It was a good time-the perfect trip for us for spring break.  We went during the middle of the week, so the resort was not crowded and the kids did not have to wait in line very long for any of the slides.  The condo was a great choice for us and if I would have planned better, I could have actually cooked dinner for us instead of ordering pizza (no complaints from anyone, though).  I think we'll be back, hopefully with some cousins in tow next time.

For spring break, we go north!

A change of pace for us this year-we went north to the state of Wisconsin-Madison and the Dells- instead of back to the Smokies.  It was a trip planned the week before once vacation time and dog sitting times were established.  This trip knocked another state to visit off the list.  We had never all been to Wisconsin before.  It felt like a quick trip since we only spent one full day in Madison and 24 hours-ish in the Dells.  We made the most of it, of course, and it was a fun time.

A stop at a random Wal-mart in Illinois gives us a chance to geo-cache in the pouring rain (it rained most of the trip to Wisconsin-yuck). Cale was the brave soul who volunteered to find and replace the cache.

We supported Cale from the car.

A driving tour of Madison.  Way up front, you can see the capitol building.

Always on the hunt for free things, we went to the geology museum on the campus of UW-Madison.  The kids were all ranges of interested, but I like to think that everyone took away one new thing they learned. The museum is self-guiding, so we got to take our time looking at everything and extra time running through the cave with the glowing rocks.

This is a giant piece of copper.  And Cale.

Kella loves rocks-at least this one.

Ewan, what a sport.  I had to almost threaten him to get a picture of him next to this cool fish.  Whose happier, the fish skeleton or Ewan?  Hard to tell.

Cool Liam with a cool dinosaur.

A giant armadillo!

We all know where Liam is actually going.  #MITbound

Cool looking arch means I drag everyone on a hike to go look at it.  It was a warm enough day with the sun out to go for a nice walk.

And, we got to stay with Jeff, Lindsay and baby Cade.  Looks like everyone played well together. The kids thought Cade was fun.  Cade thought is was amazing every time a cousin rounded the corner-someone new to look at.

We also played with Cade's toys. He didn't seem to mind.

The brothers-representing collages that are both not in Wisconsin and that neither of them attended.

Time for some car racing

Pinewood Derby time came around again.  This year, it was Ewan and Liam's turns to participate.  Andy and I built cars as well.  Well, Andy cut mine out and I did most of the painting and all of the hot glue gunning.  I know that the boys would like to have the fastest car every year, and that does not happen.  We don't spend a lot of time in derby car studies to figure out how to make our cars the fastest, look the smoothest. The boys don't make making the cars a priority and the derby usually falls during our spring break and we are usually out of town in the days before the race.  This year was no different.  We missed the practice run day and were putting the finishing touches on our cars on Friday night before the race.  Typical.  Our cars look like they were made by children-not the adults.  Which they should, since it's a kid event.  Hey, even my car looks like it was made by a child, not the adult.  

Liam, waiting to race.  The cars run in lots of heats so they get a chance to run in every land and race a lot.  Liam's car consistently placed last.  So much for being fast.  He was not a happy little person.  It's hard not to win.

Ewan's car didnt' fare much better.  But, Ewan was pleased that he didn't place last in every race-he beat Liam every time they raced.  Ewan's car even placed 2nd in a heat once.  And, there were snacks.  Everyone was pleased about that.

Big people are like little kids.  Andy built a Batman car-black, in the green lane.  It was a horrible car to race.  I say never again to that kit he purchased.  It looked cool until it got on the track and promptly fell off and started to break apart.  Thanks goodness for hot glue guns.

To represent the ladies, I made a car to look like a dancer.  She was the second slowest of the adult cars, but she was the prettiest.

There's Ewan with his car.  It was red with lots of weights on the top. 

Here's Liam.  His car had 3 googly eyes on the top.  As the slowest car of the the derby, he won the "safest driver" trophy.  Not the award he was hoping for, but, it is a trophy.

Kella with the girls' car.  I might be biased, but, this is a car that should go in a shadow box to be kept forever.

See, Tiny Dancer is beautiful.  It's the pearls that do it.  I know.

It was a nice way to wrap up our last weekend of spring break. Also, full disclosure, I'm glad the derby is done for another year.