Harris Family Reunion - Wisconsin Dells

In the morning we decided to explore downtown Madison. The Wisconsin State Capital is in a cool area of Madison with a lot of shops and restaurants. There is a toy store right across the street from the capital that I saw last time but wasn’t able to go into. That was our first stop. The kids had a fun time looking at everything and everyone got a free balloon. The older kids probably weren’t very impressed with the balloons but my little kids were.

We walked down Main Street, had lunch at a sandwich place and visited a small fountain kids could play in. Since no one brought extra clothes we didn’t stay long at the fountain. On the way back to the cars Lilly lost her balloon. She was so sad. The older kids were so nice about it. They all let go over the balloons to make it fun for Lilly. Aren’t cousins great!

 

Our next stop was the Wisconsin Dells. Wisconsin Dells is known as the waterpark capital of the world and is home to more waterparks per capita than anywhere. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge which had a ton of things you could do. You almost didn’t have to leave the hotel. The indoor pools were perfect for Lilly, just her size. They also had a lot of rides that were fun for Tyson and I. Having family there was so wonderful because they would watch Lilly and Bennett for us so we could do a couple of slides together. It was a blast!

There were so many little pools and areas for both the kids to explore and Lilly was big enough to go on a lot of the slides by herself. She did make us catch her at the bottom though. I even talked them into letting me go on the lazy river with Bennett. I figured out why they discourage that when I tried to get off the tube without dropping him.

Tyson and I had the funniest time on the Howling Tornado. Here is the description from the website for the Tornado:  Our most thrilling adventure. Grab up to 3 other members of your pack willing to drop into the 6-story funnel. You'll quickly learn how this ride earned its name. Repeatedly swish and swirl 30 feet up the sides of the funnel, before making a safe splash landing. We older girls thought it was funny that I would squeal as we went down. The best was to go with Tyson because the added weight of two adults would make it so you went higher in the funnel.

Since the hotel uses a lodge theme everything revolves around wolfs and outdoor animals. We received wolf ears for the kids as soon as we checked in and the free stuff continued to roll in. They had face painting, animal balloons, story time, etc.  The story time was a lot of fun and very popular. Lilly and Bennett got to meet all the animals. We also enjoyed the ice cream shop.

 

 

The only time we left the hotel was for dinner, breakfast, and a stop in at Walmart. Brandon and Kathy enjoyed a boat tour while there that they said was a lot of fun. This was my personal favorite part of the trip and I plan to go back as much as possible! I only wish that I took more pictures. I am having to borrow a lot from others.  

 

 

Harris Family Reunion - Chicago

We woke up early Sunday morning and drove to Chicago to meet the Chad Harris family. All the girls met at the American Girl Doll Store for a luncheon with the dolls. Since Lilly didn’t have an American Girl Doll we started with a little shopping. It was a blast! The luncheon was adorable. The dolls got to sit next to the girls at the table in special highchairs and they gave the dolls miniature teacups and plates. Lilly had so much fun she was too preoccupied to each much of her food. I am glad we got her the doll too. She plays with it daily.

The Lego Store is right next door.

After the luncheon we caught up with the boys at the Disney Store. Lilly participated in the ‘Scare Academy’ they were doing at the store. She enjoyed doing that too. They gave the participants certificates, a necklace, and pins. I told Lilly she could pick something to buy and she picked a jewelry set – like she doesn’t have 100 of those at home.

 

In front of the Disney Store.

Once everyone was done shopping we continued to Buckingham Fountain and then to Millennium Park and visited the ‘Bean’ or Cloud Gate. I hadn’t seen either of these attractions so it was new adventure for me. I am so thankful for the cold front we had come in the week before this trip. It cooled the weather down and made walking around town bearable.  

 

 

 

 

Chad and Angie Harris Family

 

Our Family

 

Brandon, Julia and Leah

 

Kathy - Aka Grandma

 

 

 

 

Lilly spent most of her time riding around with her Uncle Brandon. He was very nice to let her hang around him so much. She misses him a lot!

Next we went to Willis Towers and headed up to the Sky Deck. I am thankful of Angie for getting the Chicago CityPass. We were able to skip the long lines and go right up. The line up at the top was really long though. It took us awhile to get out on the deck. Bennett was ready to get down and move so I spent most of the time chasing after him. I thought he would be scared about going out on the deck but he didn’t seem to notice. Lilly was as acrobatic as always on the deck.

 

Once we were on ground level again we headed to the hotel to check in and find some dinner. By this time we were all pretty tired and just wanted something fast and easy to eat. We ended up going to this place that was like a mall food court but with no mall and awesome food. They had tons of choices, it was cheap and the Italian food was so yummy! Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the place/group of places.

It was bedtime for our family after dinner. We had to re coupe after that day.

In the morning everyone gathered at the Shedd Aquarium. Here is a hint for everyone visiting Shedd Aquarium – always bring a stroller. You can use a special family entrance that allows you to get through the line SO much faster! The Aquarium was fun. Lilly got lost for about 3-5 minutes. Tyson was watching her while I fed Bennett and he thought she was still in the penguin play place but she had wondered off. I found her over by the drinking fountain. I thought she had run away on purpose so I got mad at her but then she started crying. It made me feel bad because she was just trying to find her daddy for help.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One new thing that we did while we were there was to go to the dolphin show. Lilly kept looking away before they would jump out of the water. Or she would be looking at a different part of the water. She just loved being with all of her cousins on the big stairs.

 Once we went through the aquarium we drove across town for lunch at the Hancock Observatory. This was another new activity for our family and so cool. The restaurant at the Hancock Observatory is called the Signature Room and it is on the 95^th floor. It has 180 degree views of the Chicago skyline and the food was very good.

 

 

 

 

 

This is not a good selfie of our family but I thought it was funny - Lilly is acting crazy and Bennett is crying. Typical for this trip.

 

The Views

 

I was very impressed with how many new things I personally got to do during this visit. I could probably go back to Chicago several more times and still do all new things.

We ended our Chicago adventures after lunch and drove on to Madison, Wisconsin. We spent the night playing at the hotel pool and getting ready for our next destination.