{Great Wolf Lodge: Day Two}

Day Two was a great day as well. It was nice to have so much time for the kids to play. We did more than just hit the water park today.

We started right after breakfast with the Riverside and Great Northern Railway. We loved it when we went in June, so we wanted to share it with the others. All the kids had a great time:

 As you can see, Caden is still into the crazy face phase:

Lilli was so cute with her new praying baby boy doll:

 After we were done there, we grabbed a quick bite to eat. Then we were off to the Original Ducks. This is something I have never done, and it was awesome!!! Everyone was there except the Prust family. Terra just pretty motion sick, so this would not have been a great ride for her. Here are some highlights:

 Caden was so excited he was just giddy. This was a shot of him right after we moved into the water:

 Lilli was pretty into it as well:

 It was getting close to sleepy time :)

After the Ducks we hit up the water park again for awhile. Lilli was just exhausted after that. In fact, here is a pic of Lilli from dinner:

 And here she is after we got back to the room:

The rest of the kiddos were not quite so tired, so Ryne, Maddie, William, Caden, and Andrew headed over to play some MagiQuest. It was a little more expensive than the parents originally thought, but now the kids all have awesome wands :)

Look how serious they are...

Another great day in the books!

Until later!

Barby

{Great Wolf Lodge: Day One}

This weekend is our first annual Great Wolf Lodge weekend with the Bricco, Aulizia, and Prust families. It may be a little crazy with eight kiddos all under the ago of six, but it has been fun so far. Tonight we hit up the water park, and then we decided to just order some pizza to eat in the room. It was a great day. Here are some of the highlights:

Before we left for the Dells, the kids decided to dress up while mama went to the Y to work out and they stayed home with Grammie:

 So silly...

 Once we got to the Great Wolf Lodge, there was a large line. They were very excited:

 The girls clicked right away. They wanted to dig into some of the library books that Lilli brought:

 Shortly after Ryan arrived after getting done with class, we hit the water park. Lilli didn't even hesitate:

Good times:

 I swear Andrew was having fun even though he looks so serious:

It was awesome to see all of the kids playing together:

 Love this:

William liked driving the best:

 And shooting water at people:

 Look at how happy their faces are:

 Maddie was so helpful with all of the kids:

 Lilli loved the kid slides:

After swimming it was back to the rooms to eat some pizza. First Lilli and Maddie read some stories to Baby Snow White:

Our room was a little packed:

 The pizza went over well:

 The kids were pretty happy that Lilli brought her Leap Pad:

 Like I said, it was a little packed :)

The room situation worked out well. We stayed with Cara, Jordon, and the kids. Our room had a lofted second bedroom, so there was a separation of space. The Aulizias and Prusts stayed right across the hall from us with the exact same layout.

I look forward to seeing what tomorrow will bring :)

Until later!
Barby

{more swimming + back to reality tomorrow}

We hit the water park this morning after we quickly ate and checked out of our room. Caden just loved this slide:

 He went on it quite a bit. If you look closely at this blur, you can see that it is Ryan :)

 Love them:

 Lilli loved the little kid area:

Here is a nice action shot that Nicole got of Mads and Caden coming down the slides:

Here is a shot of the group:

The mommies were not too sad to be out of this bathing suit shot :)

After lunch we headed for home. We had to make a pit stop in Montello. Look how beautiful this pic is:

Overall, it was a great weekend. We hope to get together with this group at least one more time this year :)

Until later!
Barby

{train fun, swimming, story time...}

We had a fun-packed day today. We met up with Tony, Maren, and kiddos at the Riverside & Great Northern Railway. We have never been there, and the kids absolutely loved it. First we had a picnic lunch, and then we piled into the little steam engines. Here are some shots we captured:

 Caden thought he was pretty awesome standing on the end of the tracks (unused):

 The train went along at a pretty nice clip:

 Lilli being goofy :)

This was before a little piece of coal flew back and went into Lilli's eye. That was the one drawback. I would advise anyone who goes to this to wear sunglasses. After we were done, we all had a little piece of coal on their clothing.

Here is a little video I shot of the ride:

Here are a few other pics:

 Here are my handsome guys:

All of us:

 If you look in this pic, you can see the coal. Yes, it is real :)

 My little cuties:

 Yes, they always insist on a pic with silly faces:

 Caden wanted to take a pic of Mama and Dada, too:

We then went back to the hotel and headed to the water park. I only took a couple pics, because we were too busy in the water:

 Always have to have the goofy faces...

After swimming for awhile we headed out to dinner, and then we came back and hung out for some time in our room. The kids were wild. Here is a pic that Ryan got of our wild animals:

The kids were also very excited to snap this pic:

One of the really nice things was the bedtime story time they had at night. The kids really liked it:

We also popped down to the arcade both last night and tonight. As you can tell, Ryan was probably a little more into the racing game than Lilli was :)

Is she even looking at the screen?

Caden cashed in his tickets for a little skateboard. He likes it because he is able to trade out the wheels and there is a little screwdriver. 

We will be back in the park again tomorrow am, but this time with the Josephs' clan as well :)

Until later!
Barby