Toes in the Water

We did Summer Vacation with Sarah's Family last week. The week of vacation always goes so fast...time flies in a way that it can't during any other time of the year. Yet, looking back at the pictures, we manage to squeeze so much into those minutes that blink by. This year was the Wisconsin Dells...Aunt Annette and Uncle Tom weren't able to come with us because Annette is due in less than a month, and understandably, she wanted to stay close to home! We missed their presence! 

We stayed in this mammoth house with plenty of bedrooms and no (zero!) hotpads or cupcake trays. Weird, right?!?! It was a struggle, but we managed. We were the first to arrive and check out the place...and we resisted claiming rooms until we checked with the rest of the family (patting-self-on-back).

That night, Grandma read the girls their bedtime story. It's these moments that are the reason we vacation with this huge, restless, loud, crazy, fun group. Sometimes coordinating calendars and splitting costs and keeping our cool with so many personalities in the house is (just a touch) tough. But that bit is entirely worth it because these girls get to have real moments when they connect with and make memories with their aunts, uncles, grandparents, and (someday soon) cousins. So to the family members who tolerated our crazy with a smile plastered on their faces last week, sincerely, thank you. We love being with you, even when we can't behave that way. To the rest of you, who had to cope with us by drinking...see ya next year. ;-)

The next morning, we jumped right into vacation with some SHOPPING...

...followed by a picnic, a nap, and hours on the beach splashing in the Wisconsin River.

Also, solved a mystery last week. Our girls LOVE to jump around in the water and then roll in the sand. WHY? WHY? WHY? They are completely covered in sunscreen-glue/sand every time we leave any beach. WHY? Duh. Because the water makes them cold and the sand is hot. So they stay in the water until they're shivering and then roll in the hot sand to warm back up. Kinda genius. (We can't help it if we're raising the most intuitive children in the hemisphere.)

More happy memories...tea parties on the deck, 

 pile-ups in the kitchen,

brewery visits with those "of age",

and sticky smores.

The whole family went to Noah's Ark Water Park and had a BLAST on the slides, log ride, lazy river, wave pools, zip lines, and even learning to surf.

Felicity actually fell asleep on Mommy's lap which NEVER happens. It was a fun-til-you-can't-fun-anymore kind of day.  

We were also able to go hiking at Mirror Lake State Park. Kudos to the Wisconsin DNR for their awesome trail markings. We did not get lost or even wonder where we were! And there were no ticks...we'll give the DNR credit for that, too. The girls did pretty well on the hike. Felicity ate a lot of dried mango and insisted that only her mother could carry her when she was tired. But it was a beautiful day and a very pretty hike!

Not done yet! See, we do get a lot into these days! There was mini-golf. We split into three teams. Team Blond People (Ignore Felicity's facial expression, she was amazed at the phone's selfie function.)

Team Wellman Dudes + Vivian

And Team Miriam (named because she got three hole-in-ones!)

Everyone had fun...except Nichole because Joe kept confusing her head with the golf ball. He's getting his vision checked.

High fives and congratulations to the winners: Joe, Dad, and Maria. Mini-golf champions! (Wait if Joe could see the ball well enough to win his round...what was up with golfing Nichole's head?!?!?)

More...yes, more. We boated, skied (well, watched Uncle John ski), and tubed. SO MUCH FUN. We loved seeing the girls bouncing around on the lake with their parents, aunts and uncles, "driving" the boat with Grandpa, and singing songs with Grandma.

Aunt Nichole turned 25 on our trip. Quarter of a century. Another reason for dessert! Happy Birthday, Aunt Nichole!!

And suddenly the week is over. We feel like we'll always have a layer of sunscreen on our skin, we'll never bother to really do our hair again, there's constantly someone nearby to play a game with or take silly pictures with, and we should start the commune. 

Anyone else in?