More fun in June 2015

We have been keeping busy!

We spend a lot of time at the library

and a lot of time reading!

We went to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead.

Of course we played with the goats!

Harper raced around the track on the little tractors

and loved driving the BIG tractor!

She really enjoyed digging in the sand.

It was a hot day so we relaxed in the shade with some ice cream.

Last night, we decided to have a picnic dinner.

We went to Stocksdale Park in Liberty and there was a great playground.

Harper went down the slide many times!

The weather was great and we had so much fun!

Heading Home

We left Wisconsin Dells this morning and 

drove to Urbandale, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines.

It rained on us for the entire 5 1/2 hour drive.

Ashley made a road trip playlist for us with all of our favorite songs,

so we sang and danced as we drove through the rain.

Harper knew most of the words to Adele's Rolling in the Deep.

When we got to Minnesota, Ashley and I exclaimed, 

"Harper, we are in Minnesota!  It's a new state for you!" 

(I have a goal to get Harper to all 50 states by the time she graduates.)

Harper replied, "Minn-a-sho-tuh!"  

We were so surprised to hear her say a 4 syllable word!

We stopped in Albert Lea at Applebee's for lunch.

Harper was super excited because they had two of her favorite foods on the kid's menu--Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and GoGo Applesauce.

 She was also super excited because there was an "iPad" on each table.

She grabbed it and started navigating through the screens immediately.

I was browsing the menu and barely saw the screen as she authorized extra charges to our bill.  Since it kept her occupied while they prepared our meal, it was well worth the extra 99 cents.

She was so proud of herself when she completed the monkey puzzle!

We have had such a fun vacation!

 

More fun in Wisconsin Dells!

This morning we went to the Riverside & Great Northern Railway.

Harper searched for the perfect seats.

When the engineer blew the horn, it was really loud.

The train took us on a 3 mile ride through the scenic canyons 

and beautiful woods next to the Dells of the Wisconsin River.

After the train ride, we were ready to cool off at the water park.

Harper's favorite part of the water park was this tower.

There was music playing at a nearby pool, so we spent a lot of time dancing.

Harper loved pulling the tower ropes to make it "rain."

We had plenty of time to relax too!

Later that afternoon, we shopped 'til we dropped at the outlet mall.

We had dinner at Buffalo Phil's and our meal was delivered by a train!

Harper made sure we were back at the hotel for story time.

After the story, everyone practiced howling like a wolf.

We had such a wonderful vacation!

More Wisconsin Dells Fun!

We had so much fun today!

After the deer park, we had lunch then spent several hours at the waterpark.

Harper swam and played and climbed and ran

and giggled .... a lot!

In the afternoon we went to Goody Goody Gumdrop,
an old fashioned candy and ice cream store.

Harper wanted M & M's, specifically pink and purple ones.

This girl LOVES M & M's!

For dinner, we found a place called MACS -- a macaroni and cheese shop.

The food was so good!  We would eat here every day if we lived here!

After dinner, we went to Story Time at the resort.

Harper got to meet Wiley the Wolf

and she loved this bear wearing a cupcake hat.

We had such a fun day!

Wisconsin Deer Park

This morning we went to the Wisconsin Deer Park,  a unique family petting zoo!

There were over 100 deer and other animals to see and pet.

Harper was very interested in this baby goat.

The deer were very tame and followed us around the park.

At first, Harper was a bit unsure

  but before long she was running around playing with the deer.

She was excited to "pat pat" the deer

and she loved feeding them crackers!

We are having a great vacation!  I love making memories with my girls!

A Road Trip Adventure!

We decided to take a road trip to Wisconsin Dells, the waterpark capital of the world!

We spent the night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to break up the drive up a bit.

When we left Cedar Rapids, the GPS on our car was stuck.

No big deal, we thought.  We'll use the GPS on our phones for navigation.

We quickly learned that when you are in The Middle of Nowhere, Iowa,  there

is no cell phone service and no phone GPS, so we flew blind for a while.

The road we were driving on was closed without warning, and we were forced to detour.

Eventually, we made it to a town with cell phone and internet service! 

We decided to eat lunch at Dairy Queen.

Harper's favorite part was the ice cream!

Fortunately, the GPS on my car reset itself during lunch.

It was good timing, because the next part of our trip involved many winding country roads.

Wisconsin Dells is a bit off the beaten path, but we finally made it to The Great Wolf Lodge.

Harper loved her wolf ears!

We had some time to check out the waterpark before dinner.

Harper tried one of the slides.

It looks like a pretty fun place.  We can't wait to swim more tomorrow!