Friday, February 3 , 2012
Huzzah!
The long-awaited day had arrived to set off for our trip to Wisconsin Dells, to the Wilderness Territory, the largest waterpark resort in America, with friends Tamara, Dan, Nyika, Daryle and four of Ayize's best little friends!
But we couldn't leave until Ayize got home from school, so off he went on the big yellow bus, and Weeman, Calen and I took an unusual morning trip to the dog beach. It was an all-new crew for us, since we're usually afternoon peeps there.
This cute, white, hyper thing bounded around Calen in circles while she regarded it, perplexed.
But this coated greyhound was more her speed...yuk yuk yuk.
On this of all days, there was a small issue with the school bus ride home so Ayize got home late.
We ate lunch in a hustle, said teary goodbyes to our pups and fish, and headed out, leaving home-baked cookies for Dave, our dogwalker who would arrive soon, and for Dina, our housesitter, who would stay the weekend.
Then we were off. Wisconsin Dells, here we come!
Traffic was rockin' and we arrived an hour before check-in, but they let us head up anyway.
Our room!
Ayize was immediately entranced by the rustic decor and what he called the "animal walls" (lots of fake antlers and woodsy wallpaper borders).
The view from our balcony - a frozen canyon stream.
Our balcony! Chilly, but scenic.
Out on our balcony, you could see one of the myriad indoor skyways that connected the different waterparks to the hotel.
Suited up within minutes, and somebody was clearly quite eager for Mama to move her feets a little faster!
(Though even the Eager Beaver had to pause for a moment to take in the cool views from the skyway windows.)
Klondike Kavern was one of four waterparks in the hotel, and the closest to us, so we ended up there since we were still waiting on Tamara's impending arrival to get her into the room.
We jumped right into Bonanza Brook, a lazy river, and as we floated along, we were startled and impressed by the gynormous 750-gallon tipping water bucket in the central play structure.
Unfortunately, we were so fascinated by the view that we didn't notice we were about to pass right under this danged waterfall!
Ugh...see all the water drops on the camera lens that show on this photo of the cursed waterfall we just went under?? LOL
Perfect pre-dinner relaxation...
I called Tamara, and they were very close now, so we abandoned the water for the moment and returned to our room to quickly dress. Then we headed out to help her unload and carry in kids and luggage to our room.
Nathan had just woken up from a car nap - good morning, sirrah!
We headed into our room and ate a delicious Jimmy John's/Borracho's dinner, courtesy of Tamara (thank you!), then did a little quick "remodeling" to accommodate Nathan's pack & play and Brianna's desire for a sofa/sleeping bag bed.
After a fast bite, we prepped for a return to Klondike Kavern. As we all finished donning suitable swimwear, Nathan obsessed over my toner Crocs, as he would all weekend.
His favorite room activity was to mix and match mine and his mom's sandals, and then to totter around proudly, showing off his unique fashion sense.
It was love at first sight...
I've just got to wear these!
Now for the other one...
Moments later, Ayize began to sing, "I'm ready to go to the pool/I'm ready/I'm ready/I'm ready to go to the pool" and he accompanied this made-up ditty with an arm-swinging, hip-shaking, big-grinning dance, which Nathan began to imitate whilst tottering on his "heels".
The show was hilarious, and here's a still of it, but unfortunately, I can't air the video since I didn't realize until too late that the background mirror showcased a bikini bra-adjusting show of its very own...LOL
Let's rock and roll!
Back to the Kavern.
This time, we checked out Bonanza Bluff, the big central play structure, though the kids wisely avoided the wrath of the tipping bucket.
I'm going in...but I hope that huge, random waterfall doesn't attack me!
Family shot (almost complete, minus one man and one dog)!
Dan was only able to come for a bit on Saturday evening because of work, sadly, but I still managed to get three out of five.
Next stop was a ride along the Brook, our second time, and their first. Nathan was so not digging it, unfortunately.
Though he was interested in the underpasses below the walking bridges.
Fidgety Frank kept trying to adjust his position in "the double donut", as he called it.
Maybe like this...
No, no, this is much better, I think...
Whoa! Don't fall in!
Meanwhile, Nathan was starting to adjust a bit to the lazy pace.
And Ayize finally found the perfect position: one hand on each grip, and floaty body suspended in the middle.
Next, we headed to the indoor/outdoor hot tub. We started inside, then passed through the clear, hanging strips (you can see them in the background, at right) to the outdoor portion of the hot tub. So very cool!
Here's a family shot of the Stricklands outside.
Kai looked sghostly in these non-flash photos because of unusual in-pool lighting, and gamely posed for me, pretending to be a witch floating in her sulfurous cauldron!
Flash on, and all I could get was a lot of vapor. Still, her 100-megawatt smile is more powerful than any camera shortcomings!
Ooooohhhhh! The ghostly girl again. We were having so much fun taking these!
Kai is always a wonderful friend and "babysitter" to Ayize, and she swam to our piece of hot tub pool ledge and sat beside him to ask if he was cold.
He was not. He was actually totally freaking in love with this whole outdoor hot tub thing, as he has been on so many trips before this: Sedona, Portland, Phoenix, etc. and he was in seventh heaven.
The wind took the steam away for a moment and I was able to capture this contented shot.
Ayize and I headed back inside the Kavern to see what Tamara and the kids were up to. They were having a blast in this basketball pool, which was also well-heated, though not quite as hot, and also had an awesome indoor-outdoor option.
The temperature of this tub was much more amenable to the two kids, and Nathers was squealing with joy after Brianna secured this "basketball" for him.
Eeeeeeee! Mine!
Too cute!
Ayize begged to return to the hot tub, and in the outside pool, he wanted me to take his picture. He tried hard to do the same witchy poses that Kai had perfected, but the concept of "staying perfectly still" for photos taken without flash was beyond his exhausted, though excited, abilities.
So instead, I got these. Blurry, but much fun. And afterwards, he enjoyed looking at them all, and saying that "Ayize loves his hot bath"!
I am a witch! Ooooo-oooo-oooohhhhh! LOL
We headed back inside and found Tamara and the kids now enjoying the tub, Kavernside.
Nathan kept plugging his ears and making silly faces.
Ayize making his fingers dance in the water.
Happiness is a hot tub.
What the entrance to the outside hot tub looked like. So mysterious...
The big kids were game to head out, so I gave them a double-sided tow, and they enjoyed the hot water/cold air effect side-by-side for a few minutes.
Back inside, and back to the ever-amusing Bluff. Ayize stopped up water spouts with his feet, making the other spouts double in height, much to his delight.
"I like this way better than the lazy river!" LOL
Giggling to see Nathan run through the water spouts.
Tamara headed to the room to put her kiddos to bed, so Ayize and I went round the Brook several more times with Nyika and Kayla as our floating companions.
Along the way, we crossed paths with Kai several times. This was her version of a lazy river rider...
...and (of course, we always get silly, so this was unavoidable), her "crazy" river rider. LMAO!
So then Ayize and I of course had to get "crazy" too (though his crazy was just crazy-tired, from the looks of this), and Kai was our photographer, much to her enjoyment!
Ayize got a second wind when we returned to the Bluff area to pick up our stuff in preparation for heading back to the room for bed. He noticed this goofy plastic tree, and it set him off into fits of giggles.
Then he and Kayla discovered this toddler-sized slide, and had so much fun taking endless turns on it.
Faster than one would think, give how small it was. Quite the butt-bumping ending to each ride.
BUMP! SLAM! Yee-haw! Let's do that again!
Finally, we headed back to the room, rinsed off in the shower, and Ayize was asleep after a book and a bit of happy, sleepy chatter.
After he crashed, I downloaded photos to my computer, caught up with Tamara, and we both surprised ourselves by being ravishingly hungry again, despite our recent Jimmy John's consumption. So we gave in and ordered a small pizza, loaded with fresh garlic, from the resort's local restaurant - which was actually delicious!
And then finally, we too called it a night.
Ya-a-a-a-a-wn!
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