For Christmas this year, instead of presents for the kids and us, my parents decided to take us all on a little vacation. All of us, which means sisters/husbands, nieces/nephews... everyone. They booked 2 condos at the Wilderness Water Park in WI Dells for a weekend of fun. The chaos/craziness began on Friday. We all got there around 4:00 or so and it was immediately a collage of towels/water/swimsuits. Emma was so excited she would have worn her swimming suit the entire way down if we would have let her. I can't say I blame her though. A whole weekend geared towards her and her little cousins & brother. What can be better than that?
The condos were very nice. They had 2 full bathrooms, 2 huge bedrooms, 2 fireplaces, full kitchen with everything you need to cook there. Which we did... a lot. Leave it to the Brunners to have enough food to feed an entire army. But, it was nice. There was no dressing kids up to go out to eat, entertaining them while the restaurant made the food, it was just casual, somewhat lazy, and nice.
Of course, the waterpark was a HUGE hit with everyone. Emma and Evan had a great time on the rides and stuff geared towards little kids. Evan would have climbed up and slid down in this one area the whole day if I would have let him. Emma had a great time also on the littler water slides. She didn't want any part of the family rides or tube rides this time. Mostly, I think, because they were all in the dark. She is not a huge fan of the dark and to ride an entire ride twisting & turning in the dark is not her idea of fun. However, she loved everything else and told us on the way back that she wants to go back again soon. The nice thing about Wilderness is that they have an indoor climbing park for the kids too. Something that allowed all of us to be dry for a little while, which was a nice change. Emma loved chasing after her cousins in the climbing area. Evan was literally in HEAVEN there also, as they had an indoor play area with tons and tons of little spongy balls. For the big kids, the spongy balls were to be used in the air guns and stuff they had. For the little guy, aka Evan, they were to be used for carrying around. I don't think I have ever seen his eyes get that big as he exclaimed "BALL!" then he would point at another one "BALL" and then run forward to play. It was fun to see how excited he got there. Literally hundreds of balls to be played with. He would walk around carrying as many as his little arms could carry and then would see one more that he just had to have. AS he tried to pick that one up, of course, the others would fall. It was this over and over... it was fun.
The adults had fun too, although I have to admit, being at a waterpark is exhausting. Exhaustion not just from trekking up the stairs to the slides, but from the over-stimulated state that one must be in to parent in a place like that. The constant watching and guarding and jumping in too lift a little one up when he falls and the "okay, Emma is over there with Kristen, wait a minute, where is Kaylee going?" exhaustion from making sure everyone is safe and accounted for - constantly. Fun, but tiring. It was nice that Dad, Kristen, and I got out to ride some more of the big rides after the kids were in bed one night.
Otherwise, we are all good. It seems as though we are going through another batch of colds as Emma is pretty congested and Tim now has what we all had about 2 weeks ago. I just want everyone to be healthy and sleeping good for a little while so I can feel rejuvenated. It has been awhile.
This week brings work, daycare, Emma's dance and gymnastics, and this weekend is Emma's Sunday School concert. Emma started dance and gymnastics at a place called The Little Gym in Woodbury. It is a half hour gymnastics class and a half hour dance class. So far, rave reviews from the little one. Her first lesson in gymnastics class? How to fall safely. She loved it. It basically involved lots of running, somersaults and swinging on the rings. Also, she has her small Sunday School Concert on Sunday. They will sing 4 songs and do sign language for the parents and will partake in cookies and lemonade afterwards. She is excited for that also.
Such a busy time, but such is life.
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