Kalahari Waterpark

The night we arrived at the Kalahari, we explored the indoor waterpark. I don't have any pictures, because we were having a fun time in the water! Ryan was pretty skeptical of the splashing/fountains/water cannon, but got braver and braver when it came to slides. He finally found a medium-sized slide that he loved and went down it at least 25 times in a row!

He tried out the outdoor waterpark with my parents once and on the last night we spent a few hours there all together.  Here are a few shots of the outdoor park:

 

 After floating in the lazy river for a long time, Ryan was ready to jump in!

One for the money, Two for the show...

 Three to get ready...

 ...and Four to go!

  We had a great time at the waterpark and hope we can go back sometime!

Moosejaw and Buffalo Phil's

 There are many fun places to eat in the Wisconsin Dells, but none came more highly recommended by my co-workers than MooseJaw, so we went there on Tuesday, our first night in town.  Ryan loved the Moose on the delivery car and was fascinated by all the taxidermy inside.  I had the Beer Cheese soup and we shared a Pepperoni pizza. It was excellent and Ryan ate 4 slices! He was being pretty silly with his moose antlers on!  My parents brought him back there a few days later and apparently it was more melt-down than meal on that visit, but I would highly recommend this restaurant to families on vacation!

 

Friday night was the other night I had available so we went to another kid-friendly restaurant that was recommended to us called Buffalo Phil's. It turns out to be very similar to MooseJaw in decor, head gear, and delivery car-topped-by-animal, so it was either owned by the same people or there was a serious Hatfield vs. McCoy type feud going on. As a side note, I'd probably watch the mini-series Moosejaw vs. Buffalo Phil's a bit quicker than the bloody battle of H vs. McC. Just sayin', History Channel.

Anyway, the special feature of this restaurant is that in one of the rooms, the food and drinks are delivered by train! Ryan loved watching the train go by our booth and I was surprised it only suffered one de-railment.

Ryan had a taco and I had a delicious bowl of Chicken Tortilla Soup and cheese enchiladas, but they serve much more than Mexican. I also tried their homemade grape soda, but it turned out I still wanta Fanta instead.

This isn't a great picture, but I loved all the cowboy boots on the mantel, the long-horn steer and the full-size buffalo on a high shelf (because we all know you don't put stuffed buffalo down where the kiddies can touch them--makes their fur oily).

 After the meal, Ryan liked looking around at all the "pretend" aka dead animals and like sitting on yet another arcade game sans quarters.

Other than these restaurants, Ryan just got to eat at Arby's on the drive up (did you know they serve Kraft Macaroni and Cheese?), McDonald's one lunch with Grandpa and Grandma (he LOVED the penguin train toy from his Happy meal) and Culver's on the way home (epic fail--ate nothing).  Otherwise, they had sandwiches and breakfast in the room. I'm sure there are many other great family dining options in the Dell's, but these were the two we tried and we highly recommend both!

Wisconsin Fun

Besides the waterpark, Ryan and my parents found some other fun things to do while I was in meetings.

One day, they checked out the playground/sand area at the resort.

 Another day, they went on the famous "Ducks" which are land/water hybrid vehicles. I remember going on them as a kid and Ryan liked riding on the river and saw a deer, turtle, and wild turkey during the ride.

They also came downstairs to the Vendor Fair on Thursday afternoon in time to try the Coca-Cola Freestyle machine and Ryan got a ride in the pedal car we're giving away as a promotion.

 

Kalahari Resort

We were impressed with the Kalahari Resort. It's a giant place with many activities and amenities and would be a great place to take your family on vacation.  Besides the waterpark, here's a few things we enjoyed at the resort:

Riding the cart when hauling up all our Khrut.

Ryan figured out key cards and was in charge of opening the door for us:

Mom and Dad liked sitting on the balcony and Ryan liked setting up his tractors, cars, and farm animals that he brought along:

 The whole resort has an African theme and Ryan loved seeing all the animals (except the warthog, he was a little spooked by that one). It was too dark for good pictures, but here's one of the elephant statues.

Look! It's a Ryno on a rhino!

 They had many kids' activities during the day, like painting pottery, decorating cookies, and lots of arts and crafts. Most of them were during Ryan's naptime, so we didn't take advantage of them this time, but it looked like lots of fun. One thing we did take advantage of one night was the ice cream shop in the lobby. Here Ryan is enjoying his "Blue Moon" Froot Loop-flavored ice cream. I had a delicious Iced Latte-Da cone and it's probably a good thing we didn't try it until our last night or it could have turned into a nightly stop!

Family Fun Night

On Wednesday Night of my works Summer Meeting, we had a Family Fun Night. Over 800 people got to enjoy supper and spend the night at Kalahari's indoor theme park. Ryan had a great time and got to try all sorts of new things! He loved riding different jungle animals on the carousel, tried out some swings, took his first ride on a Ferris Wheel and even tried a rocking airplane (see video below). 

 He really wanted to ride the Go-Karts on the suspended road course, but of course, didn't meet the height requirements. A close second were all the arcade-style racing games that made him feel like he was really driving a car (and beating Grandpa). My mom was proud that another generation is being taught how to enjoy video games without putting any money in the slots.


We weren't sure how he'd do on the Airplane (little kid version of a rocking Pirate Ship), but it helped that the other kids were laughing and having a good time, so he just copied them. When the operator asked if they all wanted to ride again, I thought we better not press our luck.


There were lots of things for the older kids including Go-Karts, mini golf, a climbing wall, ropes course, and a full bowling alley, but plenty for the little kids to do as well.  Thanks, Pizza Ranch, for a really fun night spent together with all our families!

Out with the Old

On Sunday, after dinner at my parents, Ryan went out on the boat with Adam, my dad and Wade. My mom had been hinting/flat-out telling me that at some point in the very near future, she wanted me to clean out my old bedroom. I decided, today was the day. It was a lot less painful than I thought since I'd already taken all my old dresses (except for my wedding dress) and had done some purging during college. Still, it was pretty sad that my room was decorated almost exactly as I had left it when I graduated from High School 12 years ago.

Here's a few highlights of what was still displayed:

• Many of my Academic certificates, including: State of Iowa Scholar, National Merit Finalist, Best of the Class, All-Academic Team, Student of the Year (which Adam won the next year), etc. We could basically call it the "Wall of Geek."
• All of the flower corsages I ever wore along with the tiara from being Prom Queen (which is missing a few rhinestones).
• A bulletin board with the B-H "letters" I earned, a few State Fair ribbons, Presidential Physical Fitness Patches (which they stopped giving out in 6th grade), and my nametags from working at ValleyFair
• A shelf containing my exactly 4 trophies--3 of them were earned for a run of "Superior" ratings in piano solos and one was for 6th grade Math Bee. (Was I not worried the certificates would solidify my geek status?)
• Show Choir pictures from my Junior and Senior Year, including a frame they gave me my senior year listing our 1st place finishes in 1998,1999, and 2000 (the years I choreographed)
• Pictures with my senior class and lots of "Class of 2000" picture frames (the frames went right in the garbage).
• My graduation cap and display of my graduation invitations in a beautiful royal blue and dark green color combo (better than the purple/orange combo Adam's class chose).

Besides taking down all the decor, I also had several drawers and boxes to go through, including scrapbooks, a 4-H Record Book, newspaper clippings, and old letters.  A lot went into the dumpster, and I limited myself to taking home 2 totes plus my wedding dress.

I feel bad that my mom is now left with a splatter-painted purple and teal room (I painted it in 6th grade) with tons of nail-holes, but at least there are a few less senior pictures and a lot less dried flowers!

2 years & 8 months old

 Ryan loves the warmer weather that May brings because it gives him plenty of opportunities to play outside in his sandbox, play baseball, soccer, or run races in the backyard, or draw with chalk on the driveway. He also LOVES going fishing and has hauled in quite a few nice fish already!

His favorite indoor toys involve setting up all his farm animals and hitching up all his little tractors and wagons. He also still likes racing cars and building with his legos. His funny discovery today was folding himself up into a cardboard box, having Daddy close the lid and carry him around, then popping out of the top!

Ryan's current favorite foods are summer sausage and Colby-Jack cheese, grapes and watermelon, spaghetti, hot dogs, Chocolate Krispies, and his new love...."you know mommy that chocolate on a stick that I (demonstrates licking) and I bite and I hold?" This is how he describes a FudgePop since he can't seem to ever remember the name They are horrendously messing (I have even had to wipe down his leg and toes after eating one) but he loves them and will finish the whole thing.

Although he won't sit long enough during the day for it, Ryan loves reading books at night. I usually read him 3-4 of his library books each night but after we are done, he says, "Mommy, I want to read some books myself." And he will look through book after book by himself in his bed...literally 20-30 of them if we let him. He is getting to be more of a stinker when going to bed as he frequently gets out with excuses/requests, such as "I need my orange blankie,  I need my polka-dot blankie, I want the door open, I need a drink, I have to go potty, I need more books, Can you rub my back? Can you rock me? Can you lay down with me for just a lil' bit? What was that noise? and my all-time favorite: Mommy, I just need to get up and dance for a while." These excuses rarely work, but he gives most of them a whirl.  He also has decided that he can wake up if the sun is up. So, every morning he is up by 6:00 and there is no convincing him to go back to bed. He insists, "But Mommy, it's not dark anymore! The sky is orange!"

Ryan is doing a great job at counting objects, but if you ask him to "count to 10", he will start at 10. He can sing the ABC's, but sings the last line, "Now my owe my ABC's, next time wontchu sing wif me." He has a train floor puzzle with a piece for each letter and he can even pick out the right piece by sound. Like, if we say "S" makes a "ss-ss-ss" sound. Which picture starts with "ss" he can get snake. He also picked out tree for "tuh" sound, umbrella for "uh" sound, violin for "vuh" sound, watch for "wuh" sound.  Try to make an "x" sound and it's no wonder he picked out "zaweebra" (how he says zebra). He also knows his colors and picked up the difference between pink/purple as well as white, black, and brown this month.

Ryan's large motor skills have been developed for a while, dribbling a soccer ball, shooting baskets, kicking a football or kickball and occasionally connecting bat with ball. His throwing is improving as well. His fine motor skills have really come along in the last little bit and it's a relief he can hook up most of his small tractors and wagons himself now.  He likes playing "parade" with all his cars and animals and wants us to play "marching band" with him--we have to switch off playing the drums, trumpet, or being the conductor. We usually end up tooting out "Championship" although when my mom was here she refused and sang "Onward Comets" instead, haha.

Ryan will still be going to daycare most days in June while Adam coaches baseball, but will have a few shorter days when he'll be able to hang out with Dad more. We look forward to going to lots of baseball games and doing lots of fishing this summer!