Dells Trip

So the whole time Derrick was in MBA school we had planned on going on a trip together to celebrate, sans kids. As it got closer, I realized if we (mostly he) left they would be devastated. They were the ones that never got to see him anyway. So we scrapped the solo trip and planned a little getaway to the Wisconsin Dells, Water park Capital of the Wooooooorld!

Our friends had just stayed at The Atlantis and had good things to say about it so we decided to try it out, too. We stayed on a Thursday night so the rate was super cheap, and we got passes to the Chula Vista water park included in our stay. Bonus!

We checked into our room, which is no Marriot by any stretch of the imagination, but it was clean and it had a little fridge and microwave and the kids thought it was the best. We immediately changed into our swimsuits and hit the “water park” in the Atlantis. Kind of a dark picture, but that’s pretty much it. The water park. Two little tube slides and some jets around it.

The kids didn’t care though, they loved going down the slides over and over again. The water was decently warm, too, so that was nice. After playing for a couple hours we decided to go find some dinner. I always hear people talk about the Moosejaw so we went there. We should have gone to Culver’s, honestly. The food was mediocre at best, especially for how pricey it was. We did get some pretty sweet paper moose hats though.

On our way back to the car, we took a picture in front of the moose car. As Summer was running to take a picture with me, she tripped on the pavement and ran headfirst into the car and got a nasty shiner on her right eye, to take the place of the one that just healed that she got at the zoo a week before. What a klutz!

Please excuse Derrick’s finger in the picture. iPhone rookie.

After dinner, and icing the black eye, we hit up the arcade inside the Atlantis. The girls had a blast spending $5 worth of tokens, then buying imported crap with their tickets. Back in our room, we set the girls up with a movie and some microwave popcorn and they were in heaven. Then we tried to put them to bed. Maybe it was the excitement of being in a hotel room. Maybe it was all the soda they snuck during dinner. Maybe it’s because they’re the spawn of Satan, but they didn’t fall asleep until after 10. And what did we do until then? Hide in our beds and play on our phones. I was thisclose to packing up and just going home. “Mom, Hannah’s standing up in her pack n play!” Hannah standing up and chucking her pacifiers out. “Mom, what are you doing on your phone?” Hannah crying. Oh man. Lesson learned: let them stay up even later than what I thought was late, do more fun things so they really do crash when they go to bed. Oh well. At this point I was so glad we decided to book only one night!

We had cereal in our room for breakfast, thanks to the mini fridge and packed up and headed to Chula Vista. I don’t have many pictures, but this place was way better than the Atlantis’ water park. They had a great toddler area with fun slides and fountains. Derrick and I took turns going off and riding some of the big rides. Pretty fun stuff! Summer even went one of of the bigger open tube slides all by herself!! I was shocked! We stayed there through the morning then left around lunch and had a picnic in a park before heading back home.

Heaven forbid we go 20 minutes without having a snack.      Despite the long night, it was really a fun trip and I’m glad we decided to go as a family. The girls had a great time and had a blast playing with their favorite parent…their dad.

Although next time, I’m totally not skimping and we’re getting that 2nd room for the kids.