On the train and ready for a ride

Continuing on from the last post… The following day, we spent a day at Circus World Museum in Baraboo, which was the winter headquarters of the Ringling Bros. circus for many years. Zach and Alex even got to be *in* one of the circus shows, staring as an elephant and a tiger!

That evening, Joe and I escaped..er… went out for date night, enjoying a wonderful dinner at a cafe in downtown Dells and then playing some mini golf.

The next day was “Train Day” with lunch at Buffalo Phil’s, which brings out drinks and food to guests via model trains. When they’re not carrying food, they deliver smiles with favorite character toys and gadgets like bubble makers. There’s also an arcade there, so we had some fun playing games after lunch. From there, we visited our favorite train museum – the Riverside & Great Northern Railway, where Papa and Joe are members.

The final day of the trip, we had fun playing around our resort – go-carts, mini golf (indoor and outdoor) and the outdoor waterpark. We did it all!

Check out all the rest of the pictures in the Dells 2011 photo album .

The Vandermarks, Sept 2010

I’ll try to get better about posting simple updates when a new batch of photos have been loaded (like the remainder of our April trip to AZ that uploaded last night), but in the meantime, here’s just a straight list of the albums that have been updated/created since last Sept:

• Sept-Oct 2010 – the Scarecrow Festival, the circus, Halloween
• Visit with Auntie Mary Ann – who came to visit us in Sept
• Infiniti Crash II: The Deer – the results when a deer runs in front of a car doing 65 mph.
• Nov-Dec 2010 – Christmas decorating, Thanksgiving in Chicago, big snow storms
• Christmas 2010 – yep, pictures of presents and family at Christmas
• Jan-Feb 2011 – Cole’s 16th birthday, fun birthday parties, making cookies and craft projects
• Zach and Alex’s 5th birthday – including their 1st “friends” party
• Mar-Apr 2011 – Karen’s birthday, planting a garden
• Spring Break 2011 – a few days of fun in Chicago
• Arizona – April 2011 – a family get-together

Shaggy and Daphne

This Fall has been a busy one for the Vandermarks, but it’s been a lot of fun – trips to the zoo, a couple of football games, the circus (and not just the one at our house!) and a couple of Halloween parties.

Joe and I had a great time at our friend’s Halloween party.  The theme was 80′s TV characters, so we went as Shaggy and Daphne.  There were some really great costumes there – the Love Boat, Who’s The Boss, Falcon Crest, the Jetsons, Baywatch and more – even Clara from the Where’s the Beef commercials and the Trix bunny.   We made some Jello shots to share, including a special chocolate-covered cherry one that we chronicled in the photo album (Yum!!).

Zach and Alex went as Thing 1 and Thing 2 this year.  It’s the perfect “twin” costume, and well, it really fits them. They were particularly excited about their blue hair and really loved it when people commented about it.  They got to wear it two days in a row, going to Joe’s company Halloween party and visiting Grandma’s office one day and then to the HallZOOween party at the MN Zoo the next.  Cole reprised his costume from years past as a Roman soldier (why change when it’s a great costume, right?).  Check out the Sept – Oct 2009 album for pictures from zoo, plus other Fall fun, like pumpkin carving and more.

The boys pose with their pumpkins

Last weekend we took the family to see the Shrine Circus. This was the first trip to the circus for Zach and Alex (although our house often feels like one).  They really enjoyed it; all week long they’d tell anyone they talked to all about the acrobats, clowns, elephants, the ringmaster, and their favorite part: the boom! (the crazy guy that shoots himself out of a cannon).

On the next day, the three boys had a ton of fun decorating their own pumpkins.  Zach and Alex each had their own little pumpkin that they colored with markers.  Cole carved his own Jack ‘O Lantern all by himself after his brothers helped him clean out the “pumpkin guts.” They all did a great job and were quite proud of their creations as you can see here.

Check out the pics from this weekend plus lots of other great ones from the last couple months in the Sept – Oct 2008 album.