Driving Thru Fords!

We had a busy Sunday last weekend!  We started our morning at church where Alex helped with the children's service for the worship segment.  Will, Katie & Becki stayed home (we had attended church as a family Saturday night) and worked outside, preparing the deck/house for cold weather.  Once Matt got home with Alex & Maddie, we got ready to go to the Moline Halloween Parade.  This parade has always been a fun tradition for our family.  Lots of floats, friends and candy!  We got down to the parade and staked our claim at the beginning of the route.  We had some friends join us and we were looking forward to a fun parade.  The parade soon started...and then quickly ended.  We were disappointed to see the end of the parade after only 18 minutes!  We drove home almost in unbelief!  In the past, the parade had been 2x the size!

After getting home, we decided it was too nice of a day to stay home.  Even with the day more than half gone...and school tomorrow...we decided it would be fun to head towards Dixon, IL (1 1/2 hour drive) and visit White Pines State Park.

We knew ahead of time that there wouldn't be any time for hiking - which made us sad.  White Pines has some fun trails with creek crossings!  We were able to drive through the fjords along the road and take pictures as we walked around the main park area.  What a gorgeous day with beautiful trees!

Will started a dance session on the picnic table.  Soon Maddie & Kaitee followed suit!  They had all of us cracking up!

Alex was content with doing her cartwheels.

 We hopped back in the van and headed to see the other side of the park.  The kids loved driving through the creeks!

 We spotted this tree (Below) and knew that we had to get some pictures underneath it!  The color of the leaves were unbelievable! There is something about leaves that bring out the kid in every person!

 Will making a leaf angel...

 We had fun getting an updated version of the overhead "head shot" from Mother's Day

 Having recently watched Karate Kid (I, II & III), the kids loved standing on these posts and imitating Daniel(son).

 We ended our time by driving up to the Lodge area of the park.

 And then drove through the creeks one last time before heading back into Dixon for dinner.

 We were blessed with a beautiful day, amazing scenery and a breathtaking sunset to end our day! God loves to out-do Himself!!

Devil's Lake & Wisconsin Dells with the Kids

We wanted to surprise the kids with a weekend in Wisconsin - hiking at Devil's Lake in Baraboo, sightseeing, letterboxing and ending our time there at Wisconsin Dells.  We figured that we wouldn't do anything in the Dells other than eat at Buffalo Phils - they have small trains that travel around the restaurant and deliver your food.  We did this a few years ago and the kids LOVED it.  It was the highlight of their trip in 2010!  Will occasionally asks "When are we going to Buffalo Phil's again?".

 

We really wanted to go up north in October.  We figured we would be able to enjoy the beautiful leaves as well as have cooler temps for our hikes.  We realized that Columbus Day was a school holiday so we planned to take the kids north on that Sunday and Monday.  We found a great hotel in Portage (found out that it was the same hotel Matt & I stayed in for our time at Devil's Lake in 2012!) and planned our time away.  All as a surprise to the kids.

 

You can imagine the real surprise when I mentioned going away for the long weekend to a friend that Friday...and the friend told me that the kids had school on Columbus Day!!  We quickly pulled up our calendars and confirmed that yes, there was school (for the first time in MANY years!). 

 

As soon as I got home, I got online and checked to see if the hotel had availabilities on Saturday night.  We got lucky!!  Not only did they have open rooms, they were the same price!  Disaster diverted!

 





We loaded up and were on the road by 8 Saturday morning.  Our first stop was at the Wisconsin Welcome Sign on Hwy 61, just north of Dubuque.  Here are Will, Kaitee & Alex re-enacting a picture that Matt & I took many, many years ago (before kids). We set the camera on the top of the car, I ran up the hill and positioned myself so Matt could figure out the position for the camera.  He then set the timer and ran up the hill.  You can imagine the laugh we had when we got our roll of film back - a picture of me standing by the sign and Matt running up the hill. (I really need to find that picture!)

Here are 3 of the kids by the sign - Maddie didn't want to walk up the steep slope in the tall, wet grass.

We stopped in Belmont and took some pictures with the cows! 

Next stop - House on the Rock.  We drove through the parking lot and showed the kids all the neat "junk"!

Another few miles up the road, we stopped at the scenic overlook.

We stopped in Spring Green for lunch and then continued to Baraboo to hike at Devil's Lake. 

We were shocked when we drove in and saw a sign stating that the north parking lots were full.  We continued on towards the Ranger Station to purchase a park pass.  We waited almost 30 minutes in line to get in to the park!  We were in disbelief at how many people were visiting the park that day!  When Matt & I visited 2 years ago, we literally had the park to ourselves!  We maybe saw 50 people the whole day!  It is amazing what 10 extra degrees plus sunshine will do!  Everyone was out to enjoy the day.

After waiting in line, we drove around all of the parking lots with no luck.  We decided to try the big lot one last time before heading to the south side of the lake...we got lucky!  Someone was leaving just as we were pulling around!  Woot Woot!!

We used the restroom then hit the trail.  It was too busy for our liking.  We still ended up hiking the full lake (about 3 miles) but there were too many people to share a trail with!

Will found a frog while playing near the lake.  Kaitee named him "Hopster".

The kids loved climbing on the rocks and were in awe of the beauty of the park.  We look forward to going back another time and enjoying the bluff trails with them. 

We left the park and headed into Wisconsin Dells for dinner.  We were asking the kids where they wanted to eat...of course, they didn't see Buffalo Phil's and it was never mentioned!  They were all disappointed as we drove past Denny's, Burger King, Subway and Taco Bell.  It was worth it though when we pulled in and they all realized where we were! 

After we sat down (with no wait...even at 5:00 on a Saturday), Will looked at me and said, "Thank you Mom!  I love this surprise!"  That right there made my day!

Getting our food delivered by train

Buffalo Phil's gave us a free ticket to ride the train.  It was a miniature roller coaster that was in the back of the building at Knuckleheads.  Alex & Maddie were both apprehensive at first, but asked if we could do it again afterwards!!

We left the Dells and headed to our hotel to check in and swim.  The kids were the only ones in the swimming pool the whole time we were swimming!  They loved being able to jump and splash without consequences!

After showers and getting ready for bed, the kids quickly drifted off to sleep - as the pictures show. 

I love the peacefulness of this picture!

We left the next morning and Will quickly spotted this character across from our hotel. 

We drove south towards home with stops in Madison for some letterboxes.  We were successful with all but one!  We all enjoyed some beautiful trees and sunshine.

Elvis Presley Fight Scene in Madison

We were all pretty tired when we got home Sunday night.  We had a great time though and were so thankful that our plans were flexible and that the hotel hadn't been prepaid...and we were able to switch to Sat/Sun!  The kids were surprised and loved the all that we did.  A success!