Wisconsin Dells

We decided to make a last minute trip to the Wisconsin Dells.  None of us had ever been to Wisconsin and Monty heard that the Dells was a fun place for families.  It did not disappoint.  I will say driving through Iowa wasn't the best, but Wisconsin really is beautiful...in the summer.

Of course, we evening before we were suppose to leave the sink clogged.  Monty and I tried everything, but nothing worked. We decided to stay through the weekend and have a plumbing agency come Monty morning to fix it.  Sure enough the clog was about 150 down.  I love the way a kitchen looks when your sink clogs--your kitchen goes to POT!  No pun intended. But, $250 later the clog was fixed, we got the kitchen cleaned up and our trip began.  

We began with a fun picnic at Devils lake.  Followed by a fun canoeing adventure on the lake.  The wind kicked up while we were out on the lake which is an experience none of us will soon forget.  Poor Tyler was in my Canoe and he worked so hard to get us back to sore.  He was super positive the whole time.  He never got mad that as hard as I was trying I wasn't helping much.  Instead he was very encouraging.  Thanks Tyler.  Monty said Kyle was not as positive in his boat, but either way we all made it back to sore just as the wind stopped.  Go figure.  We rewarded ourselves with Ice Cream and Cheese Curd.  Super delicious!! 

We then decided to take a hike.  We don't have much hiking in our neck of the woods, so a hike was refreshing.

At least for most of us.  Makai wasn't super excited, but Dad tightened his shoes to stop at least a part of the complaining!  

Stripling warriors!

Or goofy monkeys!

Hiking with Makai is like hiking with a ball and chain!  More like 50 balls.

One step at a time!!

Pure torture!!

This kid is just a goof ball!!!

At the top of Devils lake!

Both these boys had tingling feet and neither really enjoying the height.  

Me just being goofy because the height didn't bother me as much. 

Kyle loves to have his picture taken.

We went to Noah's Ark.  A water park in the Dells.  It was so fun because off of us could go play together.  We've never been able to play as a family.  In the past we've had to have someone stay with the little kids while someone else goes with the big kids, but now all the kids are big.  It was a blast.  Kory was scared to ride several rides, but did it.  Makai just wanted to do the lazy river and wave pool, but did the rides with us and then it started to rain!  And it rained hard!!  I didn't get a lot of pictures because we were having so much fun together.  After these photos we left as they closed the park because of lightening, but the boys were all hungry and ready to leave by then.  

After dinner that night Makai was totally exhausted!  These innocent photos of complete contentedness are priceless. 

Only in Wisconsin!!  At a random gas station.

Monty found out that the Packers were having summer practice so we drove up to Greenbay and watched the Packers practice for a while.  When you have a house of boys sports is always part of any family vacation.  

Trey has no shame sporting his Dolphins at while in Green Bay.  

A fun lunch afterward along Lake Michigan

Our boys love water.  It wasn't as fun as the beach, but Makai and Trey got all the way in.  We stopped for a bit and let them play before beginning our drive home.  

A classic Wisconsin picture.  Beautiful sunset.  The picture isn't nearly as gorgeous and the real thing.  

As we fueled up the last morning to drive home we ran into this guy.  This  maching was for corn and Monty learned that it took 400 gallons to fill up!!  

Schubert's in Mt Horeb Wisconsin.  The troll capital of the United states and the best breakfast ever!!  It was such a cute restaurant.  We have a great country.  So fun to travel anywhere and find good food, friendly people and people just trying to do their best.     

On our way home we got some beef jerky and cheese curds.  Wisconsin was not good to our waist lines, but we will be back!  :)   

Family time is the best time.  We enjoyed this summer and this last minute trip!!

NBA Summer League, Family and Zions

This summer has been wonderful.  I have always enjoyed summer, but now that I work outside the home I LOVE summer.  Not to mention the fact that we realize our summers as a family are dwindling.  The boys are just growing up so fast and we have no idea what the future holds.  Often we try to take our family trips somewhere tropical, but this summer we tried something new.

My boys all love the Lakers!  Although they all have a different football teams to cheer for, they all agree that the Lakers are the best basketball team around. (Well, Kory also cheers for Golden State)  This year everyone is so excited about the new recruits for the Lakers.  Lonzo Ball is probably the favorite.  Monty had mentioned that he would love to go to the NBA summer league and watch the new young team play and one thing I love about my husband is that when he has ideas he tries his best to execute it.  He isn't just a dreamer, but a doer.  I was upstairs one Friday when he called me down and said, "Honey, I found round trip tickets to Vegas for $56 round trip.  Wanna go?"  That price was hard to pass up, so I told him to go ahead and buy them.  He told the boys later that night and everyone was excited.

The drive out was a little rough.  I can't say there was harmony in the car.  In fact, there was a lot of contention!  Wasn't the best way to start a vacation, but it was reality.  We flew out of an airport three hours from the house.  A short drive compared to if we would have had to drive the whole way, but to kids three hours is still super long.

Don't they look so happy...

Trey was having a particularly hard time so I decided to switch him seats

I zap the fun out of everything apparently and everyone just fell asleep.

When we arrived in Las Vegas, Trey's silly side came out.  We all enjoyed him being goofy.  

And then we stopped and got everyone some food.  Tyler enjoys taking pictures of his meals as food is kinda a big deal to a teenage boy trying to put on weight.

We arrived at our hotel and we all went swimming.  The temperature was 111 degrees at about 8 o'clock at night so the pool was very refreshing.  After a nice swim we had dinner in our room.  Nothing like frozen burritos to make a bunch of boys happy.  

The next morning we went to the Mall and Dad bought all the boys a Lakers hat to wear to the game.  Makai bought a little puppy who he named Magnus the bag less because he didn't what a bag for his dog.  This dog would prove to be worth the $3.99 as it kept him busy all day.  

Ready for the game.  

Waiting for the doors to open was a little hot. I believe it was about 121 degrees.  But Summer league is not assigned seating so the sooner you come the better seat you get.  As the game was sold out we decided to arrive early.  No worries, it was only about 6 hours before the game actually started.

 This wait took a tole on Kory.  We were outside for about a 30 minutes and about 20 minutes into the wait I looked back and Kory didn't look so good.  He was sweating like crazy and looked a little pale.  I asked him if he felt okay and he stayed silent.  I knew this was not good news.  Meanwhile people are fainting and throwing up all around us. I am not sure why they didn't just open the door, but rules are rules I guess.  We ended up with good seats and after about 40 minutes Kory was back to feeling better.  I was so glad he didn't throw up or pass out.  Not all the fans were friendly.  While Kory was struggling we got separated from Monty who had our tickets.  As I tried to explain this to people a couple people were friendly, but most were irritated and upset that I was trying to get in front of them. Kinda rude if you ask me.  But, we made it up to Monty and got in just in time to explain to him what had happened.  He had no idea what was happening.

Pretty good seat!

 Although everyone was excited for the game Trey is by far the most animated about the whole thing.  He told me, "Mom, this is one of the best days of my life."

 The beginning of the game the Lakers were winning and everyone was so excited, but soon they fell behind and it became a nail biter

As it became clear they were going to lose Trey broke down.  Tears for about the next 20 minutes.  One day the Laker's will win one while he is in the stadium.  They better.  

 

Dad enjoying the game.

Makai enjoying his dog.

We watched a total of about 8 hours of basketball that day.  The Lakers being the 3rd game.  Makai never tired of this dog.  He always has to have something in his hands.  

That night we went to Del Taco and then to bed.  We were pretty tired.  

The next morning we woke up and drove to Delta to see my grandmother.  We have not seen her in many years and I wanted to be sure to see her again, but living so far away makes it hard to visit.  But Delta is only about 5 hours or so from Vegas, so we decided it would be a good time.  

Grandma did not remember me.  I was worried about how I would handle it, but I was okay.  She has trouble remembering a lot of things these days, but it was good to see her and spend some time listening to her and I was glad the boys got to see her.  

Me talking to grandma and realizing she had no idea who I was.

Makai talking to grandma about his dog.

Grandma telling me not to tell Makai, but she thought his dog was ugly.  She still has a sense of humor.

 We said goodbye to grandma and she took Monty by the hand and said, "I sure love you.  Know that I love you." While patting his face.  It was pretty sweet and a moment I will never forget.  When I first started dating Monty my grandmother was not happy with the idea, but even in her old age with dementia and she doesn't even remember me, she was kind to him and told him she loved him.  One funny thing.  At the end of the visit my grandma took my hand and said, 'My goodness your hands are cold."  I told her, "Grandma you have always told me that cold hands mean a warm heart."  I was kinda holding back tears as I accepted the fact that the woman I know is gone.  Then she said, "Well, take those hands and spank that guy a few times to warm them up."  Kinda caught me off guard, but made us all laugh.

Kory sleeping with one eye open! 

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We stopped in Delta at a grocery store and got things for sandwiches and began our drive to Saint George to meet up with some of Monty's family who live there. (His brother TJ and wife Dora as well as several cousins live there.)  We had a nice dinner with them and enjoyed the chance to catch up.  Kyle played cars with Pei for a while.  Pei has Leukemia and is not responding to his treatment.  He began a new treatment this week and we hope this treatment is more successful.  

By the end of the evening we were pretty tired and drove the Hurricane Utah where we would spend the rest of our trip.  We enjoyed out hotel there and had a nice rest before setting out to explore Zion's National Park.  It did not disappoint.  The views were breathtaking.  Monday we hiked to the Emerald pools and then the boys jumped into the Virgin River to cool off.

I took this picture to show the difference in build between Makai and Trey.  The picture doesn't show what you see in person, but Trey is so lean he fits into everything slim and Makai is so husky he has to wear a size larger than Trey.  He is just a thick kid.  

The boys had fun playing in the water and it was a good thing we did this hike first because the following day was even better.  

When we got back in the city we were driving down a random road and I was looking out the window and saw someone I swore I knew.  Sure enough after closer inspection it was indeed her.

I worked in YW when she was a laurel.  It is a small world.

That night we went to see Spiderman with Kristena and her friend.  It was a really good movie.

Monty googled Zion's and found this hike called the Narrows.  It is a hike up the Virgin River and poses some risk as you have to be cautious of flash flooding.  However, the hike looked too fun not to at least try.  

Makai was a pain for the first mile of the hike that was NOT in water.  He complained that we were trying to kill him. He wanted to turn around, but we kept telling him that he was going to love the hike and just to trust us.  He cried and whined and told us he didn't trust us and that there was going to be a flash flood and he was going to die!  Trey won an award in my book that moment.  Toward the end of the mile Trey took a stick of gum and gave it to Makai and started telling him he was in a jedi training program and the hike was his training.  That is all he need to come out of his grumpy state to a much more fun kid.  Thanks Trey for saving the day.  I was ready to leave Makai on a rock for the day.  You truly saved the day.  

After a mile we made it to the trail head of the Narrows.

This is a great picture because it depicts the Narrows so well.  Red cliffs so high and so gorgeous!!

Despite their faces, they really are having a blast.  Kyle told me, "Mom, I wasn't really excited about this when I saw it on TV, but this is actually pretty cool.  Really cool!"

Makai had more fun than any of us.  He would hike through the water and then 'accidentally' slip and flow down the river.  However, just before this picture was taken he really did slip.  Thankfully Tyler was there to grab onto and he helped him get his footing and proceed in an orderly fashion.  

Kory.  I believe we were waiting for Makai.  We did a lot of waiting for Makai as he made his way up the river.

Trey, Kyle and Tyler enjoying a cave along the way.

Dad loves to NOT shave on vacation!  Looking a little scruffy honey!!  (I don't like it.)

Kyle making a splash!

Makai jumping off a rock more his size.

Is that the ROCK?  

Every view around every corner was so beautiful.  

The boys found these rocks stacked together and were super impressed with the person who did it.  It really did look fake, but it was 100% real.  

Walking on water!

Makai and Kory playing

Tyler has always been such a good brother.  He always followed Makai and kept him moving forward.  

This is why it is called the Narrows.

Kyle trying to rock stack.

At one moment on the hike Trey got pretty cold.  Maybe this is because the kid has 0% body fat.  He couldn't stop shaking and we made him get out and dry off.  Tyler was kind and tried to help warm him up.  After a while he felt warm and wanted to get right back in the water.  

We let him in for short periods of time.  Parts that he said, "I couldn't wait to go down this part on the way up."

More rock stacking

On the way down we spotted this guy.  He was not phased by humans at all!!

  After the Narrows we went to TJ and Dora's house for dinner.  Dora made a nice meal with meatballs, rice and chicken and broccoli casserole and we enjoyed the evening with them.  The three older boys spent the night at their house and the other two boys and Monty and I went back to the Hotel. 

The next morning we went to get the boys who were in St. George and took them to eat and then let them shower while we waited for my parents to arrive.  My parents were on their was to see my grandmother and we decided to spend the afternoon together.  As Hurricane was super hot over 100 degrees we decided to take them up to Zion where it was not only more beautiful but also cooler.  We didn't hike the Narrows, but we did the mile hike to the Narrows and then the boys got into the river and played for a while. 

 The scariest part of the trip occurred in this spot.  The kids were having so much fun floating down the river and had been for days.  We had never once feared for their safety and it was all fun and games.  Until Trey went down this little waterfall.  I tried to get him to wait because I wanted it on camera, but he didn't hear me and just went down.  But he stayed down.  And down and down for what seemed like forever.  Monty yelled, "We need to get him."  I put my phone down and began running down to jump in when his little head sprung out of the water and he looked a little dazed.  He said the water hit him pretty hard and the experience kind of scared him, but before leaving he was ready to do it again.  I told him NO!  I had no problem being the bad guy.  Maybe the scarier part was learning later that Makai had gone down it!!  Kyle however was watching him and jumped in after him.  Makai was not ready to do it again!  We then proceeded to a safer spot thankful no one was hurt.

Seriously gorgeous!!

River BOY!

Completely wiped out!!

Fun family time!

Tyler and Kyle's food that night.

Makai died and went to Heaven!

With a perfect vacation something is bound to go wrong. Thursday morning Tyler woke up saying his stomach didn't feel so good.  The drive down to Vegas he was miserable!  Completely miserable and we know he was miserable because he didn't eat the entire day!

Brotherly love!

Tyler feeling miserable!!  Wondering why I wanted to photo his misery!  We capture the good and bad buddy!!

Our handsome chauffeur.  Notice he shaved.  Usually about 6 days into a trip his scruff starts to bug him!  Luv you babe!

Nevada is still kinda ugly!  Sorry Nevada!

Sadly, although Tyler had no desire to eat, we were hungry and had waited all week to eat at In N Out!  So we did.  Along with the rest of Las Vegas.  Never have I had to scout out a table at a fast food establishment like you do a parking spot at the mall during Christmas time, but there is always a first time.  

This kid ate a double double and still wanted more.  

Because Tyler wasn't feeling well we went to the hotel and let him sleep.  The other boys played in the pool.  As long as water is involved they are usually happy.  They played and play and played.  

Friday morning our plane left super early.  The benefit of this was the airport wasn't crowded. We made it through security with no problems which was good because Tyler still wasn't feeling good.  At one point we couldn't find him for like 15 minutes, but turns out he was just in the bathroom.  Poor kid.  

Makai wanted to play this video game!

He waited the whole trip to pose with this Turtle at the Las Vegas Airport.

Once we boarded the flight it didn't take long for everyone to crash!  I guess that is a sign of a good fun filled vacation!  Thanks family for a wonderful memory!  Until next time....

Poor kid still just wants his bed.

If you look closely you can see his eye open!  Kinda creepy.

Kyle I will remember you took this and I will pay you back! LUV MOM!!