Vacation 2007 (almost as long as the original)

We were gone for 10 days. We went 1400 miles or so. I took a LOT of pictures. Here we go....

Friday, July 27

We left home in the afternoon to drive to Hammond, IN where we were going to stay the night in a hotel. It's about a 4.5 hour drive. After about 2 hours, it became apparent that Lucas was not going to appreciate this road trip. Alyssa helped a great deal by trying to entertain him and I tried handing him pacifiers, toys, snacks, etc. from the front seat, but nothing made him happy for more than a few minutes. Let's just say it was not fun.

When we got to the hotel, we also discovered that Lucas did not enjoy the Pack-n-Play at all. I finally got him to go to sleep in it, but it didn't last long and he spent most of the night in bed with Jeff and me. Not a lot of fun.

Saturday, July 28

After a not very restful night (Brendan even fell out of bed at one point), we packed up and headed out to continue our journey to the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells. Lucas was on to us by now and voiced his disapproval loud and long. But we made it! We got in at about 2 (or was that 1 in Central Time?), but our room wasn't going to be ready until after 4 (or was that 5 Eastern Time?). We could use the water park though. Too bad our suits were all packed away. They also had a play area called Wiley's Woods that we decided to hang out at. Only to discover that socks were required and I hadn't packed any for myself or the kids. Oops! So we took a drive around the Dells to see all the fun things to do there and then stopped at an Old Navy store to stock up on socks. Finally those poor deprived children got to do something fun.

We walked in to see all these foam balls on the floor and quickly realized that they could be used in the guns to shoot at people and that also involved a lot of climbing, sliding and running around. And Lucas loved to throw them!

Who are these crazy kids???

They had one room that was especially for smaller kids and we all played in there for a long time.

I love this picture of Alyssa jumping off the mushrooms!

After a couple hours, we could check into our room. And what a cool room it was! The kids had their own cabin inside our room and it even had a bunk bed!

This was Lucas's favorite part of the hotel room:

While we were getting settled, I got a call from Caralee that they had arrived. By the time they got settled, it was dinner time and we decided to go out for pizza and chit-chat.

Alyssa and Connor were fast friends.

Paige and Caralee.

The babies shared their food.

After dinner it was really late and the babies had to go to bed while the big kids and their dads finally got to hit the water park until closing time.

Sunday, July 29

Before we made it out of the room for the day, Lucas had to take some notes.


We decided to take a boat tour of the Upper Dells on the Wisconsin River. While we were deciding, we hung out in the lobby.

Before we got on the boat, they were taking souvenir pictures. I really liked ours, so I decided to buy it:

And here's the gang on the boat.

The boat tour was cool, lots of nice rock formations.

We got to stop a couple times to look around.

Here are Connor, Brendan and Alyssa heading into Witch's Gultch.

And Brendan hiding in a cave.

After the boat tour, we went back to the hotel for a late lunch. Then the kids and dads again went swimming while we tried to get the babies to nap. Chad got the message, but Lucas did not. At one point, I dressed him for swimming (but stupidly, not myself) and took him to the water park assuming I could find the others. I couldn't. He was getting wet and I was trying not to. We left and tried to get him to nap again. That wasn't happening. I even took him for a walk in the stroller and that didn't work either. Finally everyone came back and we decided to go mini-golfing. Just in case you're wondering, that activity with a toddler doesn't work out so well. He was either running away with or after the golf balls or he wanted Jeff to hold him because he was tired and cranky. It was fun anyway, but it could have been better.

Connor and Alyssa.

On the way out.

After golfing, we grabbed a quick dinner and Jeff took the kids back to the water park for a few minutes before it closed.

Monday, July 30

We had to check out of the hotel that morning. But we could still use the water park all day if we wanted to. The original plan was to swim in the morning, do a different activity in the afternoon and then drive to Becky's and be there around dinner time. Of course, that didn't happen. The kids were having so much fun at the water park that we stayed too late to do anything else in the Dells.

Before swimming.

Lucas had a good time!

Alyssa getting dumped on by the big bucket and Jeff and Lucas watching.

Alyssa coming down a water slide.

And here's Brendan!

Lucas having a snack.

At one of the outdoor pools.

Lucas fell asleep for quite awhile which was as good an excuse as any to let the kids play and so Caralee and I could chat. Then we had to go watch Connor and Alyssa race down the slide.

All the kids together - Paige, Lucas, Alyssa, Chad, Connor and Brendan.

Finally, we had to say goodbye to our friends and to Great Wolf Lodge.

But first we had to stop for some lunch (or was it dinner?) before we left the Dells at Paul Bunyan's. And what do we do whenever we see a giant statue? Pose, of course!

The drive from the Dells to Minocqua was probably the worst for Lucas. He cried almost the whole way. And just in case you're wondering - there are no rest stops for the three hours or so between those two places. We kept looking and looking for a quick place to stop and there were none. But we made it.

On the way, I called Becky to tell her we would be quite a bit later than I had originally thought. That's when she told me she would have to leave to go back to Minnesota on Wednesday (she had promised she would be there all week) for two job interviews on Thursday and Friday. We were less than impressed since the whole point of this trip was to get the cousins together and I practically had to twist Jeff's arm to get him to go at all.

Tuesday, July 31

Since the kids weren't going to have as much time together has we had thought, we decided to just hang out at Becky's and let them play for as long as she was going to be there. That meant lots of swimming in the lake, especially for the oldest girls.

Alyssa doing a fancy jump off the dock.

Jessi's turn.

Getting ready for a Sea-Doo ride.

Me and my buddy relaxing in the hammock.

Lucas didn't really like swimming in the lake and he really didn't like wearing a life jacket. That's Alex next to him and Jeff.

Meal times could get a little crazy with seven kids around!

Alyssa loved being able to feed baby Josh his bottle.

Wednesday, August 1

We had missed Jessi's seventh birthday by a couple weeks, so we brought her present with us and had a mini birthday celebration in the morning.

It wasn't often that all the kids were together in one place. This is the only time I actually got a picture of all of them - Jessi, Josh, Alyssa, Lucas, Alex, Brendan and Lia.

For lunch that day we made sandwiches and had a "lunch cruise" on the pontoon boat. It was a little too windy for boating, so it was a quick cruise.

Josh the pirate. That hat was very popular. Brendan even wore it to bed one night.

Lucas trying out Josh's Bumbo seat.

Brendan and Alex are the same age, but they have a lot of problems getting along. They were almost constantly fighting and arguing. But right before Becky left, they became what Brendan called "friendship boys" and played together with the Jeep. At least they left on good terms!

Jeff and the "babies" - Lucas, Josh and Lia.

Lucas getting up the nerve to almost touch Sandy, the big (but completely harmless) collie.

Thursday, August 2

Becky and the kids left on Wednesday night so we had her house all to ourselves. But no one seemed to sleep well that night and we all got up tired and cranky on Thursday morning, plus Alyssa was coming down with a cold so she was all sniffly and stuffed up. I had to work on our laundry, but we also wanted to do some things in town. We decided to go to the zoo in the morning.

Alyssa loved the bunnies.

Petting a deer.

Alyssa apparently has the wingspan of an osprey.

And Brendan is a peregrine falcon. Jeff is a bald eagle. Oh, and me? A turkey vulture. Nice.

This is how Lucas spent some of his time at the zoo.

Being goofy on a little bridge.

After much coaxing, we finally got Lucas to touch a goat.

Because everyone was so sleepy, we didn't stay at the zoo very long. We went back to Becky's and everyone took naps.

Except for me, I got to work on the laundry. I did get to see the hummingbirds though.

Later that afternoon after everyone woke up, went back into town to do some souvenir shopping and then had dinner. After a trip to the grocery store, we went back to Becky's for one last night there.

Friday, August 3

We got up, packed all our stuff and cleaned up the house as good as we could.

Goodbye, Minocqua!

Then we started our longest single-day journey across northern Wisconsin and all the way across the U.P. Lucas actually didn't do too bad. Whew! We only stopped for lunch and then again at a rest area less than an hour from our destination of Mackinaw City.

The rest area was right on Lake Michigan, so of course, we had to go wading.

When we got to Mackinaw City, we went for a walk to look around and also to get some cold medicine for Alyssa and some diaper rash cream for Lucas who had managed to develop an awful rash that was actually blistering by that point (I guess I was wrong about thinking it would go away on it's own, oops). So we stopped at the information/chamber of commerce to ask where to find a drug store. Guess what? They don't have one! Huh? You can't go a mile around here without seeing a CVS or a Walgreen's, but there are NO drug stores of any type in the whole town? I guess tourists don't get sick or something. They did have an IGA where we ended up with adult Benedryl (no kid's stuff, thankfully she can swallow pills and I figured it would at least help her sleep) and a very dusty box of Desitin, both very expensive.

We also found a playground:

And a cool mirror maze place:

Soon it was time for bed. Lucas wasn't sleeping in the Pack-n-Play very well, so he was in bed with Jeff and me before long. Then in the middle of the night, Brendan woke up crying that his head hurt. Crying and screaming and yelling. It was kind of scary, actually. I quick got him some Tylenol, but it took a little while to kick in and he managed to wake everyone else up. Then we all shuffled around and Lucas and I ended up in bed with Alyssa while Jeff comforted Brendan back to sleep. I had about two inches of bed space that was not exactly comfortable to begin with. But everything was all better in the morning.

Saturday, August 4

This was our day to go to Mackinac Island. We took this ferry:

Alyssa, Brendan and I rode on the top of the ferry while Jeff stayed inside with Lucas and the stroller. It was a little chilly and very windy (and bright!), but a fun 15 minute ride.

On the way over, we got a good view of the Mackinac Bridge - it's 50 years old this year!

On the island, we took a horse-drawn carriage tour (no cars allowed on the island) and also saw the butterfly exhibit. The first part of the tour was in town and we rode in a carriage pulled by a two-horse team.

We stopped at the butterfly place.

One landed on the back of Alyssa's head:

One like this one landed on the front of Brendan's shirt, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of it before it flew away.

After the butterflies, we got on this bigger carriage that was pulled by three horses and took us through the state park.

We stopped at Arch Rock.

On the carriage.

We got off the carriage at Fort Mackinac and walked back into town. It was so pretty!

What would vacation be without ice cream?

Waiting for the ferry back to Mackinaw City. Brendan is mad because I wouldn't buy him (another!) plastic sword. Sorry bud!

That's a little better! We rode on top of the ferry again.

And that's about it! We drove home on Sunday, stopping at Mom and Dad's for a few hours and some dinner. Also on Sunday, I woke up with Alyssa's cold and have been miserable since. That's my excuse for working on this super long blog entry instead of getting things back in order after our trip!