Vacation Part Two
Welcome back to part two of our vacation! Once the kids had sufficiently dried out to just being damp, we allowed them back in the van where we went back to the hotel to shower and properly dry off from the big lake adventure. We nibbled on some snacks on our way down to Kenosha, WI where we toured the Jelly Belly factory. They have free tours available. They didn't take you to see any of the actual production, but you got to ride on a little train and watch various clips about how they make Jelly Bellys. It was pretty interesting. We each got a free small bag of jelly belly's to take home with us too. And of course you also had the option of spending your life savings on Jelly Belly's in their store once the tour was over. We each had a dollar to spend, and found several small bags of candy on sale that we bought. 
After that tour, we ended up at a Civil War Museum - this was mainly for Aaron's enjoyment, but the rest of us enjoyed it as well - just not as much as Aaron. We then wandered around Kenosha and looked for a beach to play in the lake again - I still did not have towels, but at least this time we had swimsuits. I opted to not swim as it was still not warm enough for me to want to get in the water. I only enjoy swimming if it's above 93 degrees, otherwise I'm just cold. We came back to the hotel and took more showers and then went in search of a place to buy some cheap towels. We found success, stopped at a restaurant to eat some supper and then back to the hotel to rest and play games before bedtime. The kids were all super sore in their arms from being Ninja warriors the day before at the playground. Running around at the beach helped loosen them back up.
Wednesday morning was bright and hot. Yea! We spent a few hours at the Racine zoo and enjoyed that. We found a bakery and enjoyed our first kringles. Then we went back to the Racine beach and finally it was hot enough for me to want to swim. The kids had a blast jumping waves. The girls enjoyed going with us out deeper where we could help them jump the bigger waves. David was big enough to not need help. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing at the beach. I can't think of a better way to relax! We ate out again at the nice restaurant we found Monday night.
Thursday morning, we woke up early, packed our bags and headed over to Wisconsin Dells. We had booked a room in a hotel there that included two free family day passes to the Mt. Olympus waterpark. We arrived close to lunch time, so we snacked again on our travelling snacks before heading into the water park to have some fun there. I had figured that there wouldn't be much a pregnant woman could do there, but I was a bit saddened to realize there was really nothing at all for me to do other than the lazy river and the wave pools. But, I made the best of it. We split up - Aaron took the older two on the bigger slides and rides, while I stayed with Abby doing the slides and rides she was big enough to do. We had a lot of fun together. Not only were there lots of waterslides and water attractions, they also had a lot of go-karts and some roller coasters. David fell in love with the go-karts and seemed surprised that he didn't crash and was a pretty good driver. Ana went on all of the roller coasters. She even went on the biggest one there all by herself (Aaron's not a fan of roller coasters and David was too busy practicing his driving skills - I would have eagerly joined her, but pregnancy prevented that one). I was so proud of her for going on it. She said as she got higher and higher up in the line (the waiting line went up a very large flight of stairs), she looked down over the rail and almost chickened out because it was so high, but then told herself that she had already made it that far, so she might as well do it. Her thoughts on it once she was finished was, "It was super high, super fast, super scary, and super fun!" We spent Thursday and Friday enjoying the waterpark. On our way home Friday evening, we stopped to get ice cream. That was our first ice cream stop of the trip. We figured it wouldn't be a true vacation if ice cream wasn't eaten at least once.
I definitely enjoyed it, even though I didn't participate as much physically as I normally do. It was just fun to be together as a family and enjoy hanging out with no responsibilities, other than finding a place to eat everyday.
I had better end this now before it gets too long. Hope you enjoyed it!
Question for you: Would you rather ride the roller coasters or do the go-karts?
After that tour, we ended up at a Civil War Museum - this was mainly for Aaron's enjoyment, but the rest of us enjoyed it as well - just not as much as Aaron. We then wandered around Kenosha and looked for a beach to play in the lake again - I still did not have towels, but at least this time we had swimsuits. I opted to not swim as it was still not warm enough for me to want to get in the water. I only enjoy swimming if it's above 93 degrees, otherwise I'm just cold. We came back to the hotel and took more showers and then went in search of a place to buy some cheap towels. We found success, stopped at a restaurant to eat some supper and then back to the hotel to rest and play games before bedtime. The kids were all super sore in their arms from being Ninja warriors the day before at the playground. Running around at the beach helped loosen them back up.
Wednesday morning was bright and hot. Yea! We spent a few hours at the Racine zoo and enjoyed that. We found a bakery and enjoyed our first kringles. Then we went back to the Racine beach and finally it was hot enough for me to want to swim. The kids had a blast jumping waves. The girls enjoyed going with us out deeper where we could help them jump the bigger waves. David was big enough to not need help. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening playing at the beach. I can't think of a better way to relax! We ate out again at the nice restaurant we found Monday night.
Thursday morning, we woke up early, packed our bags and headed over to Wisconsin Dells. We had booked a room in a hotel there that included two free family day passes to the Mt. Olympus waterpark. We arrived close to lunch time, so we snacked again on our travelling snacks before heading into the water park to have some fun there. I had figured that there wouldn't be much a pregnant woman could do there, but I was a bit saddened to realize there was really nothing at all for me to do other than the lazy river and the wave pools. But, I made the best of it. We split up - Aaron took the older two on the bigger slides and rides, while I stayed with Abby doing the slides and rides she was big enough to do. We had a lot of fun together. Not only were there lots of waterslides and water attractions, they also had a lot of go-karts and some roller coasters. David fell in love with the go-karts and seemed surprised that he didn't crash and was a pretty good driver. Ana went on all of the roller coasters. She even went on the biggest one there all by herself (Aaron's not a fan of roller coasters and David was too busy practicing his driving skills - I would have eagerly joined her, but pregnancy prevented that one). I was so proud of her for going on it. She said as she got higher and higher up in the line (the waiting line went up a very large flight of stairs), she looked down over the rail and almost chickened out because it was so high, but then told herself that she had already made it that far, so she might as well do it. Her thoughts on it once she was finished was, "It was super high, super fast, super scary, and super fun!" We spent Thursday and Friday enjoying the waterpark. On our way home Friday evening, we stopped to get ice cream. That was our first ice cream stop of the trip. We figured it wouldn't be a true vacation if ice cream wasn't eaten at least once.
I definitely enjoyed it, even though I didn't participate as much physically as I normally do. It was just fun to be together as a family and enjoy hanging out with no responsibilities, other than finding a place to eat everyday.
I had better end this now before it gets too long. Hope you enjoyed it!
Question for you: Would you rather ride the roller coasters or do the go-karts?
What an awesome vacation! So fun!
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