Trip to Indiana: Second stop - Wisconsin Dells

The next day we were on the road again and heading to Wisconsin Dells.  The kids did a really good job travelling and each time gets a little easier.  They constantly wanted to hear “the God song”, which is Bryan Moyer Suderman’s CD, "God's Love Is For Everybody".  I’m thankful for this as I know soon enough it will be “put on Justin Bieber or Beyonce!”  Easton also had to always recite our travel plan: Mini-apple-places, Consin Dells, Indiana, then Mimi and Pawpaw’s! “right, mom?”  We stopped at a McDonald’s (actually a few unfortunately) and when we left Cassia’s comment was, “Mom, you know what I’m the best at?  Making friends – I make friends wherever I go!”  Yep, sweetie, that’s a good quality to have.

Well, we made it to Wisconsin Dells and as the kids were bouncing back and forth between the beds, Ryan went down to get the rest of our bags.  Easton pushed a button on the air conditioning unit, but I checked it and it looked fine.  A couple minutes later the smoke alarm went off in our room.  In trying to get it to stop I was fanning it, then hitting it, then trying to get it off the wall to take the battery out – the last two probably not being good decisions.  Then I punched “off” on the thermostat.  And it stopped.  So, most kids would not like the sound of a smoke alarm, but my kids don’t like it when they are in another room and I am grinding coffee beans.  So, this wasn’t a good start.  I called the front desk to let them know and she asked if the alarm was just a beeping or a full alarm.  I said, “full alarm”.  She said, “Okay, well, do you think someone should come and look at it?”  Really?  You have to ask that?  “Yes, that would be a good idea.”  Then there was this awful smell which was obviously not going to air out anytime soon, and I really didn’t trust the smoke alarm to not go off again and wake us up in the middle of the night.  So we asked if we could switch rooms.  The new room was great (even an upgrade) and we were off to find the water slides.  The kids loved the water park.  There was an outdoor wave pool and then an indoor park that we went to.  They had an outdoor park as well, but it was a little too big for our kids.  Here are some pics…

  

They had a great brunch offer and we took advantage of that.  We also went into town one evening.  On the way there Cassia said, “I brought a dog leash along on our trip!”  We don’t have a dog.  She had brought something that she uses at home to pretend.

“Why would you bring a dog leash?” 

“In case a dog comes near us!!” 

“Uh, well, okay then.” 

(See previous post.)

Here are the kids with some "down time" in the hotel room playing with our iPod Touches.

The second night we were there, everyone was exhausted and sleeping when a shrill sound woke us up.  I couldn’t figure out what was happening.  Then I realized…it was that darn smoke alarm again!  So I started hitting the smoke detector – must have been PTSD.  Finally Ryan opened the door and we realized that the alarm was out in the hall and there were people heading for the stairs.  Now Easton is not really even awake at this point, so I grab him, Ryan grabs Cassia and we head out.  We only made it about 5 steps out the door when the alarm stopped.  Thank goodness because I was a little worried that we were on the 5^th floor.  We got the all clear and went back to bed.  I don’t think Easton really ever woke up because he was asleep again by the time I laid him down on the bed.  In the end, we never found out what happened.

Even considering the two alarm incidents, we had a really good two days and would definitely go back again!  Then we were off to Indiana.  It wasn’t hard to find, we just followed the humidity.

Trip to Indiana: First stop - Mini-apple-places

I haven’t added anything in a long time!  Probably because we were away for 2 weeks.  And we were getting ready the week before and catching up the week after.  But we had a great time visiting family and friends in Indiana.  We took a couple days to get there and back this time so we could do some other things along the way.  I’m really glad we did that – it was a lot of fun!  I’ll split this post into a few because otherwise it would be very long!!

We stayed with Ryan’s cousin and her family just outside of Minneapolis for two nights on the way down.  We had a great time there and it was so nice to spend some time with them as we hadn’t seen them in a long time.  While there, we decided to go to Como Park Zoo which is a small zoo and there are no entrance fees – however they have a suggested donation if you choose.  This zoo was the perfect size for our kids.  It was so hot and humid that day and it would have been a chore to walk a long distance with the kids, but we got to see everything before we all melted down.  The big hit was the seal habitat!  I think Cassia could have stayed there for a couple hours!  Soon after we got there Ryan asked if I had brought the camera.  Of course I brought the camera, are you kidding?!  Well, I brought the camera, but left the battery in the bag at the house.  So, needless to say, we have no pictures of the zoo.  But I’m sure we’ll go back sometime.

We then decided to go to the Mall of America where it would be nice and cool.  We thought the kids (or at least Cassia) would like some of the rides at the amusement park in the middle.  Well, that was a bust – or not, considering your opinion.  Cassia didn’t even want to ride the carousel!  I take that back, she only wanted to ride the one that had three seats and was one of those coin rides you see a grocery stores. J  Easton really wanted to ride in a similar ride that was a bus that moved back and forth a little.  So we decided to spring for the ride ($1) and we had two happy campers, make that four happy campers.  We went to a couple other places including the American Doll store and Legoland.  But those places are actually only to look at and not to buy – didn’t you know that?! ;)