The Willards in the Dells - Part 2

I am starting to think that by the time my kids leave home, I am going to have hundreds of thousands of pictures of them having a blast in pools with Scott.  Here are some more for the collection:

 

After a yummy dinner, we headed back to the resort and out into the sand again:

Quack Quack!  Whenever Charlie sees any birds, he starts laughing and making his bird noises.  He loves 'em - he followed these around, pointing and giggling, for quite a while.

Group photo time!  I didn't set us up in a good spot with the setting sun and shadows, so I played around a bit with these...

Better light!

A sunset boat cruise for the big kids while we put the little ones to bed; all together now: row, row, row your boat...

Whew.  You would think after a day full of amusement park entertainment, swimming, and many adventures outside on the beach, the kids would sleep in a little.  Wrong!  Sunday morning they were all up bright and early.  And since nothing was open at that hour, especially on Mother's Day, we had breakfast and hit the road to get home and back to our normal routines (and our own beds!).  But we'll be back!

Early Father's Day gift

We interrupt the "Willard in the Dells" updates to post about Father's Day.  I know, it's a month early, but Zach had "doughnuts with Dad" day at school today, and they presented the dads with a very cute Father's Day gift in advance.  Zach filled in the blanks with information about Scott (and I can't resist commenting):

My dad is 36 years old (off by only a year!).

His hair is shorter than mine and his eyes are blue.  (Brownish-green, but what 5 year old would observe that?)

My dad likes to wear Mario shirts.  (True, of late; Scott has been buying Mario shirts so he and Zach match.  Zach and Charlie are both thrilled every time he puts one on.)

He loves to eat stuff that mom makes.  (Gotta love that one.)

He is smart because he knows a lot of things and went to school a lot.  (Apparently our discussions on the value of higher education are sinking in...)

My dad works hard at engineering.  (Very true)

Daddy always tells me that he wants to watch baseball.  (I'm guessing the teacher was going for something like "I love you" here, but this answer is so true and made me laugh out loud.)

It makes my dad happy when he plays kickball with me.  (I could argue that Zach is happier in this circumstance, but I've also seen Scott's face as he races around the bases whooping, so perhaps it's a tie.)

If he could go on a trip he would go to Florida and he would take an airplane.  (Recency effect, I guess.)

I really love it when my dad plays Sorry with me.  (I asked Zach if he wanted to say plays kickball again, but he insisted this was his first answer.  The kid does love Sorry, and fortunately for us, so do we!)

If I could give my daddy anything it would be a Mario shirt.  (One-track mind.)

My favorite thing about my dad is he likes to play with me.  (Truer words were never spoken.)

I'm going to regret not saving this information until Father's Day, but I can't help it!  I love it.

The Willards in the Dells - Part 1

Our weekend in the Dells was the result of a Groupon-like deal, after we talked our friends the Roses into joining us with their two girls.  We arrived at our "resort" (a nice enough place, but calling it a resort may be a bit of a stretch) late Friday afternoon, and it immediately reminded me of those summer camp movies from the 80's; lots to do outside - kayaks, rowboats, tetherball, a playground, ping pong table, volleyball net, and horseshoes!  Although I think Charlie would have happily spent the entire weekend with a plastic shovel in his hand, throwing sand into the very cold lake.  

Saturday we headed to the Kalahari resort (a better use of the word) to use our passes to their theme park.  I confess we hadn't read the fine print on our deal very well, and had assumed the passes were for the water park.  We were disappointed at first, until we reminded ourselves that even our oldest kids don't really enjoy those huge water parks yet, so it's kind of wasted on them.  The theme park, on the other hand, was perfect for all ages!

We thought Zach would want to go on the go karts over and over again, but he didn't seem to think it was so fun to be a passenger.  Can't say I blame him.  (sorry for the blurry pictures)

The mini-golf, however, was a huge hit.  I think he played three times.

They had great rides for the little ones; Charlie had a perma-grin on his face on those swings!

And for the adults - a ropes course!  I had never done one before, and while you don't see any evidence here, Jenny and I ROCKED the ropes course while the guys entertained the kids elsewhere (and therefore didn't take any pictures of us!).

There was also a ton of arcade games, a ferris wheel, a surprisingly clean indoor playground, a climbing wall, and laser tag.  We didn't get all of that done, but while the three youngest kids, Jenny and I went back to the hotel for a much-needed nap, the guys returned to the theme park and had some more fun.

More to come...