Let the Fall Fun Begin!

Don't you just love when you sit down to the computer and then as soon as you are ready to type, you hear your babe start crying....it's as awesome (and predictable) as when I go to bed each night. Doesn't matter when I go to bed, Little Man C will inevitably decide he needs something...

(24 hours later..) Well, the main story of our household this time is - sickness:( We have had a lot of fun over the past week, but the soundtrack of that fun is cough, cough, sneeze, moan...not fun at all. Collin successfully beat his virus last week and was better by the time we were in Sheboygan, thank the Lord! He slept the whole way over there and was really very good. Dave and I on the other hand, the misery started to increase as we headed east. I felt so bad knowing that Ron and Bobbi were going to be in close quarters with us for the next five days - they didn't have a chance! 

We arrived Friday evening at Blue Harbor Resort and even though it was foggy and getting dark, it looked very nice and the lake was amazing! I kept calling it the ocean the whole weekend as that is what it looked like:) We rented a four-bedroom villa for the weekend and it was a great place for us to land. It was two stories (2nd and 3rd floors) and had a huge bay window overlooking the ocean. I mean lake. A balcony, kitchen, plenty of bathrooms and four bedrooms - perfect! Our realization with traveling with kiddos (just two!) is that the more space, the better. As I have previously stated, our children are not champion sleepers and so we require a bit more in that department. 

The view when we arrived!

Our lakeside villa!

Dave and Ron headed out to some functions for the anesthesia meeting and Bobbi and I got set up in the villa. We then decided to go somewhere and get some supper. I have been chuckling to myself lately, when we are with others (grandparents) and heading out somewhere, they will make a comment about finally being ready to go or taking forever to actually get out to the car and moving. I am usually thinking - wow, that went fast! or that went smoothly! :) We ended up exploring the main building and ordering some food to go. The bummer was the food was not good! How disappointing! The good news was, the kids went to bed super easy that night! They stayed in the same room, Kate on these cute little bunk beds and Collin in his pack and play. I mean, they went to bed SUPER easy. It was amazing. Though I was waiting for the waking to come, I poured a glass of wine and sat out in the nice living room with Bobbi and caught up. The kids just stayed sleeping! We had a lovely evening and the guys got back and we ordered a pizza:) Yummy pizza, good company, nice location, it was awesome. Of course, Collin did get up in the night, but I was able to handle it pretty well and get some rest. 

The next day, the boys headed to the meeting and Bobbi and I and the kids took it very slowly, went out to find some coffee and ran to the grocery store then made our way over to the big indoor waterpark. It was VERY foggy on Saturday, like dangerous foggy, sad foggy as you couldn't even see the lake - right in front of you. It would kind of come in and out later, but basically it was a gloomy, foggy day. Thankfully, it wasn't too cold. We played in the waterpark for awhile, Kate was still too scared of the slides to go down, she did like the lazy river with Mommy:) Collin loved it all - looking around, the noise, playing in the water. Kate seemed to make a friend in a little 2 year old girl and her grandmother. She followed them around and played catch. She didn't seem to want much to do with Bobbi or I, just these new people! Ugh, I didn't love that, although she was playing very well and was having fun:) Maybe the thing that I don't love the most about water parks is the noise level, it is just so loud and I have trouble hearing in those situations. Just hard to make yourself heard to your almost four year old, especially when you are sick and don't have much of a voice. 

Ugh, only putting this picture up to show how much Collin loved it...

She didn't want to leave, of course, but we bribed her with playing games in the arcade:) For part of her birthday present, Bobbi bought her the resort's V(ery) I(mportant) K(id) package, which included many things: coupons for meals, ice cream, arcade tokens, a backpack, build a bear type animal, snacks, etc. So, we played some games and she made a unicorn - her first time with that sort of thing, she loved it! Her name is Sally. :) Then we needed to go back to the villa to clean up and get ready for a dinner out. Well...it had started raining and we walked there. Good thing we were all still wet from the water park and it wasn't too cold out! It was a fun adventure and we were giggling the whole time. Especially when we ducked in to what we thought was our "front porch" of our villa and were getting frustrated when the key didn't work. Oops. Wrong building! (they all look the same!) 

We got cleaned up and warmed up and after Daddy and Grandpa rejoined us, we headed out to a Mexican joint in Sheboygan. It was a very yummy and though we forgot the diaper bag (good grief! I never forget that!) it was a total success. I have to say thank you to all the Gmas and Gpas out there...thank you for taking the kiddos and helping them stay happy while we parents eat our supper in peace. It is SO appreciated:) Collin was very good, but getting very "grabby" and he occasionally would get upset when he bit on a toy wrong (we think there is a tooth coming up on the left side that is making it quite tender). I promise you, Kate and Collin, I will come and do the same for you when you are parents! A round of margaritas and the night was definitely a success!

The second night went a little less ideally, with Collin not settling down in his pack and play, he ended up in bed with Dave and I. This is a last resort that I have done a lot lately in my sick and tired stupor of the middle of the night. It is not a desired situation, but it is also not something that we are completely opposed to (obviously). I will say, it was a bit harder in a queen bed, though! 

Sunday brought the guys more meetings/lectures and an even slower morning for Bobbi and I and the kids:) I was lucky to be able to get out and exercise, taking a walk on the trail along the lake. I really enjoyed it, the fog had finally cleared and the only regret was not bringing my money to stop and bring coffee back to Bobbi and I. Next time. The guys got back early (yeah!) and we started packing up. Of course, as we were leaving, the skies started to clear and it became gorgeous. Bright blue sky, which made the white resort, green grass and blue lake look even prettier. Dave and I decided this is definitely a place we would like to return to. It feels like a real getaway, even though we only drove three hours and the resort has enough to keep everyone happy, who wants to go with us next time?!! 

Morning walk....awesome.

Finally, some sunshine as we were getting ready to leave:(

Unfortunately, the skies clouded up again as we drove home. Dave and I were in the car coughing up our lungs and the kids happily babbled to each other and slept through it all. We made an impromptu stop just outside Mauston to pick up some pumpkins but ended up staying and doing some "fall fun" at Red Ridge Ranch. We did the little petting zoo (luckily 3 year olds are super happy, even if they are just looking at a couple ducks, two goats, a llama and a calf. Seriously.), did the indoor hay maze, started teaching Kate some croquet and then hopped up on the hay ride to the pumpkin patch. Or so we thought. There were two other families on board and we took off on a trail (nice wagon pulled by a tractor) and we just kept going, and going, and going. And going. And going. Pretty soon, we became friendly with the other families, commenting on if we thought we would make it back to the stables. We thought we were going to pick pumpkins and we finally saw the pumpkin patch. But we kept going and going. Okay, guess not. We finally came back to the stables and got off. Alright! Guess that was just a hayride! :) Kate went in the bouncy house (empty besides her - perfect scenario) and to a chorus of "Mom, Dad, look at me!!!" Gma, Gpa, look, look at me!" we picked out some pumpkins and loaded them into our already full vehicles. I then pushed our luck further, wanting some of the pretty pumpkins out front (cream, green colors...). I like decorating with pumpkins, so easy! and I would love to cover the front porch in them, but our cars truly couldn't hold much more, so we went home. 

Learning a new game....

As Dave and I continued to be sick as dogs, we had lazy days at home. Dave worked Monday but had the rest of the week off - so nice! The kids got to have a lot of great Gma and Gpa time. Collin really was back to his old, happy self and though Kate has been a bit challenging with her behavior, she pulled it together enough to still make it all fun:) We went for walks, did a lot of cooking, Collin did a lot of bouncing and on Tuesday we went down to the Dells and did one of the Duck tours and got some ice cream! Lots of fun, I'm so glad the weather was gorgeous and we were able to have the time together. 

Waiting to get started...

We're on the ducks!

The rocks are so cool

Pretty Wisconsin River..

Dave and I are still struggling with this cold/flu. I admit, I get very little sleep and it is hard to get better without rest. We had originally said we were going to do some sleep training with Collin starting Wednesday to try and nip this craziness in the bud. But with both parents sick and the kids just starting to show their runny noses and little coughs, we can't do it now! If anyone is willing to come on up and take care of this little night owl for me, I will pay you with whatever you want! Actually, I am just waiting for my full health back and then will be setting aside some time to work on this sleep thing. We also need to work on a better daily routine for Collin and that is where we fail so often, we never have two days alike and really fly by the seat of our pants more than you would think. I need to crack down a bit and though it might be a little hard to adjust, I think it must be super helpful. Help me stay motivated!

Even though I am a bit under the weather, I am going to a Witches Night Out with a friend this evening at a local business. I think I can pull it together for a few hours with some shots of Dayquil, so we are dressing up as witches and going there for fun and shopping. I will post pics hopefully of what we end of looking like:) It is during supper and bedtime, so wish Dave luck. He hardly ever is home alone with the kids and I am realizing that I very much need some time away and so even though I am nervous (why?! that is so crazy, it will be fine) and I am not feeling 100%, I am going for it. My dream would be to get into a routine of getting out of the house with a friend (or for Zumba) once a week. Dave usually has social time with friends on top of being away for work, so I need to try too. Plus, we really need to work on Collin eating without me! So, here we go....