Wisconsin Dells - Day 1

We have been questioning how to plan family vacations so we capitalize on the most fun we can have at the given ages of our kiddos. The first few years we planned fun cities within driving distance that had a lot of family friendly venues and we centered our trip around a visit to their Zoos and Children's Museums. We stuck to the Midwest (Omaha, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis) while the girls were too small for much thrill. When we decided they were ready for Disney, we were thrilled when it seemed we hit it right on for their ages. They were tall enough to ride the rides, but young enough to enjoy the characters and princesses. Norah was old enough to forgo a nap, but young enough to sleep in the stroller if she wanted to...plus the rider switch pass was AMAZING as we rode all the rides 2-3 times without ever waiting! This year, we thought we would try Wisconsin Dells. Mark really wanted to take the girls to Noah's Ark for the waterslides, but I was hesitant if they could handle "America's Largest Waterpark." As usual, I was wrong. We checked in to Hotel Atlantis, dropped our bags, and in less than an hour we were headed down our first waterslide. With it being a Friday, there were NO lines. We rode every ride in the park except one and closed the place down. We were literally the last family to exit the park. I couldn't believe the thrill in their eyes! The highlight of the day was definitley watching Grace go down the Point of no Return - a 10 story speedslide! I figured she would chicken out at the top, but when she didn't then I had to go down after her! 

The only bump in our fun day...pictures in the top right. We bought Emma a pair of water shoes so that she would be 48 inches so that her height would match her bravery given that she was a half inch too short for about 5 rides. At the top of Black Anaconda, they said she had to take them off for the ride. Once they were off she was only 47.5 inches so they told her she couldn't ride. Without her, Mark and Grace's tube didn't hit the 250 lb. limit, so they couldn't go down either. The pain of realizing their height/weight wasn't going to cut it was so sad. However, 30 seconds later we set off for the next thrill...I guess we'll just have to come back next year so we can tackle that one last ride.