And Finally…Vacation Part 3 and 4!!

It's already the 2nd week in September and I'm still posting about things that happened in August!!  I told you we packed a lot into 3 weeks!!

After we left Christmas Mountain we decided to extend our stay in Wisconsin Dells for another 3 nights.  We hooked the camper back up and headed out on the 3rd leg of our 4 part vacation.  We swam at the campground, took the boys to Noah's Ark waterpark, Erik took Kade mini golfing during Mason's (and my :-) nap times, and we even found ourselves indoors a couple times to get out of the rain!

These are definitely my most favorite pictures of our vacation!  So many good ones, I had to post them all!

 After a quick shower there was a huge puddle right outside our camper.  We just couldn't say no when the boys started doing this:

This picture appears like it's not going to end well for Mason.  

No worries, it wasn't too big of a splash and he was so focused on what was in his hand he didn't even notice!

There was one part of the vacation that was extremely disastrous.  I tried to take my 3 boys shopping.  Never. Ever. Again….Ever.  They (I'm including Erik too) were good for about 11 minutes and then their moods quickly turned sour.  I've never been in and out of a shopping center so quickly in my entire life!

Erik did manage to snap one picture of them somewhat smiling while I was shopping!

 On our last evening it poured from about 5:00 into the next morning.  We couldn't stay in the camper with Crazy and Crazier for that long so we found an indoor amusement park, Knuckleheads.  That place is awesome!!!  Mason's initial reaction to the place pretty much sums it up.  He screamed "WOW!!!" and then immediately started dancing.

Looks like I've found myself a buddy to go on rides with me!  Erik only does water slides, but Kade is more than willing to go on either!

Good thing Mason liked these little rides while Kade and I were on the big ones.

 Knuckleheads also has a "high ropes course".  Kade called it an American Ninja Warrior course.  It was high above everything else, maybe 20-30 feet up.  Erik and I both thought Kade would get up there, freak out and immediately come back down.  Umm.  No.  He LOVED it!!  Our little shy guy apparently has no fear of heights!  He immediately took off and spent the next 30 minutes crossing over obstacles high above my head!  Poor Erik wasn't thrilled with the height but he had to keep up with the mini ninja warrior!

All strapped and harnessed in!

And they're off!

I forgot my camera so this is the best I could do with my phone.  I wish I could've gotten better pictures!  I was so impressed and proud of Kade!!

Meanwhile, back on solid ground, Mason enjoyed about 2 dozen rounds on this ride!

Part 4 of vacation was more of a "stay-cation".  We hung out at home and recovered from our journey. I can't say we relaxed, that's not possible with a 5 year old and an 18 month old!!

The boys had lots of yard work to tend to when we got back.  

I probably shouldn't admit this but this picture is not posed.  Kade really does drive the 4 wheeler while Erik rides in the wagon.  Don't worry, he does wear a helmet--Kade that is :-)

We met Violet and Jenna one morning for a trolley ride around town and then a little stop at the park!  It was fun but Mason isn't quite there yet as far as trolley rides go.  It was a 45 minute ride and he sat quietly for about 7 minutes of it.  Good thing Erik was there too so we could take turns wrestling him into his seat!

And so ends the vacation recap!!  Whew!

Someone starts preschool next week, 3 days a week, all day sessions!  Hopefully I can hold in the tears until after he gets on the bus :-(

Vacation Part 1 and 2

3 days after Kade's birthday party we left for vacation.  We took 8 days off of work (12 days total, including the weekends), loaded up the camper and headed out.  Our vacation was broken up into 4 rounds.  Round 1 was a 3 day stay at Jellystone campground with Jay, Jenna, Violet and Isaac.  We swam, we ate, we played mini golf, we watched Yogi Bear cartoons and not once did all 4 adults sit down at the same time, in the same place, together.  It was exhausting but SO FUN!!

All 4 cousins sort of looking in the same direction at the same time!

Erik getting an arm workout in with the big baby boys, Mason and Issac.

Mason remembering the good ol' days when he used to hang out in the jumperoo.

The mini golfing didn't last long with these crazies but they did manage to take a cute picture!

 Family picture time with Yogi and Boo Boo

The water park! 

Mason LOVES water slides.  He laughs and claps the whole way down, every time.

Round 2 of vacation took us to a condo at Christmas Mountain in Wisconsin Dells.  We parked the camper in the parking lot and spent the weekend in the huge condo with 2 other families 

Kade with his 2 lovely ladies, Rylee and Ellie

It was a pretty hot weekend so we spent a lot of time in the air conditioning.  I always joke that it never rains when Erik is on vacation (which is actually true about 99% of the time).  However, this rain was a welcome relief because it got the kids outdoors and they had a blast playing in it.

I couldn't decide which picture I liked more, so I decided to post both :-)

Rounds 3 and 4 for next time!

The Saturday after we got back from Lady A's my coworker had a Pre-Oktoberfest party, complete with a couple kegs and a polka band!  Erik and Kade were dragging their feet all day about going but it turns out Erik loves kegs and Kade loves to polka!!  At the end they were dragging their feet about leaving!

Trying to teach Kade the Chicken Dance without throwing my back out holding Mason.  Turns out Mase is a big fan of kegs too, he likes to pump them up.  So he had to be held the entire time or there would have been some very pressurized beer!

The next day we had Kade's birthday party at our house.  Cake, ice cream and a water fight.  Doesn't get any better than that!!

I can't believe how old he looks in these pictures!!  

I feel like I should mention that he picked out his own clothes that day :-)

All guns aimed at the birthday boy!!

Jay and Issac stayed dry in the "safe zone", nobody is allowed to spray water on babies or on anyone sitting near babies.  I spend all of my time in this zone :-)

These 2 are going to be trouble real soon.  

Presents and cake makes for one happy 5 year old!

Mason doesn't seem to mind the food either.

All I can say is thank goodness it's a suction cup at the end of that arrow!

And, just some cute picture of the Mason Man...

Next up, vacation pictures!!