Five for Friday, Edition #47

1) Last weekend we went to the Wisconsin Dells with my husband's family. There were twelve adults and eleven children in one VRBO. It was an eight bedroom, four bath building with a kitchen that was smaller than it probably should have been, but there was an arcade with old-fashioned game cabinets in the basement. If you aren't from the upper Midwest, you might not have heard of the Dells, so let me describe it to you. It's a weird tourist-y area with lots of theme parks, especially water parks, and duck boat rides. There's also anything your childlike wonder would like to do - go-karts, ziplining, mini golf, whatever. 

VRBO decor

Our niblings are aged nine to nineteen and every single one of them had a fabulous time. 

If anyone wants to know, we went to Noah's Ark on a Thursday. It was a typical water park with long lines, but the kids had a good time. We rented a cabana and there was always an adult there for the kids to check in with. On Friday, we went to Land of Natura, which is not a typical water park. It's a man-made salt lake with huge inflatables that you climb on and because the lake is deep (up to 25 feet in places), our boys spent most of the day practicing dives, backflips, and somersaults. It was also COLD AND RAINY when went (what do I mean by cold? mid-60s! in July!), so that kept down the crowds. I swear our party made up about a third of the people there. Regardless, most kids said Land of Natura was their favorite part of the weekend, so if you're in the Dells and you have confident swimmers, this is a good option. 

2) Dells Escape Rooms - We had two big groups do different escape rooms. One group was a bunch of the kids with their grandfather and his wife. The rest was our oldest niece (19) and people of my generation. Both teams managed to escape, although I have to admit our room only had like twenty seconds to spare. LOL. If you like escape rooms, these ones are pretty fun. (You might note that I'm wearing a hoodie and my husband is wearing pants. WE WERE ALL VERY COLD. None of us were prepared for how cold it was that weekend.) 

3) Where were the girls when we were in the Dells? I'm glad you asked. Zelda stayed at home and our neighbor came by every day to give her wet food and clean her box. ALSO! SHE READS TO THE CAT. No wonder Zelda ignored us completely when we came home.

Hannah? Hannah was at the swank boarding place just outside Chicago where they take 80 pictures of her doing nothing every day.  Maybe I should have put all these photos in some sort of collage, BUT NO, you have to scroll by each one. 

Nicole talks about how Rex comes back from boarding like he was at a frat party with messed up fur and fleas or whatever. Hannah came back with a powerful thirst, a smell like she has never had a bath in her life, and refusing to eat food. So, that's something, I guess. 

4) Our side and backyard recently became deer daycare. I cannot stress enough to you how crazy this is because WE LIVE IN TOWN. ON A BUSY ROAD. The deer overpopulation here is nuts. 

5) Anniversaries - Earlier this week was the one year anniversary of my mother's death. I am, in a very healthy fashion, ignoring this fact.

6) Giveaway winners - The giveaway winners are Lisa and Jenny! Congratulations! I'll send those packages out in the mail sometime in the next week or so. 

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Have you ever done an escape room? Had a fawn bed down in your yard? Been to Wisconsin Dells?