We had a great time with extended family from June 12 -15 in the Wisconsin Dells area. In addition to our family, all of Phil's silbings and their families and his parents spent 4 days and 3 nights together---14 of us in all! We had two big suites with full kitchens at the Glacier Canyon Lodge resort. It was a beautiful place to stay with lots to do. There were something like 5 or 6 water parks (mostly indoors, a few outdoors) all on premises of this resort. The place was just enormous and we never even had to leave the resort except for a couple of trips to WalMart for groceries. Here are a few pics of our suites:
It was so refreshing to be without a schedule for each day and just enjoy whatever it was we decided to do. The kids--even the little ones--did quite well despite that fact that we were very much off routine. Rachel enjoyed doing several different types of water slides. Although she cannot swim yet, she is tall enough to touch the bottom where the slides let you off. Isaac even did a few of the bigger slides that involved riding down on a double inner tube with Phil or one of his uncles. Isaac's favorite ones, though, were the medium sized water slides designed especially for kids in the kid ares of each of the water parks. Chun Le even went down with us on one of those family style inner tube/boats that was a pretty big enclosed tube slide (dark and fast as we rode!) and she wanted to do it again. On the last full day of vacation, Phil's brothers even talked his mom into going down the big family style inner tube slide. She had a great time and we were all very proud of her being brave to join in on the fun. :)
On Wednesday, Phil and his brothers took our big kids on a free horse carriage ride the resort offered. Isaac is being held by Uncle Andy in this picture. He started calling Uncle Andy his "best friend" midway through the vacation.
On Friday morning, we all checked out pretty early and travelled down to Peoria to be at Grandma Williams' memorial service that afternoon. The week prior to our vacation, Grandma had not been doing well in recovering from a stroke she had. Our family had travelled to the hospital in Peoria where she was in rehab on the previous Wednesday and she was pretty much nonresponsive during that day. She seemed to be improving on Friday when Phil's mom was with her all day, but then took a turn for the worse on Saturday. On Sunday, she very naturally, at the age of 92 years, went to be with Jesus while family surrounded her bedside. It was a very special remembrance of her life at the service and another chance to see extended family, some of whom we had not seen in awhile. The chance that we all had to be together for three days in the Dells was just priceless--especially in light of losing grandma just days before we left. Such a great chance for our kids and us adults to get to know each other better and share a few days of life together! We all live so far apart that this rarely happens so it was a real treat that we want to repeat in future years. :)
I don't have too many pictures as I was leaving the photo shooting to Phil's dad who enjoys taking lots of pictures. But the few posted can give you a glimpse into our fun time together.
It was so refreshing to be without a schedule for each day and just enjoy whatever it was we decided to do. The kids--even the little ones--did quite well despite that fact that we were very much off routine. Rachel enjoyed doing several different types of water slides. Although she cannot swim yet, she is tall enough to touch the bottom where the slides let you off. Isaac even did a few of the bigger slides that involved riding down on a double inner tube with Phil or one of his uncles. Isaac's favorite ones, though, were the medium sized water slides designed especially for kids in the kid ares of each of the water parks. Chun Le even went down with us on one of those family style inner tube/boats that was a pretty big enclosed tube slide (dark and fast as we rode!) and she wanted to do it again. On the last full day of vacation, Phil's brothers even talked his mom into going down the big family style inner tube slide. She had a great time and we were all very proud of her being brave to join in on the fun. :)
On Wednesday, Phil and his brothers took our big kids on a free horse carriage ride the resort offered. Isaac is being held by Uncle Andy in this picture. He started calling Uncle Andy his "best friend" midway through the vacation. 
On Friday morning, we all checked out pretty early and travelled down to Peoria to be at Grandma Williams' memorial service that afternoon. The week prior to our vacation, Grandma had not been doing well in recovering from a stroke she had. Our family had travelled to the hospital in Peoria where she was in rehab on the previous Wednesday and she was pretty much nonresponsive during that day. She seemed to be improving on Friday when Phil's mom was with her all day, but then took a turn for the worse on Saturday. On Sunday, she very naturally, at the age of 92 years, went to be with Jesus while family surrounded her bedside. It was a very special remembrance of her life at the service and another chance to see extended family, some of whom we had not seen in awhile. The chance that we all had to be together for three days in the Dells was just priceless--especially in light of losing grandma just days before we left. Such a great chance for our kids and us adults to get to know each other better and share a few days of life together! We all live so far apart that this rarely happens so it was a real treat that we want to repeat in future years. :)
I don't have too many pictures as I was leaving the photo shooting to Phil's dad who enjoys taking lots of pictures. But the few posted can give you a glimpse into our fun time together.
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