Dells Trip

So the whole time Derrick was in MBA school we had planned on going on a trip together to celebrate, sans kids. As it got closer, I realized if we (mostly he) left they would be devastated. They were the ones that never got to see him anyway. So we scrapped the solo trip and planned a little getaway to the Wisconsin Dells, Water park Capital of the Wooooooorld!

Our friends had just stayed at The Atlantis and had good things to say about it so we decided to try it out, too. We stayed on a Thursday night so the rate was super cheap, and we got passes to the Chula Vista water park included in our stay. Bonus!

We checked into our room, which is no Marriot by any stretch of the imagination, but it was clean and it had a little fridge and microwave and the kids thought it was the best. We immediately changed into our swimsuits and hit the “water park” in the Atlantis. Kind of a dark picture, but that’s pretty much it. The water park. Two little tube slides and some jets around it.

The kids didn’t care though, they loved going down the slides over and over again. The water was decently warm, too, so that was nice. After playing for a couple hours we decided to go find some dinner. I always hear people talk about the Moosejaw so we went there. We should have gone to Culver’s, honestly. The food was mediocre at best, especially for how pricey it was. We did get some pretty sweet paper moose hats though.

On our way back to the car, we took a picture in front of the moose car. As Summer was running to take a picture with me, she tripped on the pavement and ran headfirst into the car and got a nasty shiner on her right eye, to take the place of the one that just healed that she got at the zoo a week before. What a klutz!

Please excuse Derrick’s finger in the picture. iPhone rookie.

After dinner, and icing the black eye, we hit up the arcade inside the Atlantis. The girls had a blast spending $5 worth of tokens, then buying imported crap with their tickets. Back in our room, we set the girls up with a movie and some microwave popcorn and they were in heaven. Then we tried to put them to bed. Maybe it was the excitement of being in a hotel room. Maybe it was all the soda they snuck during dinner. Maybe it’s because they’re the spawn of Satan, but they didn’t fall asleep until after 10. And what did we do until then? Hide in our beds and play on our phones. I was thisclose to packing up and just going home. “Mom, Hannah’s standing up in her pack n play!” Hannah standing up and chucking her pacifiers out. “Mom, what are you doing on your phone?” Hannah crying. Oh man. Lesson learned: let them stay up even later than what I thought was late, do more fun things so they really do crash when they go to bed. Oh well. At this point I was so glad we decided to book only one night!

We had cereal in our room for breakfast, thanks to the mini fridge and packed up and headed to Chula Vista. I don’t have many pictures, but this place was way better than the Atlantis’ water park. They had a great toddler area with fun slides and fountains. Derrick and I took turns going off and riding some of the big rides. Pretty fun stuff! Summer even went one of of the bigger open tube slides all by herself!! I was shocked! We stayed there through the morning then left around lunch and had a picnic in a park before heading back home.

Heaven forbid we go 20 minutes without having a snack.      Despite the long night, it was really a fun trip and I’m glad we decided to go as a family. The girls had a great time and had a blast playing with their favorite parent…their dad.

Although next time, I’m totally not skimping and we’re getting that 2nd room for the kids.   

Brew Crew

We had the chance to go to a Brewers game last month and with a start time of 7pm I desperately tried to find a babysitter but had zero luck. Reluctantly, I let Derrick talk me into just taking the girls with us. I was fully prepared for a nightmare experience, with two tired and cranky girls (who am I kidding…make that 3 tired and cranky girls.)

However, I was pleasantly surprised! The girls did great and we all had a really fun time as a family. On the walk into the park, we prepped Summer about what she would see. She asked if we would see Cosmo, and we said no but that we would see Bernier the Brewer! She instantly started to say she didn’t like Bernie and that she didn’t want to see him and that she was scared of him? What the heck??

Her fear of Bernie, who was as far as possible from us, kept her glued to Derrick’s lap for a good 6 innings. When the Brewers scored a homerun and the fireworks went off and Bernie slid down the slide, she freaked out. Check out that face:

She did eventually loosen up and with the help of some soda and popcorn what kid wouldn’t have a good time??

We watched the Sausage Race, which didn’t scare her (I don’t understand her logic…) and then headed home. It was a great night, and I’m glad I decided to take them with us. Now all Summer talks about is when it “gets warm we can go to the baseball game and eat behind our car!”

Easter….finally!

Thanks to my friend Antony I now have a speedy new computer! Watch out…blog overload coming to a Wet Donkey near you!

To start the catch up….Easter!

We kicked off the weekend at Cake and Bake where Summer got to decorate her own little Easter basket cake. For six bucks they provide all the supplies and clean up all the mess. Winning combination in my book! She loved it. And we were in and out in less than 10 minutes. Perfecto.   

We colored eggs the night before, this year using Kool-Aid. Smelled a lot better than the vinegar method and I think they turned out pretty great!And you can’t have Easter without the butter lamb!

Sunday morning we went to church then came home and the girls looked for their Easter baskets, which they loved.

After a delicious meal we had an egg hunt in the basement since it started raining as we were hiding them outside. There were probably a couple hundred eggs, seriously. The basement looked amazing!

The kids had a blast finding all the eggs, and an even better time opening them. Everyone was super creative with filling them this year, with probably more toys than candy. Loved it. 

I cannot get a decent picture of the girls together to save my life. Summer will say “cheese” but look everywhere except the camera. Hannah just stares off into the distance, oblivious to my pleas to look at me, the camera, anything except the space behind my right shoulder. I got a lot of these kinds of pictures that day. Crazy kids.  Derrick and I won the annual egg toss after a tough battle. It was a great day with great friends, and a beautiful day to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. We are truly blessed.

Horrible blogger.

But it's not my fault! Our computer is So. Freaking. Slow. Seriously, if it weren't for my phone I'd feel so disconnected. I have so many blogs in my mind, waiting to be written. Easter. Parks. The dells. A rant on thank you notes. And much more. I miss my blog. I miss just letting the word vomit fly. Oh well. In the meantime I'll share with you my latest TV obsession: Duck Dynasty. Hilarious. On A&E. Check it out. And I'll leave a few random pics from my phone so it's not so boring.

Testing

Just trying out the new Blogger app I downloaded.

Check out the shiner Summer got at the zoo Friday. It got much worse as time went on. I'm just glad I had a friend with me to witness that it was indeed an accident because I totally did feel like causing her harm that day, she was being so naughty.

Robot shower

Last month I threw a baby shower with my friends Jessica and Martha for our friend Laura. She’s decorating her nursery with a robot theme in orange, gray, and teal. So adorable. She must be a trendsetter because there is NOT MUCH out there in terms of robot baby shower stuff. I Googled, Pinterested (is that a word??), but nothing. So, I’m very proud of us because everything we did for the shower we pretty much came up with in our OWN BRAINS. That hardly ever happens for me. I can copy with the best of them, but coming up with original ideas is where I hit a wall.

I bought some robot clip art jpegs on Etsy and used Photoshop to make little signs. I just printed them out as a 4x6 photo and put them in clear stand up frames.

I found robot cardstock cutouts at Michael’s, spray painted them, and strung them on some ribbon with mini binder clips.

Martha made an adorable fruit platter shaped like a robot, and Jess made color coordinating Jell-O cups. Too cute.

She got some really adorable gifts, including this hand pieced and sewn robot wall hanging from our super crafty friend Kathy.

It was a really fun night with some really fun girls. Now we are just waiting for that little boy to make his appearance!! 

Girls weekend

It’d been a long time coming, this trip. It had been talked about for literally years until Linda finally did something about it. And it was awesome. We were minus one due to last minute changes, but we still managed to have fun without her. We pretty much just shopped and ate. More eating than shopping, despite going to the Mall of America! We did our research and made sure we went to only the best spots in MSP, and our efforts paid off. I’m pretty sure we all came home a good 5 pounds heavier.

Just a warning to my lady friends: if you are planning on doing some serious shopping, and you go with 2 pregnant friends, expect to do most of your shopping alone. Unless the shopping consists of sitting in director’s chairs getting makeovers. They are not likely to try on a stitch of clothing, and are instead intent on finding a place to sit while you wait in lines for fitting rooms. Or just try it on over your clothes in the middle of the store. Whatever works. They were good sports though, following me around through all 3 levels of shopping bliss, and never complaining even though I know they were super sore and tired.

Here are the spoils from the day. Not too bad, right? Buried underneath is all of our stuff from IKEA, too. I felt super trendy, buying things that are trendy now, instead of buying them on clearance on their way out: neons, colored denim, feathers, etc. Hey, at least once in my life I can be in style and wear something cute, right?

Food highlights:

Chino Latino. Serving foods from around the Equator. We got carne asada, bulgogi lettuce cups, chicken skewers, and friend bananas. So. Much. Food. And so delicious. It did not disappoint. If you go, make reservations. Huge wait. But not for us, we made reservations!

Izzy’s for ice cream. You get a scoop and a little “Izzy” scoop of a different flavor for you to try. Apparently their waffle cones are to die for…a fact my friends failed to tell me until I had already ordered my dinky sugar cone. :(

Hell’s Kitchen for breakfast. Totally crazy place….almost like a Halloween-ish vibe. But crazy delicious food. We got a huge caramel cinnamon roll, giant huevos rancheros, and lemon ricotta pancakes. Oh, and this bison sausage toast stuff. All very unique and so good. Again, make reservations!

Matt’s Bar for a Minneapolis staple, the Jucy Lucy, a cheese-stuffed burger. A teeny bar, no reservations taken. We sat at the bar because it opened up first. We had to wait awhile, but it was so worth it. The cheese is like molten hot lava at first bite but oh so good. Look at it pouring out!! Almost my favorite meal of the whole trip. And good fries, too. Yum.

We hit up Jamba Juice and happened upon Free Pretzel Day at Auntie Anne’s! Score!

Met another mascot,

and a Lego Woody,

and learned that bike lanes are huuuuuge in Minneapolis. I thought that was a lane, and was totally confused that there was an empty car parked in the middle of the road and totally drove right past it on the right. Oops.

It was a super fabulous trip. Derrick was a little, ok a lot, nervous to stay with the girls all weekend, but they loved it, and he did great, even with a power outage one night! It was so fun to get away and spend some quality time with 2 of my best friends. Next time we gotta have more of our friends join us and really have a party!!