Weekend in Wisconsin!

We headed for Wisconsin again this last weekend. Dave’s niece Allisa graduated from high school and they were having a graduation party for her. Dave wanted to support the family so we decided to make a quick weekend of it. We headed up late Thursday to break the long drive up so it wouldn’t be so hard on the boys or us. That left all day Friday for us to meander the rest of the way to Wausau and take a quick side trip to Mid-Continental Train in Baraboo which was lots of fun. Hayden loves trains.

The boys loved playing on the caboose.

And could there be anything more exciting than the Mullins Cheese Factory. I’ve always been a cheese fan, but Dave has opened my world to a whole new level of cheese coinsureship.

And there really is nothing better than fresh cheese curds. What a sight to behold!

Just love that cheese.

We decided to stay that the Great Lodge in Wausau because they had an indoor water park attached to the hotel. The boys had the best time. They even had water slides that Hayden could go on all by himself. Turner wasn't as impressed, but he seemed to enjoy himself. Now that we know the Great Lodge is here we may actually go to Wausau more often.

While we were there we took the opportunity to visits Dave's dad's grave site.

It is hard to beleive he has been gone nine years. I sure do miss having Tom around.

I know he would have loved our boys and been so pround of them.

Memorial Day Weekend!

Back at Christmas time while shopping at the Bass Pro Shop I was waylaid by a gentleman in the store with a vacation offer. Now normally I would have politely declined and continued on my way, but the Christmas spirit was all around me and I was feeling generous so I stopped and listened to his spiel. To be honest I really don't remember all that much about the spiel, something about two nights and three days in Branson plus $100 in gift certificates to the Bass Pro Shop. All I had to do was put a deposit down of $100 which I got back after the trip and attend one of their time share meetings. Yes it was a time share thing. Now we've lived in Missouri going on nine years now and had never been to Branson. And if they were going to give me $100 to spend and pay for my room I figured why not. So I gave them my $100 security deposit and signed up. And come Memorial Day weekend we were off to Branson.

Of course no trip to Branson would be complete without a stop at Lambert's Restaurant, the original home of the throwed rolls. The food is okay, but it is the atmosphere you actually go for.

And Hayden was so proud when he caught his own roll.

This is a picture of the Big Cedar Wilderness Club. It is the time share thingy we had to go to to get our lodging for free. To be honest I was quite impressed with their presentation. As Dave and I have been to a lot of them over the years this was the best one yet.

There was so much to see and do in Branson for the boys.
There was the dinosaur museum.


The trout farm. What a racket you have to pay to feed their fish.
So of course we did.



The Butterfly Palace was incredible. They had this maze of mirrors which was quite fun and eerie all at the same time. I kept seeing this fat lady walking around bumping into things and then I realized it was my reflection in the mirror. Not a happy moment.

I just love this picture of Hayden.

And this one too. He is such a little investigator.

Outside they had some fake coconut tress for the kids to climb. Hayden got all harnessed up. It was his first climbing experience.

He only made it about half way up before he got scared, but I was so proud of him.

Then there were the Ducks. These are vehicles that drive on the road, but also can be driven into the water and driven as a boat. They took us all over Branson and out onto Table Rock Lake. We each got our own quacker and even Turner was quacking away.

Hayden even got a chance to Captain the duck while we were a float.

Of course going to Branson wouldn't be complete with out taking in a show. I really wanted to see Shoji Tabuchi and his bathrooms, but alas I didn't think the boys would enjoy it. So we did the next best thing and went to the Dixie Stampede. It really was a great show and the food was excellent.

And what would a vacation be without and old tyme photo. Not of Dave and I of course! I just love this picture.

Not quite sure why I didn't get one of Turner by himself. What a bad mom. I just remember it was hot and I was getting tired, apparently it was affecting my brain.

On our way home from Branson we saw signs for a Safari. In the middle of Missouri who knew. We figured it would be a fun diversion and decided to stop. What fun! They have five acres filled with animals. Most of which are free roaming. You can take your own car or ride the bus which we opted to do.

We bought lots of food to share and the animals come right up to the bus and take it straight from your hands. The boys loved it!

Turner was fascinated with all of the animals.

Some how our four hour drive from Branson to St. Louis ended up turning into a seven and a half hour drive, but we made it home and all is well.

Spring Break at The Wisconsin Dells

For a little fun Spring Break fun we took a trip up to Wisconsin Dell, the water park capital of the world. Dave talks fondly of being young and going to the Dells.

Now it was Wisconsin and we did go in March, but they even have indoor water parks. Even the little motels and such have souped up pools. We had a blast. Turner got in on the action.



The resort we stayed at not only had an indoor water park, but there was an indoor adventure area with rides and a speed track.

Despite it being the off season and lots of stuff being closed (Thanks a lot Paul Bunyan's Breakfast) there was so much to do. The Duck rides opened and we got to take a duck tour through the dells and on to the dells. A duck tour is in a six wheeled vehicle that drives on land, but also floats on the water.


They had this upside down White House that was supposed to have been taken by aliens and dropped, it was pretty lame to say the least. There was an outlet mall and I scored some great sandals and a few other niceties.


My favorite part of the trip was the morning we spent at the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. There was so much to see and do for kids of all ages.


Hayden and Dave both got served up on a platter. What happened to the rest of them?

There was this huge electric magnet that made your hair stand on end. Try as we may we couldn't get my hair, Hayden's hair or Turner's hair to stand up, but Dave looked just like a porcupine. The last level had space stuff and both Hayden and Turner took a turn in the space suit and went for a space walk.

It was just a quick trip and I sure would like to try some of their outdoor water parks sometime but all in all it wasn't crowed and we had a ton of fun.