After dinner on Sunday, Aaron and I finished packing up the car and got the kids into it. We sort of surprised the kids with this trip - it made it more fun! On the drive up, the girls kept asking questions, trying to guess where we were going. When we passed the water parks (our exit was just after the Wisconsin Dells resorts exit), they were pretty excited. I think it was a little bit of a letdown to find they were not going to the parks, but they were still super thrilled when we got to the apartment. Even without the water parks, they were all excited to be in a new place with plans to go swimming!
We didn't let them swim that night; it was bedtime when we arrived. The next morning, they were chomping at the bits to get to that water! We got them to eat some muffins and fruit for breakfast before we got them up to the pool. The activity center was just up the hill behind our apartment, so Aaron took the older kids and scampered up; Cole and I took the car to Walmart to get the swim diapers I forgot. I took the opportunity to spring for a few pool toys, too. This turned out to be a great investment, since we spent so much time at the pool - every morning for three days, a couple hours each time!
After swimming, we'd come back to the apartment, shower and eat lunch, then the girls and I would do a craft while the boys napped. This really was a nice thing during the trip, especially since the rain never really let up through the three days. Day one's craft was painting pencil boxes.
Post naps each day, we had a different activity. Monday was the Circus World Museum where we first saw a magic show. Actually, it was raining a lot when we got there and we were chagrined to learn that Circus World is like a big open park with separate buildings all over. Not only that, but the entrance building was across a river and a big open (muddy) park from the magic show building. We were positively soaked when we got to the illusion performance! It was a comical show, even if it was brief. Lizzie was chosen for one of the tricks - the 'solid passing through a solid mirror' trick. She was so excited to have a chance on stage with the magician!
After the show was over, we noticed the rain had slowed, so we went to the nearest building, which happened to have an incredible collection of antique circus wagon cars. Really, the art on those old wagons was was fascinating! There were signs everywhere about not climbing on the displays, but we were nearly the only people there - besides a couple who were also the only others in the magic performance - and the man in charge of the building offered to put the kids up himself! So with permission, we put them on the pavilion float, then loaded them into a lion cage!
The rain had slowed to a slight drizzle, so we went to two other buildings. One had tidbits on clowns and famous circus characters, the other had a little theater where we could watch rerun bits on big top performances from long ago. All of it was really interesting to me and Aaron, but the kids didn't really get it. It was also kind of sad that this big empty circus area with this sickly sweet circus music playing. Honestly, if it had stopped raining and we'd wandered through the outdoor displays, it would have been down right eerie!
Did you know there was a 'Cole and Bros Circus' group? It worked out great for Baby Cole!
