La Crosse, Wisconsin Dells, and back to Milwaukee

So, I started writing our ‘weekly update’ in the car on our drive to Michael’s interview in La Crosse on Thursday, and I haven’t had a chance to finish it until now. So, I’ll go from where I left off. (Things have been crazy with being away for so long and then trying to catch up and get everything reorganized after returning home, and I am hoping to get back on a better schedule of Michael and I writing our weekly updates every week).

So, Michael’s interview went well in La Crosse. The night before his interview we went to visit some families who were in our ward in Milwaukee last year and are now in La Crosse for their residencies. We went to the Kennard’s house and visited with Julie and her kids, and Stephanie Sharp and her daughter came over too. It was nice to see them and for Michael to ask some questions about the transitional year program there too. Then we slept in the hotel in La Crosse that night (we were glad to find that it had two beds so that we didn’t have to have the boys in our bed with us). So Michael and I shared a bed, Kolby and Eli shared a bed, Camden was in the play pen, and Isaac slept in his car seat – I think it’s pretty amazing that we were able to get them all to sleep in the same room! In the morning the boys and I went back again to Julie’s house and Stephanie came over again too, so the kids had fun playing together while Michael had his interview. He said that the interview went well and he liked the program, all except for how cold it was there. But from the pictures we have seen it looks like La Crosse is a pretty place, especially in the Autumn, and Michael was interested when someone mentioned that it was a nesting ground for a lot of bald eagles in the spring time (his favorite animal).

After lunch we headed out for Wisconsin Dells, which is between La Crosse and Milwaukee, and is known as the water park capitol of the world. We were very grateful to receive so many interview invitations, but at the same time Michael and I were both happy to celebrate the end of this long process. It was a nice feeling to drive away from that last interview, knowing that we have done everything that we can and now we just need to wait and find out what happens on match day (March 20th).

So, then we had a fun little family vacation at the Dells. We stayed at the Wilderness resort, which was fun for the boys because there were all sorts of forest animals displayed in the lobbies and restaurant at the hotel, and they were very excited to ask me what each one was. We checked into our room and had a nice dinner, then get changed and went swimming at the water park. There were three water parks all associated with that resort, and each one was connected by walk ways through the hotel, so it was nice to see the snow through the windows, but not to have to walk through it to go swimming. The first water park we went to that night ended up being our favorite of the three. It had a lazy river with inner tubes that went around the whole room, a little toddler area with a little slide and swings that bounced in the water, a larger play area for older kids that had a huge bucket that dumped a thousand pounds of water every few minutes, and some big slides for adults that Michael went on. First we went on the lazy river – we each had a two-person tube and Michael had Eli and Camden and I held Isaac while Kolby sat on the other part of my tube. It was nice and relaxing, and Isaac was quite content for several laps around the river until we went under a little waterfall and he got wet. After that we wrapped him in a towel and he quickly fell asleep in my arms. Camden enjoyed the bouncy swings and Kolby and Eli each took turns going down the baby slide. Michael enjoyed some of the slides while I had fun watching the boys play. Then I took Kolby and Eli into the kids play area and we each went down a water slide that I thought was pretty big for them – it was about 20 feet tall and looped back and forth a few times – they loved it! And they really liked playing where the water sprayed out on them. Towards the end all three boys were getting closer and closer to the giant bucket of water each time it dropped. And when the park closed at 10pm none of us wanted to leave. The life guards even had to blow their whistles to tell the boys they had to get out.

So, our hotel room was a little bigger there – it had two beds and then it had an area separated by a wall with a couch that folded out into a third bed. Kolby and Eli actually slept there in the same bed so we had one bed that we didn’t use because Camden was in the playpen again. In the morning we went on a little tour of their timeshare condos (because they told us they would take $50 off our hotel bill if we took their tour). The condos were amazing – their 2-bedroom condo was nicer than our apartment and the 4-bedroom was amazing. And then, of course, they said all sorts of things to try to get us to buy into their timeshare plan, but we told them we needed to save for a house before we could do something like that. It was funny, because the lady said she didn’t want our house money, just our vacation money because this deal would save people money on vacations in the long run (I guess she didn’t understand that the one night in that hotel was our only vacation – other than staying with family for free – that we had taken in two years). After the tour we went to the second water park.

This one had a children’s area and toddler area that were similar to the first park, and it also had a ‘beach’ area with waves. And along with the adult water slides there was a family slide with a big raft for four people. The water was colder in the children’s area than in the first park, but it was warm at the beach, so we went there first. Kolby, Eli, and Camden rode in an inner tube and then waded near Michael and I when the waves started up. Isaac slept in his car seat on the side while we were in there (it worked out pretty well, but we found that a water park vacation would probably be ideal if our youngest child was at least Camden’s age – then we wouldn’t have to worry about the baby getting cold, having a dry place to sleep if he got worn out, or needing to stop and take a bottle). Michael went and did some slides, and when he came back I took Kolby and Eli on the family raft ride. It went through a large tunnel in the dark – the tunnel went outside the building and came back in, and it went pretty fast. I was actually pretty nervous going on it – I know there’s no reason to worry because hundreds of people have gone on the ride and been fine, but I am afraid of heights and even climbing the stairs (50 or 60 feet up) gave me butterflies. But I’m determined not to let the boys see my fear of heights so that they won’t miss out on fun things like that (and so they hopefully won’t develop that fear either). Kolby said he liked the ride but didn’t want to go again, and Eli loved it, so he and Camden went with me the second time. Then the boys went with Michael on some slides in the children’s area. Camden fell asleep in the stroller – it was pretty cute with him in his life vest, wrapped in towels. When he woke up he was cold and grumpy, and we decided to stop for lunch.

After lunch we went to the third park. It had a large beach area, a little toddler area, and some slides. That park was in one giant room with a glass roof so that people could get tan year-round and plants could grow indoors. So it was kind of fun to have palm trees and ferns growing around the seating areas. All three older boys really liked the little slide in the toddler area and went down it over and over. And Camden also found some play pipes with a big handle that he could turn to make water spray out, which kept him occupied for quite a while. Kolby liked the beach part, and wanted to play in the inner tubes there, but by that time Eli had gotten cold and was quite fussy, so we didn’t spend much time in that area. By the end Eli and Camden were cold and tired, and Isaac had to have a bottle, so we stopped for a dinner break. After dinner we only had a couple of hours left before the water parks closed, so we decided not to get everyone changed back into their swimsuits again. Instead we stopped at the indoor playground and let the boys play a while. Another incentive we got for the timeshare tour was 80 free arcade tokens, so we let Kolby and Eli play some games. They were excited to get tickets, and they traded them in for bouncy balls with plastic fish in the middle. They were all ready to go by the end of the night, and all four boys fell asleep as soon as we got them in the car. It was a really fun little trip – I just wished we had more time to enjoy it. We kept thinking that it would be fun to go back again with friends –especially since it is so close. We had thought that the Dells were 6 or 8 hours from Milwaukee before we looked into going there, and when we found out that it was only 2 hours from here, we wished we had made the trip earlier.

So, Sunday was our first official day back home. Church switched to 1pm, so we had some time in the morning to start getting organized after returning home. We unpacked all of the suitcases from our San Diego trip and started to put things away, although we ended up with piles of folded clothes, papers, and other odds and ends covering our bed (we slept on the couches that night before finishing putting everything away the next day). I wanted to make a batch of bread that morning before church, but ran out of time with all the stuff we had to do, so I’ll have to get to that another time. Church was really nice – so many people welcomed us back and seemed like they had missed us here. I kept thinking it will be difficult to move from our friends when we go for residency in a few months. Everyone commented on Kolby and Eli’s haircuts and how old Kolby looked. And a few people complimented me on how I looked, (since we were in the hospital so much after Isaac was born and then we left for two months, the last time most people here saw me I was pregnant, so I’m sure I look a lot different), but it was still nice to hear.

After church we had lunch and then tried to rush and get the Christmas tree and all the decorations taken down that were still up in our apartment. We almost got all the ornaments put away before the Kearls came over for dinner. It was fun to see them again. We put the kids down to bed and played a new game that we got for Christmas, Blokus, and then just talked.

Then Monday was my first real day back home with just me and all four boys. Kolby and Eli would have started their preschool class at the YMCA, but Eli had his 3-year-old check-up scheduled for that morning. We got off to a late start in the morning, and it was about 10 minutes until the doctor’s appointment, and I only had two kids ready to go. Camden was still asleep and Isaac was taking a bottle, so I thought I should be realistic that I wouldn’t make it to the appointment on time, and I called. I told them I could try, but didn’t think I would be able to make it, so they rescheduled. So I was feeling pretty bad that the boys were missing their preschool class and the doctor’s appointment, and I rushed and got them all ready super quick to see if we could still make it to the doctor’s office. I called several times before we left to see if we could still come, but their phone was busy, so I just decided to go. We got there only 10 minutes after the appointment time, but the receptionist told me she had already scheduled someone else for that time. She probably thought I was crazy when I started crying. I walked out of the office and calmed down, then I returned and told her I was just really stressed and rescheduled for later on. I wasn’t really stressed, but thought that seemed like the easiest explanation – it probably would have seemed even more strange if I had attempted to explain that on top of feeling bad about the boys missing preschool for no good reason, the idea of packing all the kids back into the car again and then having to get them re-dressed in all their winter layers and bring them all back to the office again later that afternoon for when we had rescheduled the appointment was just too overwhelming. But oh well, you just do what you have to do. So we went to the grocery store and got all stocked up after our trips. Then we went to Target to make a return and get a few more things. (Taking the kids home, taking off all their layers, and then just having to re-layer and get them all in the car again for the appointment later didn’t sound fun, so I was trying to stay out until the appointment, but just ended up wearing the kids out and coming home with a couple hours still to go before the appointment. I was very relieved when Michael got off early (he has a very nice rotation this month) and he kept the other boys while I took Eli to the doctor’s office. (I think I am getting into the hang of being back with all the boys now, and not feeling so overwhelmed by such little things). Eli’s appointment went well. He is healthy, and he is about 37 inches tall and 33 pounds. That night we finished putting away everything from the trip, which felt nice. And we had a fun little family home evening. We also moved the piano back out into the front room where the Christmas tree had been, and it’s nice to have that out again so Michael can play for us.

On Tuesday we had a good day at home, getting more things organized after coming home. That evening I went to a fun little enrichment at Julie Williams’ house where we made family home evening jars with ideas in them for family night lessons, scriptures, and songs. And last night we watched the news because it was Super Tuesday. I was disappointed that Mitt Romney didn’t do as well as I had hoped he would do in that part of the election, but it looks like he’s not dropping out yet. I hadn’t really researched the different candidates’ views on the issues yet, but I listened to a speech by Romney in December and was really impressed. I guess you never know how things will turn out.

This morning it has been snowing a ton. Michael and the other student in his rotation were told to stay home for the storm (which he hasn’t been told before on any other rotation). It’s been nice to have him home, for both of us to be able to get a lot done today, and the Kearls just called and are coming over tonight, so that will be really fun too. I’m glad we’re staying inside today. Michael ran to the store earlier, and I heard the tires spinning and went out to help him get out of the parking spot. I ran up and started pushing the van, and I slipped and my hand caught on the license plate holder. It cut my wrist a little and broke the plate holder in half. But we were able to get the van out. The news earlier was saying there is supposed to be up to about 20 inches of snow before this storm is over, so the preschool classes, swim lessons, and Isaac’s doctor’s appointment were all cancelled today. So, hopefully all of our Milwaukee friends are staying nice and warm inside today too.