There were times when I just sat back and thanked God for giving me such a wonderful family, and for the amazing opportunity to create such fun memories! Do you ever do that? I find myself more and more trying to step "out of the moment" if you will, and count the blessings God has given me as well as to really cherish the "moment" I am in. I am going to spread out our trip over several "blogging days," so here is the first part of our trip!!! I hope you enjoy!!
Road trip baby!!!!!!!!!!!! We left on Father's day right after church! We left about 1:45, and it is only a 4.5 hour trip! We would get there in time to swim.......right!?!?
Hey, I had to make sure my kids know I was on the trip too, right!?!
We stopped at Culver's and grabbed a bite to eat, they had a custard eating contest for kids and their dads!! Big C got one scoop and dad received 3!! You can guess who won!:0)
Very proud of the t-shirt that he won!!
We had such a fun time, they had a great little water park there, as well as lots of fun activities! We took part in the hay ride, and outdoor movie ("Yogi Bear" of course). It was such a family friendly campground, great for little and "big" kids;0)!! We loved it!! Above is the water slide/water playground at our campground.
Hot tubbin'!
Monkey see...............
Monkey do...................
Very proud of the t-shirt that he won!!
They loved it!!
On a side note our tour guide was funny but went a little overboard, if you know what I mean! You know it's bad when your 5 yr old leans over and says "Mom, he's pretty funny, but you know when people tell a lot of jokes they are a jokester! Some people tell to many jokes though and then they're not funny anymore!" Well said!;0)
We stayed at Jellystone in the dells! So, due to many, MANY pit stops; we ended up arriving at our campsite around 9:30 that night (1:45-9:30, that's 4.5 hrs-mmm, no)!! This unraveled a bunch of fun, first they canceled our reservation due to a computer error, then our pop-up got stuck on the hitch, and finally we got everything set up by 11:30!! Not cool! Thus"Englund Camping Rule #1" came to exist! The rule is as follows, "We will arrive no later then 6-6:30 pm at our campsite." Yep that sounded good, we felt better, and then we went to bed!
On a side note our tour guide was funny but went a little overboard, if you know what I mean! You know it's bad when your 5 yr old leans over and says "Mom, he's pretty funny, but you know when people tell a lot of jokes they are a jokester! Some people tell to many jokes though and then they're not funny anymore!" Well said!;0) We stayed at Jellystone in the dells! So, due to many, MANY pit stops; we ended up arriving at our campsite around 9:30 that night (1:45-9:30, that's 4.5 hrs-mmm, no)!! This unraveled a bunch of fun, first they canceled our reservation due to a computer error, then our pop-up got stuck on the hitch, and finally we got everything set up by 11:30!! Not cool! Thus"Englund Camping Rule #1" came to exist! The rule is as follows, "We will arrive no later then 6-6:30 pm at our campsite." Yep that sounded good, we felt better, and then we went to bed!We had such a fun time, they had a great little water park there, as well as lots of fun activities! We took part in the hay ride, and outdoor movie ("Yogi Bear" of course). It was such a family friendly campground, great for little and "big" kids;0)!! We loved it!! Above is the water slide/water playground at our campground. Hot tubbin'! Monkey see............... (Kind have wish I would have tried, what was I thinking!!:0)
On the hayride!!
Chad suprised us with pizza that night (which is a big hit in our world), and we watched Yogi Bear and ate pizza.;0)
M'C being.....M'C!!! Love that!!:0)
Day 2-So we were torn between "Noah's Ark" and "Kalahari" we decided on the later due to it seeming more small kid friendly! We were so GLAD we did!! There was a heat advisory on that day, and Kalahari has both indoor and outdoor water parks and you are able to go back and forth between the two! We LOVE water parks, and this one rates as one of the best!! Big C struggles with heights a bit, and M'C has no fear at all!! M'C wanted to go on all of the "big slides", and they had a few "family rides" so he was able to go on those. Big C eventually warmed up after watching his brother, and came to LOVE a lot of the "adult slides!"
They had cookie decorating for the kids, it was a nice mid-day snack!
Love these swings!!
The water playground outside, it was super fun! They had lots of big slides, our (Chad and I) favorite was the "toilet bowl" slide; on this slide you rode on a tube and went down super fast it was tons of fun!! Sadly, Big C and I saw a man that became disoriented and started to "drown" after going down a tube slide (those are the slides that are completely dark and you have to lay flat), he was ok thankfully but we were a little freaked out!! Big C vowed never to go on a slide like that, and me being VERY claustrophobic had just went on one for the first time inside and thought I was going to die (really I did!!). The "lifeguard" said many people feel as if they are going to suffocate in those slides. Needless to say I was ok with Big C's vow;0)!
Above is one of the "family slides!"
On the hayride!!Chad suprised us with pizza that night (which is a big hit in our world), and we watched Yogi Bear and ate pizza.;0) M'C being.....M'C!!! Love that!!:0) Day 2-So we were torn between "Noah's Ark" and "Kalahari" we decided on the later due to it seeming more small kid friendly! We were so GLAD we did!! There was a heat advisory on that day, and Kalahari has both indoor and outdoor water parks and you are able to go back and forth between the two! We LOVE water parks, and this one rates as one of the best!! Big C struggles with heights a bit, and M'C has no fear at all!! M'C wanted to go on all of the "big slides", and they had a few "family rides" so he was able to go on those. Big C eventually warmed up after watching his brother, and came to LOVE a lot of the "adult slides!" They had cookie decorating for the kids, it was a nice mid-day snack! Love these swings!! The water playground outside, it was super fun! They had lots of big slides, our (Chad and I) favorite was the "toilet bowl" slide; on this slide you rode on a tube and went down super fast it was tons of fun!! Sadly, Big C and I saw a man that became disoriented and started to "drown" after going down a tube slide (those are the slides that are completely dark and you have to lay flat), he was ok thankfully but we were a little freaked out!! Big C vowed never to go on a slide like that, and me being VERY claustrophobic had just went on one for the first time inside and thought I was going to die (really I did!!). The "lifeguard" said many people feel as if they are going to suffocate in those slides. Needless to say I was ok with Big C's vow;0)! Above is one of the "family slides!"We had a blast at the dells, but our time came to an end and we set out for our 4.5 hr trip. to Door County, WI with our "Englund camping rule" in tow. Well, it was in tow, until we came across this......................
Yep, this was the rule breaker! We had good intentions of keeping it, but before we knew it we were inside and signed up for a tour, the last one of the day!! We knew that our rule was not going to come to fruition!!
Sitting in box seats!
Notice how I am in the picture!! Yep, someone (Chad;0) was SO EXCITED that they ASKED if they could have the camera to take pics!!:0)
Don't walk on the grass, there will be a big fine and you could be arrested-really!! Well, that is what they told us after they saw M'C running on it!! Such great memories! We had awesome tour guides though and we were with a small group since it was the last tour of the day, so it was lots of fun!
Ok, for those of you who are sport's illiterate this is the Packer's coach Mike McCarthy!! Yep, not part of the tour in case you are wondering (or hoping;0)! It went like this....we are on the tour headed towards the tunnel the Packer's run out of when we stop, I hear my husband go crazy (really he did:0) and say "Look it's the coach!" He was so excited he could not think of his name, let's just say everyone else got VERY excited as well!! Chad goes up to him and asks if he can get a pic with him, he was on the phone and kept walking. As we watched though he stopped at the corner finished up his phone conversation and came back to take pics with everyone!! It was SUPER nice, and made some "people's;0)" day!:0)
My Dreamer's!!!
Hut, hut!!! The lines on the inside of the building line up exactly with the field outside.
Yep, this was the rule breaker! We had good intentions of keeping it, but before we knew it we were inside and signed up for a tour, the last one of the day!! We knew that our rule was not going to come to fruition!! Sitting in box seats!Notice how I am in the picture!! Yep, someone (Chad;0) was SO EXCITED that they ASKED if they could have the camera to take pics!!:0) Don't walk on the grass, there will be a big fine and you could be arrested-really!! Well, that is what they told us after they saw M'C running on it!! Such great memories! We had awesome tour guides though and we were with a small group since it was the last tour of the day, so it was lots of fun!Ok, for those of you who are sport's illiterate this is the Packer's coach Mike McCarthy!! Yep, not part of the tour in case you are wondering (or hoping;0)! It went like this....we are on the tour headed towards the tunnel the Packer's run out of when we stop, I hear my husband go crazy (really he did:0) and say "Look it's the coach!" He was so excited he could not think of his name, let's just say everyone else got VERY excited as well!! Chad goes up to him and asks if he can get a pic with him, he was on the phone and kept walking. As we watched though he stopped at the corner finished up his phone conversation and came back to take pics with everyone!! It was SUPER nice, and made some "people's;0)" day!:0) My Dreamer's!!! Hut, hut!!! The lines on the inside of the building line up exactly with the field outside.All in all an amazing tour!! In life one must always make room for pit stops, it is in these pit stops that amazing memories may form!!:0) So, we jumped back in the mini van and hit the road.......rules are overrated anyway, right!?!?!
Little man sitting up!
First cereal, he loved it! Although as you can see at first he was unsure!:0)
Bowling with G & G 
Bumper's have "
Playing with the cousins!
Our first bike ride of the season!
Big C was actually stuck in this hole, I admit, I was laughing hysterically as he tried to get out!
Swinging away! Here c