Fun at the Kalahari

Yesterday we got to the Kalahari Resort around three in the afternoon. The Kalahari is the biggest indoor water park in Wisconsin Dells. Kyra just about jumped out of her skin she was so happy. Dad was not feeling well so he pretty much stayed up in the room for the afternoon and early evening. The four girls though headed for the pool within minutes of checking into the "suite." (There were two rooms, a kitchen, fridge, stove, porch, couches and chairs) We swam for a few hours while dad relaxed and then we came back up to the room (10min walk mind you) and got cleaned up for supper. We went to Marley's which is named after Bob Marley and it had the best Caribbean food I have ever ate. I got the Rum Snapper... I am thinking about driving down there just to eat again. YUM YUM YUMMY! We got back to the hotel and went swimming again before crashing for the night. Early this morning we got up and had eggs, toast and cinnamon rolls (my personal fav) and then headed down to the water park again. Dad was feeling better today so he joined us for a bit. We checked out at 12 and headed back to Green Bay. Along the way we stopped at Culver's for lunch and guess what... I found a five inch fry! The interesting thing about this is that they are having a give-a-way that if you find this fry you get a free scoop of ice cream. Yah for me! After that we cruised up north and made it home just in time to switch out of mom and dads car over to my car and head to Andy and Paula's house for supper... Yes she feeds us :) Have I mentioned how much I love pumpkin pie... especially Paula's. So tonight was awesome! We had amini-Thanksgiving. It was nice because traditionally we don't see them for that. I always go over to the farm in Sparta, Tim goes to his mom's and Kyra stays with with Jade for the most part. So I was stoked!!! (Thanks Paula)

Forevertron and Circus Museum

Today's activities are the main reason that we headed for the Dells. We stopped along the way from Portage to Baraboo at this location that we learned about in class. Its call Dr. Evermore's Forevertron. It is the coolest bunch of junk I have ever seen. It is located next to "Dr. Evermore's" junk yard and he scraps items for his artwork. If you get a chance you should google it. There is this huge contraption that must stand at least 50 feet or more, a yard full or musical animals, little tables and chairs, huge bugs and buildings... all made from scrap metal. It think he got alot of it from the Badger Ordinance that is actually across the street and down the road a bit. I am not sure where it all came from, but I think it is in my top 5 favorite things, if not at least my top 10.

Right around 1100 we got to the Circus museum in Baraboo. It was another one of the stops for school but I am so glad that Kyra got to see it. baby Bella wont remember it but I got her a poster for her room :) If you remember, in July we went to the circus parade in Milwaukee and Kyra was not able to join us because it was Jade's weekend. Well this time she was able to because it was on our weekend. She loved it! She got to dress up and try walking the tight rope and the unicycle. Kaitlynn even tried her tightrope skills as you can see from the pictures. We had to take a lunch break though because we were all pretty crabby, so we left for about an hour. The place we were originally going to go to was to hard to find so we ended up going to this little diner caller Four Star. Which as Kyra plainly and nicely let us know "was not four stars." So what happened was... Mom never gets gravy on anything. Period. So when her chicken and potatoes cam with gravy she let the lady know that it would have to go back because she can't eat it. The woman freaked out and said that mom never said that, ripped the plate out of her hand and stormed off. We just looked at each other speechless for a while before we laughed... because once again you either laugh or you cry. It was right before this point that Kaitlynn was reaching for a glass of water and Dad grabbed her hand quick but in the process knocked another glass all over my lap. I was soaked... It was quite the experience all together. After our incredibly eventful lunch we headed back to the Circus museum to finish up our tour. Dad wasn't feeling the best but he was a trooper and made it through. Lots of breaks to sit down and deal with the cramping but all in all not too bad. (Side note: he is losing his hair now so don't be shocked when you see him.) This too was another day I will never forget... and it gets better...

Portage, Wi

Today we headed for the Wisconsin Dells. Mom, Dad, Kaitlynn and I picked Kyra up at 2:30 from Red Smith and headed over that-a-way to start our incredible weekend adventure. The reason we took this mini-vaca was two fold. Number one: I am taking an art class through UWGB that is studying Outsider Art (lamens term is weird stuff). Number two: with Dad being so sick, he has been wanting to go visit the different areas around the state that he has been. We headed to Portage tonight which is where my parents moved after college and was where they spent the first few years of their marriage together. This is a picture of the house I was born in (not technically born in) and it was the first home they bought. It as cool to see because I had heard about it before but never seen it. It is funny that it sorta resembles the house that Tim and I are living in now (not that we own it yet). I have to say, I think it was a nice trip down memory lane for him... emotional at times, but good.

On the way down we stopped in Ripon, Wi to go to the cookie factory there. It was AWESOME! If you have never been... it is this little hole in the wall one room sales floor that lets you sample all the cookies before you choose to buy them. So I am sure you can imagine Kyra and my mom in that store literally filling their pockets because they couldn't hold them all. Its like free candy... only its cookies! Kaitlynn even tried a shortbread crumb or too... and guess what, she liked it... surprise surprise :)

These are some pictures of the A&W drive-in that we ate supper at. It is a really funny story because if you ever go on Christmas vacation with us, finding food is always tricky. Not on purpose, like we have fussy eaters, we just have really bad luck as a group. Tonight reminded me of every Christmas from the last 10 years or so. We tried three or four different places and each times there was an issue: The first one was a 30 min wait and we were starving, the second one was too smokey and was full anyway, the third one was pretty much a dump and we were afraid to eat there and finally we ended up going to something familiar... A&W. Kyra loved it because you get to call for your food through a speaker and they bring it to you when its ready. The rest of us were not so stoked however because it was freezing and unfortunately we were unable to eat in the car... You had to laugh to keep from crying... it was something I will never forget.

Headed to Wisconsin Dells for the Weekend

Will return with many stories and pictures!

Catch Up... Ketchup

So I had big plans to make this really cute joke about playing "ketchup" with my blogging since I have been a little lax these past two weeks. Unfortunately it didn't pan out. I have been so busy with work this week and a sick baby last week, my posting has fallen to the wayside. My October resolution... To be a better blogger :) Anyways, this is a pic of Miss Bella baby in front of the fridge which is her favorite place to be lately. Oh yes, she can open it all by herself. I think I might start calling her mighty mouse. She just opens it up and sits there for a while... then she starts to scale the shelves... when she figures out she cant climb them she starts to unload the door. (by the way she loves to unpack things). What a little stinker! All I can say for sure is that if the house is quite... she's getting into something... the next 18 years should be interesting!

One to tide you over

Isn't she a peach?

Uhh... I found the toilet Mom

Today Kaitlynn discovered the toilet... I know... I can't believe it either. I was in the living room folding socks and I heard this swishing sound. for a moment I was pretty sure it was the washer, but then realized I wasn't doing any wash at that time. The house was silent... which we know is a bad thing... so I went to find Kaitlynn. This is what I saw... my precious baby playing in the toilet. *** Sigh*** Guess I'll need those silly latches after all.