7 Quick Takes Friday - Kalahari favorites

While our area was getting its 74th snowfall of the season (a 6 incher this time), we were spending time up at the beautiful Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells.  This is our third trip to Kalahari, and although it is a bit on the pricey side, it is totally worth it!!  I've shared before how Kalahari truly does it all right, cutting no corners, and makes an amazing oasis for all ages to enjoy.  We especially loved this time taking off our winter coats on Sunday, stuffing them in the closet and not even seeing them til Wednesday!  There's something so refreshing about taking a much needed winter break. We not only took advantage of the waterpark (covered under the room charge) but we splurged and bought passes to the indoor theme park.  It was a huge hit, for sure!!!!

So to summarize our favorites of our trip, I thought I'd join in with "7 Quick Takes Friday"....

-1-

Rides at the Theme Park:  Bumper boats were a favorite for our two littlest ones. When we first saw this ride, Neil and I both thought it was kinda a cheesy ride and would be a flop.  Surprisingly, the kids LOVED it!   The little kids also enjoyed the Carousel and the Ferris Wheel.  Go Karts were a huge hit for the 5 big kids (Pookey was too short), and there was an awesome viewing area up by the bowling alley.    XD Dark Ride was a motion 3D shooting ride.  All five big kids tried it, but mostly Neil, Fone and Mario enjoyed it the best - a little too intense for the others.  Then there was the 360 ride - a CrAzY spinning upside-down ride that only Mario was brave enough to try out. 

-2-

Activities at the Theme Park:  The list of these seems to go on and on as well.  We went bowling as a group with our family and the cousins as well.  Our family loved Laser Tag and did this many times!   The Atomic Rush was like a giant Simon game where you have to tap your color square.  All the kids loved this, although Pookey was a tad short and couldn't reach all the shapes.  Fone and Mario went up the Climbing Wall - what little monkeys they are - they just climbed right up with no problem at all!  There were two rope courses:  one for the older crew and one for the younger crew.  All 6 big kids and Neil attempted, although three of them chickened out and never completed it - lol!  You may be able to figure that one out from the pictures...  

 

 

  

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Cousin time!!!  This was the second time this set of cousins joined us at Kalahari.  It was so nice to be with them and see the kids having such a good time together.  

-4- 

Grandparents time!!  Neil's parents drove up and back for the day to see and spend time with their boys and families.  The kids were thrilled to see them and took advantage of them not being in swimming clothes, and gave plenty of lovin's in the form of wet hugs! Then when we got home from our trip, Big Red could pull right in our garage because Neil's parents had cleared the drive from the six inches of snow!  (thank you!!!!)

 

-5-

Godparents time!!  Our sweet Pookey was especially thrilled because we had a special visit from his Godparents during the last night of our trip, since they live up in that area.  They joined us for pizza and all the fun at the Theme Park.  How blessed we were to spend this special time with them!!  

Pookey and his Godparents

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The HUGE indoor waterpark!!  Of course, this is the main attraction of Kalahari!  They have three kiddie play areas, two that are very large and can entertain the littles for hours.  All the while, the bigger kids run back and forth between all the fun rides and slides of the park....  Victoria Falls (family tube ride), Master Blaster, Lazy River, Rippling Rhino, Wave Pool, ZigZag Zebra, Shooting Star Pool (with lily pads and basketball hoops), indoor/outdoor hot tub, Boogie Boarding, and more!!!  

Melody and Rose

Don't you just love her praying hands?

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And BEST OF ALL is the bonding and family time!!!  So many wonderful, grace-filled, proud mommy moments during our trip!  How blessed I am!!!!
 

For more "7 Quick Takes on Friday", visit the logo below....

Our wonderful Kalahari experience

Six plus years ago, Neil and I and our 3 kids (at the time), along with my sister and her fiance, trucked out to Ohio to Kalahari.  It was such a blast and we absolutely LOVED the atmosphere. 

Melody (9 m/o), Mario (2 y/o), Fone (3-1/2 y/o)

My bil on the boogie board

Neil on the boogie board

Fone and Mario

Neil and I and our 3 oldest

(As you can tell, our family has changed drastically since then - we've doubled in size and the kids and Neil and I have changed a ton as well!) 

Since then, we have gone to other waterparks, but those trips have never even compared to the Kalahari experience.  When you visit a Kalahari waterpark, it is truly like jumping to another world - they have it down to an art of putting you right in the middle of the Kalahari desert!  It's hard to explain how they do it, so I guess I'm telling you that you just have to experience it yourself!!  So, it was such a pleasure to have spent a weekend up in Wisconsin with our kiddos along with Neil's brother and his wife and their children. We rented one of their houses and prepped our kids that we were staying in a house bigger than our own so that it could hold 4 adults and 14 children and it would almost be a "mansion".  They couldn't wait to get there, and then we pull up to this...

Fone was absolutely disgusted and couldn't believe that we had tricked him and were going to stay at a "beat-up, run down, good for nothing, dump house" instead.  Little did he know that visiting Kalahari is all about an experience.  He would soon find out and after being there for 2 nights, he fully understood! 

Here are some pictures of our fun weekend...

enjoying the theater

Pookey and his sweet cousin

Ariel loving the kid lazy river

Melody (top) and 2 of her cousins enjoying the kid lazy river

Pookey chilling out in the kid lazy river

Rub A Dub Dub - boiling 4 girls in the Tub

Ariel and her cousin playing pool

Max and his cousin already addicted to game systems

the 3 oldest boys (Fone and Mario in green and their cousin) - playing DS

Yummy!!  How many kids can you count??

Silly Ariel and her cousin eating dinner

Neil and his brother eating with all the kiddos

Dinner time - Mario, Fone and their cousin

2 sweet nieces enjoying dinner in their beds while watching TV!! 

Fone on the boogie board

Fone getting a lesson on the boogie board

Fone on the boogie board - he did SO good!!

My trickster husband - he would throw the boogie board forward and then catch it

Having way to much fun - he was even able to do a flip and then catch it again! 

Ariel, 2 cousins, and Melody - beautiful girls!!!!!

Pookey playing with his baby cousin

Fone and his cousin

Mario and his cousin

Neil, Melody, Ariel, Max and 2 nieces climbing up the steps for some slides!!

Fone and his cousin finally reached the top to slide down!! 

Fone and his cousin trying to keep the book from crashing down

Pookey and his sweet cousin

Melody, Pookey, and Fone playing in the dry place place

Mario, Pookey, and Fone climbing around in the dry place place

SLIDE!!

ropes obstacle course

Max playing in the dry place place

Melody zip-lining

Pookey and Fone

our whole crew

Mario, Ariel, Max, Melody, Fone and Pookey

tired, sleepy Pookey

tired, sleepy Ariel

tired, sleepy Max

Thank you God for time away from all our schedules and busyness just to be a family!!  

What a blessing vacations like this are!!!