The Treehouse at Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells

Instead of going to the beach this summer, the family chose to go to Wisconsin Dells.  We found a "treehouse" built last October at Wilderness Resorts and Waterparks.  It was perfect for our family!

The first floor had the kitchen and living room.  Adam and Jill took the bedroom on that floor.

There was the attached "treehouse" with bunkbeds that Claire, Eli, Emery and Sophia in.  

On the 2nd floor, Mindy's family took one room, Allen and I took the other (there was a spare bed never used) and Hannah took the room with one bed.  The college girl needed her own space (and privacy so she could talk with her boyfriend late at night!)

The bottom level was where Josh and Staci were as she would need to rest at times and it was the quietest area (except at dinner time!)  There was a washer and dryer that we also used.

We all gathered in the treehouse when we first got there.  It was so good to enjoy eachother and laugh together!

There wasn't a door on that room and probably it would have been better if there had been so we wouldn't bother those kids who like to sleep in.

The 2 little ones LOVED running to the treehouse all the time!

Tenley was an early riser.

Since Al and I wake up early too, we would take her out on the deck and sing songs or watch deer, squirrels or birds.

"Fly birdies, fly, fly, 

Fly birdies fly, fly..." 

(a song Nana made up - with actions!)

Tenley has started calling me Nani so guess I'm Nana to the older ones and Nani to her.  Or maybe Ba-chan (Japanese)

Claire reading a book out on the deck.

The guys enjoyed watching some sports.  There were tvs all over this house, but we didn't really spend time watching much at all.  Too much fun to be had other than watching a screen!

We played games.

And dancing

And there were waterparks (8 of them!), the deer park and a boat ride.  

Other posts coming.

Meal times -

We had all planned meals before we came and helped each other put them together.  We did a couple of Walmart pick-up orders to get some of the groceries.

I had made and pre-frozen 3 9x13 pans of bbq meatballs for our first night so we wouldn't have to do any cooking when we first arrrived.  I'd also made some pasta salad and we had fruit.  

Allen grilled German sausage once.  I don't think I want to eat them any other way now!  SOOOO good!

What?

I'll eat whatever I want.

Some of the time we ate our meals in the bottom floor.

Other times we ate around the bar by the kitchen.

The kitchen was fully loaded with plates and we put those in the dishwasher after every meal.  The kitchen had most things we needed but didn't have scissors nor an electric beater, but we made do.

There were ample bathrooms for showers, baths and getting ready.

We highly recommend this place for your family vacation!

Driving to the Dells, part 2

We drove up to Wisconsin a couple of days before the family vacaation at the Dells.   We were there for Claire's birthday.

We took Claire to Mix It Up Bakery.

Al got a big chunky square donut!

Next we stopped by the coffee shop where Hannah was working that morning.

Thank you, Hannah for the delicious coffees!

The next stop was at church where a young people's tournament was going on.

Adam, Sophia, Hannah and several others from their church are going to Romania to serve at a camp ministry there. The Romania team was serving up cold coffee espressos and then for lunch they were grilling hamburgers to raise money for the trip.

Sophie was also watching a little boy while his mommy was playing volleyball.

We stopped at Panera for a birthday lunch.

In the afternoon, Papa did some house projects.

They were having some issues with the mailbox.  Papa to the rescue.

"Serve one another humbly in love."  Galatians 5:13

Jill took Claire to Appleton to pick up a new candy that was being debuted that very day in certain locations.  Joyride is Ryan Trahan's candy (I don't know who that is).

For dinner, we had a little celebration for Claire.  Spaghetti, because that's her favorite.  Then we had leftover cake from a party she had had with friends earlier in the week.

She was sooooo excited for the gift her parents gave her!  She would have to wait for other gifts until we had a tri-celebration at the Dells for Tenley, Claire and me.  

My mother also had a June birthday.  If she'd lived, she would have been 98 this year!  Well, she IS still alive, but not on earth time any more.  "He who believes in Me has eternal life."  John 6:47

After the party, we went downstairs for some game time.

The older girls had purchased some old LIFE magazines for decorating an escape room they work at and they wanted to show them to us.  When I was a little girl, our family had LIFE magazines delivered to our home in Japan.  I loved looking at those big colorful pages!  What a kick to see these!  

We both remembered this week!  Our family was in America getting ready to return to Japan.  We were at my grandma's house in Ohio and watched the moon landing on the old black and white tv.

An advertizement from the old days.  Did we all believe this?  Perhaps it become the time we all started getting obese.  A candy bar before dinner?  Sure, why not!  Ha!

This one is from the week Al was born!

On Sunday morning, we went to church.

Hannah was on the worship team.  I love her singing!  Praise to Him.

There was a lady taking photos for Father's Day.

After church, we ate some leftovers for lunch to clean out the fridge and packed up our cars.  Allen and I headed out for Wisconsin Dells for our family vacation.  Jill's family followed shortly after.

I LOVE to see old architecture on our travels!!

This is an unusual plant.  What is it?

Where was Maps taking us??

We ended up on back roads in Amish country.

Jill texted "We've caught up with the Amish too!"

Meanwhile - the rest of the family was coming too.

Josh's family driving from Arkansas.

(Notice that these kids all have a weighted dinosaur.)

Josh's made a stop at the Cheesecake Factory!

Mindy's were flying from Denver to Madison.

Mama is relaxed.

Daddy is not so relaxed - keeping little ones entertained.

(On the way home, they would flip and Mindy would be with the girls.)

On the way from Madison airport to the Dells, the little ones fell asleep.

We followed each other on Life 360.

Meeting up!

This would be our home for the next few days.

The teens would sleep in the "treehouse".