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 conservatory at Como

I have to say, I’m really not a big fan of the term “stay-cation” – it’s just too much of a trendy buzzword for my taste – but it is a word that pretty well describes what we did for our vacation this year. Instead of going to the Dells like we did the last couple years, Grandma Pat thought it would be a good idea to just hang out in town and enjoy some of the fun things the Twin Cities have to offer.  We got to sleep in the comfort of our own beds (and save a bunch by skipping the hotel), which was nice especially for the boys.  So what did we do?

The first day was Papa Bob’s birthday, so it was fitting that we spent the day at a train museum.  We went to the Jackson Street Roundhouse, where they have restored engines and cars of all kinds on display to give visitors a glimpse of life on the rails.  We even got to see the roundhouse in action as they brought an engine out to give visitors a ride on a real caboose.

The next place we visited was the Nickelodeon Universe amusement park at the Mall of America. Zach and Alex had a great time on all the rides – they are pretty fearless. One of the funniest moments happened on the Frog Hopper ride. As Zach was getting off the ride, his shorts caught on the seat and he ended up upside down with the shorts still hooked (I still can’t believe they didn’t come off!).  Amazingly, he thought it was hilarious – and so did we!  We managed to get a pretty good picture of that.

The next day we went to Como Park, which houses a zoo, a conservatory (both of which are free to the public), and an amusement park for younger kids called Como Town. It was the first time in a long time that any of us had been to Como, and we really had a good time.  Como has more of the traditional zoo animals than the MN Zoo, of which we are members and therefore go to a lot, which was fun to see.  Z&A loved the rides, of course, and can’t wait to go back.

Then we had a low-key day.  Mom and I drove up to Fargo to shop at a specialty store there and see how campus had changed at my alma mater.  Joe and the boys were busy too, planting a new birch tree in our front yard.

The rest of the week looked like this: First, it was off to the Water Park of America (right next door to the Mall).  Our little fishes loved the slides in the kids’ play area.  They also have some fun slides for the big kids too, as well as a lazy river and a place to surf (which we didn’t try).  The next day, it was the Scott County Thresher Festival, where Z&A were in tractor heaven, and a stop at a park most here know as “Chutes and Ladders“.  Our last outing was to Stages Theater to see their production of “The Wizard of Oz.” This was the first live play Zach and Alex had seen, and they were completely enthralled, which was cool.

Check out the pictures of all the fun in the Stay-cation 2009 photo album.

We had a fantastic time playing at the resort’s indoor and outdoor waterparks, where they had all sorts of cool water slides for big and little kids. Unlike last year, Z&A were thrilled to play in the water – especially Alex, who seems to be a natural in the water (he was trying to swim on his own by walking on his hands). This made our time in the water a whole lot more fun. Cole really had a good time too – his favorite slide was the 8-story tall straight-drop body slide; he went on that over and over.

This year we also went on a tour with the Wis. Ducks, which takes you on a land and water tour in an old army vehicle called a Duck, drove go-carts at Riverview park, got in a little mini golf, and of course visited the Riverside & Great Northern Railway, where we got to visit with longtime family friends and train buffs, the Chmuras.

Check out the pictures from the trip in the Dells 2008 album in the Vacation gallery.

In unrelated news, check out the photos from a recent golf outing Joe went on for work. He and a couple co-workers decided to have some fun as a foursome and dressed up in costume. You can tell they had a great time.

We spent a lot of time relaxing in the condo at the resort, which was something all the grownups needed. The resort, Wilderness on the Lake, was really nice. They had some nice water play areas there, although the boys – particularly Zach – weren’t too sure about it because they didn’t like the spraying water. Alex warmed up to it after a while and really had a good time.

While they weren’t too excited about the water, the boys loved the trains at the Riverside and Great Northern Railway, a organization that both Joe and Dad B belong to, and the deer park, a Dells institution where you can walk among and feed deer. They also had a blast at Paul Bunyan’s, a family-style restaurant where we celebrated Dad B’s birthday. Here Zach and Alex had corn on the cob and fried chicken on the bone for the first time – they really liked that and did really well. Zach finished one cob of corn and made a good dent on another!

Joe and I also got a little time alone and played a couple of fun rounds of mini golf.

Check out the Dells 2007 album in the Vacation album for all the great pics.