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 with Paul Bunyan

The 5 of us took a fantastic family trip to the Wisconsin Dells in August with Grandma Pat and Papa Bob. We stayed in the Glacier Canyon Lodge at the Wilderness Resort, where we were able to enjoy all sorts of fun things – indoor and outdoor waterparks and mini golf, go-carts, arcade games and more. We also visited some of our favorite Dells attractions: the Ducks, the R&GN Railway trains, Mt. Olympus amusement park and Circus Museum.

We took a ton of pictures so I split them into batches. The first couple of days, including some swim time and arcade games at the resort, a WI Duck tour, rides at Mt. Olympus and dinner at Paul Bunyan’s Shanty, have been posted to the Dells 2011 photo album. Enjoy!

During that time span, the usual comings-and-goings have occurred, but there have been two things of note.  First is a big change for Zach and Alex – rather than having a nanny, they now attend the preschool/daycare at my office.  Some mornings are a little tough and they definitely miss seeing Debbie all the time, but they are really having a great time with their new friends and teachers at the “school at Mommy’s work.”  They do a lot of fun things there – they even had a petting zoo there this week and learned to make ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s a couple weeks ago (I was a little jealous).  And best of all, I’ve even gotten to have lunch with them a couple times – it’s really nice having them so close!

A family portrait with Minnie and Mickey

The other big event for us was a special trip with Grandma Pat and Papa Bob: Zach and Alex’s first visit to Disney World. We had a great time – the boys are already talking about our next trip to see Mickey. They particularly enjoyed the character meals, where your favorite characters walk up to your table for pictures and autographs.  My favorite moments of the entire trip were when Alex got to meet his beloved Eeyore and Zach, his dear Pooh Bear – it’s that magic, seen through the eyes of two little boys, that Disney is all about.  We of course took a ton of pictures to capture all the fun, and you can find them in the Disney World – May 2010 photo album.

Coach Daddy, Alex and Zach

In other news, the Preschool Sports season has started again for the 3- and 4-year-olds. The kids played soccer (or some chaotic version of it) for the first two weeks. They’ve got team pictures next week and then move on to teeball in July. Zach and Alex are the Green team again, although they’d be quick to tell you it’s the Dark Green team, not the Lime Green like last year.  And best of all, they have “Coach Daddy” on their team, as Joe is one of the team coaches; Joe is loving the opportunity to be involved in their sports!  Pictures from the season so far are in the May – June 2010 photo album.

In addition to all the Disney pics, here are all the other photo albums from the past few months, since I have lapsed on posting them:

• March – April 2010 – Karen’s birthday, fun in the kitchen, a day at the zoo
• Easter 2010 – egg hunt, Easter gifts, egg decorating
• Target Field – April 2010 – Joe went to Game #3 at the new park with our friend Phil
• Kwo Ue’s birthday party – a great day with friends
• May – June 2010 – playtime at Chuck E Cheese, Joe’s birthday, Father’s Day and Preschool Soccer
• Twins Game – May 2010 – date night at the game with Phil and Heather

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.

It was an interesting trip to say the least. I would highly recommend avoiding traveling with 2 small children when they are sick, teething, and overtired. Alex cried for about half the flight out to LA and a good part of the car ride out to Tucson. Both got treated for ear infections about halfway through the trip. We switched hotels after trying to put the boys down to sleep the first night in LA because of water problems and the need for a suite so we had a place to go when putting the little guys down (lucky for Cole, he stayed with Grandma Pam), and then they were up every couple hours. We took the boys on drives up the 605 to get them to take naps.

From a travel perspective, it was the trip from hell. But honestly, it was a fantastic trip. Cole had a great time going to the beach with Auntie Katie and Auntie Mary Ann – he found a huge shell there, the kind you rarely find on the beach. He played lots of great games and pool with Grandma Marilyn, Grandfather Dan, and Great-Grandfather. And Zach and Alex were able to meet Grandma Pam, Auntie Katie, Great-Grandfather, and Auntie Amy for the very first time. For as many challenges there were, it was worth every second of that to spend it with family.

Check out the photos from the trip in the LA and Tucson 2007 album in the Vacation album.

Check out the pics we took in the Vegas ’06 album in the Vacation gallery .