When They Come Over to the Dark Side

It helps to have the waterpark capital of the world less than 50 miles down the road. Sometimes it even lures my family over the border and over to the dark side. Which for them is, well, Packers country. C'mon. You know it had to be said.

So I jumped at the chance to see my SKOL sister RoAnn and her son and his family while they had a brief spring break getaway in Wisconsin Dells. Headed down after work to meet them at Buffalo Phil's for dinner. A pretty cool joint next to the Great Wolf Lodge, where your food and drinks arrive at your booth via a train. And sometimes the train even hauls a bubble machine. In addition to all the fake taxidermy stuffed animals, they have a bunch of Star Wars figures (like Darth above) decorating the place. Just an odd mix but it caters to kids of all ages, I'm guessing. 

Including us, of course.

Naturally, my first order of business was snuggle time with the newest member of our family – my great-niece Khloe.

Seven months old and simply adorable. And tired!

She was out before our food arrived!

Is it too early to ask Santa for grandkids? Just checking.

Big sister Kenlee loved the train delivery method – and especially the bubble machine.

Pretty sure she hasn't taken off the "wolf ears" headband since they checked into the lodge yesterday.

After dinner we went back to their hotel and got to catch up for awhile. 

I realized I hadn't seen them since my aunt's funeral in November. I was way overdue for Minnesota hugs!! Good thing I'll see more family this weekend for my mom's birthday

But for the rest of my MN family: You're free to come to the dark side anytime. I'll protect you!

The Saturday Groove

When you kick off your Saturday with a dance recital, you know it's going to put you in a good groove, er mood. Maybe both.

My friend Cindy and I went to the Variations recital put on by members of Dance with Pam. They had a few themes like Clue (above), a memorial salute, and some Lion King tunes. Pretty entertaining and between Cindy and I, we knew about a dozen of the dancers. So it was nice to be able to capture a photo or two (hundred, that is).

After the recital, Jim and I went down to Wisconsin Dells. My nieces Caryn and Beth and their families (plus a friend and his) were staying at a waterpark this weekend before heading back to school Monday. (Minnesota schools are different that way.) Since the Dells are only an hour away, it's pretty convenient to go see out-of-town or -state guests there.

They had just gotten out of one of the pools, so the eight kiddos on hand were pretty hyped up. Great to see them all and celebrate two birthdays as well. My niece Caryn turns something tomorrow. And her girl Makayla turned 7 today.

Pretty sure I haven't been able to spend an actual birthday with my first-born niece since she was a child. January 4th is about as close as I've gotten in decades. Kind of a blessing!

Love those girls and their families. Definitely kept me in my great groove for the day.

(That and the Titans de-throning the Patriots. Wow. Didn't see that coming.)

Keep on dancing!

Personal Flotation Devices

We've had sweltering temperatures and/or humidity pretty consistent lately. Figures that the one day Carter and the senior class road trip down the World's Largest Water Park, it is a breezy 72 degrees. I guess if the grads wanted to "chill," they picked the right day for Noah's Ark.

I can't imagine going down water slides or floating around the Lazy River, then stepping out into the cool breeze. Carter said it wasn't so bad, though. In fact he even got a little sunburned. Now, let's hope for a little warmth and no rain as the rest of their "trip" together involves camping and hiking the next few days!

Since the boy was gone, we decided it was our turn to play in the water, too. Even though it required long sleeves.

Unbeknown to me, hubby enjoyed our first kayaking outing last week so much that he wanted to buy one. I was pretty surprised to come home to an awesome neon green one. I say, ONE. Where's mine?? Well, since I had tried out two different models last week, he wanted me to be sure I got one that felt comfortable and did not aggravate my on- and off-again troublesome back. Plus, well, we really could only fit one at a time in the CRV until we get the carrier thing figured out.

So tonight we christened her... Not sure she has a name yet in case I end up with her.

We went with our neighbors Mike and Cindy again to Lake Wazeecha and they let me use one of their kayaks styled exactly the same so I'd get a good feel for it.

I think we've got a winner. Now to see if they still have any left from the sale up at Dunham's Sports in Stevens Point. Or if they have a reasonably priced one at the new MC Sports that just opened in Rapids this week. We'll have to check them out.

With both our birthdays and our anniversary all within the next 6 days, I see a matched set in the future, don't you?

TGIF (Thank God it's Fun Day)

Since this week was Catholic Schools Week (locally anyway), it was capped off today with Student Appreciation Day. And how do we "appreciate" students in Wisconsin in the dead of winter? Send them to an indoor water park, of course!

So we gave Carter a ride to school since I had a 7 a.m. back-crackin' appointment. Then he had to endure 2 hours of school. Then hop on the bus and have fun the rest of the day. Lucky! He said he had a blast and, really, how could you not? A "Fun Day" beats school and definitely beats work!

We had some fun, too, tonight. Got to go see our nephew Colin play hoops. Assumption boys beat those (us) Lutherans in both the JV and Varsity game. It was fun to watch since we just don't watch enough basketball games in our lives.

Right.

I will actually miss Carter's tournament tomorrow since I am going to have a girls' day over in Appleton and see the Broadway musical Wicked. I have had the tickets since early October so you might say I'm a little excited to finally be just hours from seeing it.

I had not read the book that the musical is based on. My friend Christine, who is going with me, lent it to me back in December. I was not sure I wanted to read it or not. You never know if it's going to help you know some background or confuse you too much if the live version strays from the written word.

So I didn't decide 'til just the other night that I was going to tackle the inch-thick book. I am less than a hundred pages away now so I really better go finish it. Now!

I have a feeling between that and the play tomorrow, I am going to be dreaming in green all weekend.

And trust me, it has nothing to do with the Packers!

Indoor Amusement

When you're in Wisconsin, it doesn't matter if the temps dip into the 30s during the night. You can still enjoy a water park the next day.

Thank god someone invented indoor ones!

I think this is about the fifth year my sister Renell has had a trade show at the Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. It's always in the fall and, since the Dells are only 56 miles away, Carter and I always manage to "visit" her during her stay (read: use her free passes to the indoor water park). Last year, my niece and her son Anthony (same age as Carter) came with. This year, just Anthony did.

During the past few years we've doing this, there have been many changes at the Kalahari, including the addition of a huge (of course) indoor amusement park, complete with bowling, go-karts, laser tag and a Ferris wheel.

I picked Carter up from his final soccer practice this afternoon and we were down there by 6 p.m. At first the guys did the water park thing while Renell and I watched and visited. Then it was amusement park time. The boys went off and did their own things -- laser tag and video arcade games (what a surprise) -- so us girls did what we wanted, too. We rode the Ferris wheel and raced go karts. I must not have been very fast because I never had to use the brake! It was quite jarring on my back, too, so now I know why I usually stand on the "sidelines" and take pictures rather than drive!

While we were having fun, hubby went to the doctor to see about that "annoying itchy, teeny rash" on his back that I mentioned the other night. The rash is still about the same size but now had morphed from annoying to painful. Not good. Turns out he has Shingles. At least they caught it early so he has drugs and it hopefully will clear up soon -- especially before his 4-day business trip to Vegas next week.

I don't know much about Shingles but from what I heard they can be painful. Poor hubby.

I just thought it was ironic that the editor of a metal roofing magazine has shingles! I don't think he thinks that's funny.

Yet.

Hang 10 ...er, 12

I guess if it was my great-nephew Anthony's 12th birthday, I should say hang 12 instead of hang 10, but our day at the water park was really more of a surfer dude's day. Here are some hang 10 highlights....

A three-generation photo op: Anthony with his new cell phone, his mom (my niece Caryn) and his grandma (my sister Renell).

Carter and the girls take a break from the action after riding the Master Blaster.

Anthony tries to ride the waves on the Flowrider. The funny thing about watching people do this is the boys more often than not, lost their pants once catipulted up to the top of the "wave" (hill). Both Anthony and Carter held their pants tight before standing up when they were done!

OK, dude. Carter takes some instruction from the lifeguard.

And here is Carter attempting to surf (he was really too light to keep his board in the middle, but at least he gave it a try)...

Not a bad way to hang on a Sunday afternoon!

Summer Fun

Want the perfect recipe for Summer Fun?

• Take two 11-year-old boys.


• Add in sunny skies and 80-degree weather.


• Apply sunscreen.


• Place them in the Water Park Capital of the World.


• And watch.

Sounds like the perfect day to me! Too bad us "big kids" weren't there! Carter was fortunate to have a friend invite him to Noah's Ark for the day. We had taken the big boys to the Dells when they were young but, for reasons that fail to come to mind, we just haven't gotten around to taking Carter.

I'm pretty sure it was worth the wait. He called on the way home with the promise of many exciting things to tell us about his day. In a word: AWESOME!

So while we were waiting for the boy to get home, hubby and I got down to some adult fun.

OK. Mind out of the gutter. We started watching season one of Mad Men, a television show on AMC that we've heard a lot of buzz about the last two years (16 Emmy nominations this year), but never took the time to watch.

Since the show -- set in sexy 1960s New York -- is designed for an adult audience, we figured we would cram as many episodes in as we can while the child is not present. We've got 7 days to get through season one and two before the season three premiere Sunday night. Not sure we're gonna get there. (Carter won't be in the Dells all week.)

We're intrigued by the show so far. But we might be sick of it by Sunday! Nah. I seriously doubt it. It's pretty entertaining.

The one thing about Summer Fun is there are plenty of different recipes. Depends who's cooking. And who's eating.

A Day of un-Rest

Sunday isn't always a day of rest for our family.

I got up pretty early to go to work and try to catch up on a few things that were neglected Friday while I was off gallivanting in Warrens in search of fun and funnel cakes. I made sure I was home by mid afternoon since I knew we had other plans.

Due to our convenient location in the center of the state, we occasionally get to see friends and family who come to the area for work meetings and conferences. My sister Renell is at a trade show in Wisconsin Dells today through Tuesday. The fun for me was that I got to visit with my sister. The fun for Carter was that she was staying at Kalahari, one of the gigantic indoor water parks down there.

The first sight that greeted us was this little "kitty" that had been at the park for the afternoon. We all got to pet it -- gently on the back -- before it headed home. Big Sweetie!

Carter and Renell were the only ones who went swimming. I know from experience that some of the slides are a bit jarring on my back. Plus my legs were still feeling the impact of all that hiking yesterday. So Renell's friend Bill, Jim and I sat in the poolside TV area and watched sports. (The Twins aren't out of it yet!!)

We went out to eat at the Cracker Barrel and were home by Carter's bedtime. He has to have a book read by Tuesday morning, though, so he is up for a little bit getting some of that read. He thought (and so we thought) he could get it read over the weekend, but I forget he doesn't read as fast as us adults. So I'm thinking Monday will be a reading day. It's not entirely his fault since he couldn't really read while floating around on an inner tube.

Just because Sunday isn't a day of rest for us, doesn't mean it can't be a day of fun. Monday, however, will be a different story...

Surprise!

The funny thing about surprises is, well, they take you by surprise -- and that's not always a good thing. What I've learned in the last 24 hours is that I love giving surprises (when they work) but I don't necessary relish being taken by surprise.

For about two weeks now I've had a surprise in the works for Carter. I knew my sister Renell was going to be staying at the Kalahari Indoor Waterpark Resort and Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells for work. It's not that far of a drive from our house so we decided we'd get together for dinner and then do the waterpark thing. (Jim, Carter and I had stayed there last fall and Carter had a blast.) Her visit was timed well, too, because Carter didn't have school today.

Initially, Carter wasn't even going to know about anything. I was going to get home early, meet him at the bus stop and drive to the Dells and not tell him anything. But the babysitter let it slip that we were going there. She said she didn't know it was supposed to be a secret and, to her credit, she just said we were meeting my sister there.

So there was still room for the surprise element. I had our swimming stuff packed in the trunk before Carter got off the bus. We drove to the Dells, had dinner with Renell and her friend Bill and then headed out to the parking lot. People were talking about the water park. Carter mentioned how we should have brought our suits. Oh well, I said. I told him we had to get his school picture out of the car for Renell, then I popped open the trunk and had him look in there.

When he saw our swimming stuff, he just cheered! "Oh, I love you, Mom!" Boy, I didn't grow tired of hearing that all night. He did have a blast (again) and couldn't get over the surprise.

That was the good one. The bad one happened this morning.

We hadn't seen our cat this morning and realized we didn't see her last night when we came home. Usually she sleeps in our bed, even when Jim is gone, so I suddenly got alarmed. Carter and I looked everywhere inside the house with no luck. Could she have gotten out? One other time she got out of the house when she pushed through a screen.

I checked the windows and sure enough, one of the living room screens had been pushed out, which meant she'd been on the loose "in the wilds" overnight. Carter and I looked in the back yard near that window and eventually found her under our enclosed front deck -- exactly where she ended up last time.

There is only one place to get in and out and that is where we broke the lattice that time. After much friendly coaxing and not-so-friendly squirting with the water bottle, she wasn't going anywhere. I was getting a little miffed but, as any cat owner knows, Sylvester didn't care. She just a laid her pretty white belly down in the dirt.

I knew the only way to get her out was to go after her. I had to remove a big section of lattice and told Carter he'd have to go for it -- he could fit through the hole better. Well he didn't want nothing to do with that. So I got grubby sweats on and gloves and crawled halfway through. At this point, I remembered this is where the snakes slept in the summer. I think my heart may have stopped beating but I was still able to gasp, "C'mon, kitty, get out!"

She finally ran past me and out and I am yelling at Carter to grab her and get her into the house. He's yelling for me to help him and I'm yelling back, "I can't, I'm practically stuck!" Well I did have to inch my way back out and I can't do that quickly when the chest gets in the way. Cut me some slack!

Carter got our girl in the house and in the bathroom as we'd planned and he comes out crying something fierce. I couldn't understand what he was saying. I thought the cat died or was severely injured or something critical. Finally, I realized he was saying, "She hissed at me." Knock on wood, she hasn't done that before. It was startling for Carter and he was saying, "I don't like this." And I said, "Well, it's not over yet. We've got to give her a bath!" (Now I know where the term "hissy fit" originated.)

I guess all's well that ends well. Two unexpected events. Make that: Two water adventures. One hysterical, the other hiss-terical. Gotta love surprises!