Wisconsin Dells

Thanksgiving 2008. We left last Tuesday night and drove to Rockford to see my parents. We had a lovely meal Wednesday afternoon with enough food to feed 15 (there were 6 of us). I liked the pheasant the best. The girls had a blast running around the house. I relished hearing Kassy patter upstairs Wednesday morning at 6:15am to find Grandma and Grandpa's room so she could start jumping on the bed. I also got pleasure from teaching my girls to swat at Grandpa's newspaper while he was trying to read it.

We left Thursday about 11 to drive to Wisconisn Dells. We managed to surprise Grandpa Chris for his 60th birthday and the girls were bouncing with excitement when they saw their cousin, Eva. All 11 of us stayed in a lovely cabin at Wilderness Resort, with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a grill, and a washer/dryer. The resort had three indoor water parks and a four-story play place for dry kids. All of these places proved to be a ton of fun. We were so proud of Kassy for overcoming her fears and going down the big tube slides with us. It was a true victory for our fearful little girl. I think Great Grandma even enjoyed watching the chaos. Pam (my mother-in-law) and Tricia (my sister-in-law) did a great job of bringing food, snacks and even Thanksgiving dinner. What a fun trip. The drive home, with the snow, proved to be exhausting. We love Wisconsin Dells though it was odd to see hotels, condos and fancy houses surrounding a giant, grassy, ditch which used to be Lake Delton. The lake drained late last spring during the floods when a strategic dam broke. Supposedly they will start filling the lake this spring, I wonder how long that will take? Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip, with captions underneath.

Eva on a slide. My camera's delay is a bit too long to get a great picture on the slide, especially since I was a bit nervous having it near all those splashing people.

Hadley is all smiles as she comes down.

Kassy is nervous about all the turns and about not being in control. By the end of our stay, she was all smiles, though still cautious.

Grandma Pam giving a little lap time to all the grandkids.

Kassy only liked the tube in the wave pool if she could control it at the zero entry point. Take the tube into deeper water and she would have nothing to do with it.

Aunt Tricia and Uncle Kyle brought early Christmas gifts--the Pegasus from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. As Hadley likes to say, "OOH la la."

Tom teaching his mother knee strengthening exercises.

My mom and dad with the girls.