Chula Vista - Wisconsin Dells

A few weekends back, while Sarah and Maddy went to Tempe for Ironman Arizona, the kids and I went to the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells.  I had put in the paperwork for time off last year in anticipation for traveling to Arizona, so I had the time off.  I had also put away money for plane tickets, but when it became clear that I wasn't going to go to Arizona, I decided to use the money to take the kids somewhere...I looked at Edgewater in Duluth, Three Bears in Baxter and the Waterpark of America in Bloomington.  On a whim, I took a look at Chula Vista, which we visited back in 2012 (revisit that post here)...turns out they were running a Pre-Thanksgiving deal, trying to fill rooms and it was cheaper than all the others for two nights...

I picked up the kids from school, just before they were being released for a snow day and we headed east...away from the snow...

We spent two nights and three days playing in the water...I was always tired, but the kids were never tired...

It was so much more fun this time considering they all could do most of the slides (and no one was sick this time)...

Here's Luke coming down a slide that Kieran said (at age 6) "it was too fast, too crazy..."

That was not an issue with Luke...

Or even Kieran this time around...here he is coming down the same slide...

He also had fun this time around...

The boys were also tall enough to go down the tube slides too (Lex was too, but considering she can't swim well or at all, I wouldn't let her)...

They did this a lot, sometimes as a pair, sometimes as a single...

It's not that there wasn't enough for Lex to do either...she had lots of slides to go down, the lazy river or just some water guns...

My favorite picture from the weekend was at the Zoltar machine...yeah...the one from Big!  Thankfully, no one woke up twenty years older the next morning...

Sleeping arrangements were chosen by Kieran, he figured that Lex would kick him less than Luke...judging by the picture, the problem is Kieran...not Luke..

We had a great time...and we'll be back in the summertime to enjoy the outdoor waterpark...

Bentleyville

When Kieran, Luke and I went to the state fair on Labor Day, one of the exhibits we visited was the Bentleyville tent.  We have been to the Kiwanis Holiday Lights in Mankato a couple of times and the boys immediately said they wanted to go to Duluth this fall to check out the lights at Bentleyville.  So we all agreed that we would make it happen...

Through text messages, Sarah indicated that she wanted to take them to Bentleyville as well, but included "if you also want to take them go for it."  So the day after Thanksgiving, when it was just the kids and I at home for the day and most of the night, we left for Duluth --- an up and back trip for the day.

Bentleyville is a lot of lights and a lot of people, but before we got there we just had to check out the bridge...it's a favorite...

We parked next to the aerial bridge and walked to Bentleyville site, there we joined the masses (next year it'll be best to head up on a weekday)...

The pictures might not show how many people were there, I tried to avoid people in the shots...

Well...some of the pictures were avoiding people...

It was a warm night (mid-30s) and we spent almost 3 1/2 hours at the site...

Part of our time there though was waiting in line to see Mrs. Claus...

But there were lots of lights...

Some from shows you'd recognize...

Then we found Luke's favorite light show....Dino Land...

But there was a lot of people on the weekend night...

But we all still enjoyed the lights...cookie monster...

Then there were the scenes specific to Duluth...

Before we left though, Luke really wanted to wait to see Santa (at this point he didn't know that they would all receive new hats), so we waited in line for that...it was an almost 45 minute wait...

Even I had to join the Santa fun...

Right after seeing Santa, we stumbled into Rudolph...

Great night...

Before we left Duluth, we needed one more picture in front of the bridge, this time modeling the new hats....even though it's pretty dark...

The boys have been wearing their hats ever since, Lex gave me hers since 'it's not pink.'  They're really nice, warm hats...

It was fun night for all, until I received a text on the way home (which is too inappropriate to share here), but we will be returning next year!!  (just probably not on a weekend....)

Kieran's First Basketball Game(s)

Kieran decided he wanted to play basketball this year, after regretting not playing last year.  Basically, every Saturday, he has two games sometime during the day (early games start at 8:00 and the latest games start at 2:00) from now until mid-February.

Last Saturday was the first basketball games he's ever played and he did well, even though the team lost both games.  Kieran was in the starting five for both games...here's moments before the opening tip (he's number 22, you might see just one of his 2's....).

The very first tipoff went straight to him!  Here's a limited video of the scene...

The first game did not go well for the team...they lost 41-4 (ouch...).  But Kieran did score 2 of the 4 points!

The second game was much more competitive...it was back and forth for most of the game, the kids enjoyed it and so did all the parents...

It's also the first game in which I was able to record Kieran scoring points...he had a long breakaway for his first points of the game....here's a video that should repeat...

Altogether, Kieran scored 12 points that game...even though his team lost 35-30.  They played a better game and you could see they learned from mistakes made the first game.  After talking about things that could be worked on to do better on the way home, Kieran said "at least I scored half the teams points the first game and 12 out of 30 points the second game."  Good point...

Santa visits Kleinbank in Cologne...

Santa was coming to the bank in town, but Luke was home sick all day...in fact, he was sleeping when I got home and kept sleeping for another hour.  I picked up Lex from daycare and came home to get Kieran.  When I said "Kieran, do you want to see Santa?"  Luke hopped up and said "I'm coming..."

So we all went....Lex regaled Santa with lots of stories...

Kieran and Luke hung back while Lex was talking before eventually coming up to the big guy...

Pretty easy day with Santa...except that Luke had lots of questions...Mrs. Claus had said to Lex "I see you in church often" when Lex was talking to them and that wasn't missed by Luke...

Craig's Deer...

So...my day started with a SnapChat from Craig at ~7:20 am saying 'Season Started'....I watched some television with the kids and went for a run before checking my phone some 2 1/2 hours later.  Thats when I saw this picture had been texted to me...it said...season over...

Craig had started the Muzzleloader season at the farm in Franklin and considering the outcome...the kids and I had to check out this buck killed....

A 12-point buck...pretty big...but it bring concerns with Luke...

He's different...

Slightly off some might say...

Yeah...

But it was a nice deer....

Thanksgiving Science

Maybe you saw this on Facebook, maybe you didn't, but on Thanksgiving Day pops wanted to regale the kids with a little science.  He ran the test several times and did a nice job explaining how air pressure was affecting the outcome...

The girls you see in the video are Lex, Ally & Belle (my cousins' kids)...

First Snow...

Got our first measurable snow last night, somewhere around a couple of inches (there was a little last Friday, but that was less than an inch).  Since we all started Thanksgiving break today, there was lots of time to play in the snow...

Luke's goal was to build a fort, from which he could 'battle' people..

It's basically a big, protective wall....but should do just fine as long as it doesn't soften from the above 32 degree temperatures...

Lex wanted a snowman...one that likes warm hugs (a Frozen reference)...

We've had a fun day so far...

Stream Table Work

I had to go into school a few Saturdays back to score some projects and the kids came with...Kieran was content watching a football game via the projector (a bigger screen than at home), but Luke and Lex loved playing with my stream table...

You can get a look at what the stream table is (including a video of the table working) at the link here....

Pops built the stream table several years ago and it has been an invaluable resource for my 8th grade students every since.  Honestly, I need another one in my classroom for the class sizes we're getting these days...

Luke and Lex were just like my 8th grade students --- they did everything that my students do...in the process they were learning about river systems (without realizing it) and even argued about who was supposed to do what with the river system (just like 8th grade kids).

Of course they've seen stream tables before, just not this size....the Science Museum has a huge, outdoor stream table that they've played in many times...

Luke even said on the way home from Delano that night "dad...we need one of those at home...."