Surprise Trip

I hate surprises
It drives me nuts not knowing.
But, I love to surprise my kids all the time.

Tuesday morning started off with swim/dive lessons like normal.  Then I told the kids to pack their backpacks with their pajamas, swim suit, and one set of clothes.  They didn't know what was going on, but happily obeyed.   We took them out to lunch and while eating tacos we told the kids we were going to the Wisconsin Dells for the night.

The kids have been wanting to go to the The Dells since moving here two years ago.  Wisconsin Dells is the watermark capitol of the world and it is only a little over two hours away.  We drove up and spent the next few hours at Noah's Ark.  Noah's Ark is America's largest waterpark.  I had every intention to bring my camera in a zip loc bag so it wouldn't get wet.  But decided on just enjoying the day with the kids instead.  So, sadly I have no pictures to show how much fun we had, but here is one from the website.  Imagine it is us :)

I convinced Ethan and Cole to go on a waterside called "Time Warp".  Everyone met with height requirements so I thought it would be fun, but after standing in line for over 30 minutes and realized that there wasn't another kid in site I started to worry.  But I didn't let Ethan and Cole know that and we continued to the top as we planned.  The ride was amazing and scary.  I held on to Ethan and Cole's hands as we plunged down a huge drop and into a pitch dark bowl.  We were sprayed in the face and I couldn't see anything.  Afterwards Cole and Ethan said that they just closed their eyes the whole time and held on.  They told me that they wouldn't be going on anymore watersides with me for the rest of the day :(  

All the kids were so brave that day.  Liv went on lots of big slides and at first didn't like it, but by the end of the night was having a great time.  The Big Kahuna wave pool was one of the favorites.  After leaving Noah's Ark we went back to our hotel to shower and get ready for dinner.  The boys requested ribs for dinner and our family quickly downed a huge platter of ribs.  

Following dinner we set off for the Tommy Bartlett Ski Show.  We had great seats and were on the second row behind the stage.  We saw lots of amazing skiers and the second half was magic tricks and acrobats.  The show didn't get over until 11 o'clock so everyone was exhausted.  

 We woke up bright and early and headed to the swimming pool in the hotel.

Then we got dried off and headed to breakfast at Paul Bunyan's Restaurant.

After we were full of a good lumberjack breakfast we went on the Wildthing Jet Boat Tour.  The boat was amazing.  It was very powerful with over 12,000hp and we did lots of power stops and 360 spins.  We got DRENCHED.  I had no idea how wet we would get.  I was only able to snag two pictures on my phone.

It was a wonderful little vacation.  The kids were exhausted and cranky when we got home :)  We hope to sneak away up to the Dells a few more times before we move.

Swimming and Diving

The kids are just finishing up swim and dive lessons for the summer.  Liv is taking her first swim class.  I signed her up for a cheap rec class just so she could get used to the water.  They don't actually do any swimming, but she has fun playing in the water.

Cole is taking lessons from the swim team where Ethan also used to take lessons.  The swim lessons here are wonderful and the kids learn to swim much quicker.  They are actually taught by members of a competitive swim team. They focus on technique and the class sizes are really  small.

Since Ethan did the swim team for the past year and is a great swimmer, he wanted to move onto something else.  So, he is taking diving lessons this summer.  So far he loves it.  He is a great diver, probably the best in his class.  Technically, Ethan is too young to even be in this class, but after a little convincing they let him it.

Cave of the Mounds

We also took the kids to see Cave of the Mounds this past weekend.  I've been wanting to see these caves for a while and am so glad we finally did it.  The caves were amazing.

While waiting for our turn to tour the caves we explored the grounds, which were beautiful and we even got to participate in a fun rock mining activity.  The kids got to find gemstones, and precious rocks in the sand by sifting through strainers.  Cole even found several large pieces of fools gold and Ethan found a stone that looked like a tiger tooth.

The cave was amazing.

The tour guide even turned out most of the lights and let us see what it would be like to explore the cave in its natural state.  It was pretty dark and scary.  There were several parts of the cave that were very narrow and we had had to squeeze through.

This picture was taken when the lights were out and there was just a few small lights on the ground.  This is our feet.

The cave had drops of water that continuously dripped from the ceiling.  These would occasionally land on our heads.  The tour guide told us that each time a drop landed on your head it was considered good luck.  The kids had lots of good luck that day :)