The Dells 2014 - Day 1

We arrived in Wisconsin Dells early afternoon yesterday, quickly checked in and hit the water park (or at least a couple of sections of it).  It was a little chilly outside, unexpected for these parts in early July; and the water in pool area was even chillier -- my first couple of steps into it brought me back to the days of submerging my legs up to my knees in a whirlpool of ice to soothe my painful shin splints.

Despite the cold water, kids were flying off of the bottom of the 3 or 4 slides and into the foot-deep water, laughing and smiling, completely unaffected by the cold water.  Call it fearless or just clueless, this trait about kids always amuses me. They really have no sense for how cold the water they're about to jump into really is.

Cal tackled the first section like a pro.  Sure, the section was probably more suited for those three and under, but he didn't have an ounce of the tentativeness that he usually has when taking on anything new.  It was great.

Ella, on the other hand, tried the smallest slide one time, sitting in my lap.  We don't really know why she wouldn't do it a second time, but I suspect it's because she got a face full of water at the end... up her nose... Ella doesn't do well with water up her nose.  But she found a lot of pleasure following the same route past a giant frog, up a climbing rope wall, over a bridge, through a tunnel, up another climbing rope wall, through another tunnel, past the top of the slide she tried once and then down the stairs next to it, getting splashed by water along the way.  I followed her twice, recognized the pattern and then just sat and "watched" her predictable self again and again.  Even the splashing water was pretty darn chilly.

Meanwhile, Cal and Dan were trying out the indoor water park and stumbled upon a large, green, snaking water slide that required sitting on a two-person, figure-8-shaped, giant tube.  They did it a few times and came back out to the section where Ella was doing her 30th lap to tell me all about it.  I'd recap it, but I really have (and had, at the time) no idea what Cal was saying.  All I know is, he was excited.  So I jumped on the opportunity to do it with him, leaving Dan to watch Ella do her laps.  It was pretty cool.  The slide is enclosed in a tube, and there's a lot of twists to it.  I felt like a bob-sledder as we went down it.  The best part was taking direction from my 5-year-old.  "Go here, Mommy," "Get in like this, Mommy," and, at the end, "Okay, get ready, Mommy."  He never did say what I was to get ready for -- but I figured it out the first time as we were thrown from the tube and into a pool of water.

And then there was the pirate ship.  With a sign that reads, "Swim Diapers Required," one can imagine the excitement and challenge of this one.  Ella, of course, refused to go down the slides (and I wasn't going to go with her); and Cal did the slides many times... many, many times... turns out it was fun just watching him.

We ended Day 1 with a dinner at Sprecher's, chosen in honor of the Schumachers, my relatives up here in these parts who drink that stuff.  The kids were their normal, antsy selves at the restaurant.  Really, it felt like we were at a restaurant back home.  But those hot pretzels with beer-cheese, rootbeer and mustard sauces were legit.  And I had my first quinoa-spinach wrap - yum.

Dan and I were worried (Dan more than I) the kids would have trouble falling asleep sharing a bed with each other and a room with Dan and me.  Turns out, that was a waste of a thought - here they are asleep, minutes after their heads hit their pillows.  No naps and a day at the water park did the trick.