A Weekend Away

We succumbed. We have turned into indoor water park goers. At least we did it in style. On Friday Ryan, Everest and I took off to Wisconsin Dells to meet three other couples and their children. Final count: 8 adults, 9 children, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 1 fantastic condo. Wisconsin Dells = crack cocaine for children. Wisconsin Dells = the need for crack cocaine for adults. Most of the Dells is what I like to refer to as Classy with a capital K. Waterparks, haunted mansions, souvenir shops, roller coasters, video games. I know, I know, you are thinking, well that doesn't sound that bad. But it seriously is. It is hard to explain. I guess I would compare it to a childhood trailer park version of Las Vegas. Luckily I have sort of a love for all things tacky and Wisconsin Dells knows how to do tacky. I eat up tacky and the Dells dishes it out in mass quantities. Everest absolutely loved it. Many of the kids we stayed with were right around his age. It was awesome to see him fit right into things. He was a bit small for a lot of the water slides but that did not stop him. He was quite the little adventure seeker. The slides did not scare him in the least, probably because he didn't understand what in the heck he was getting into and once he understood he was hooked. I can also offically say that Everest has himself a crush. He is a smitten kitten with my cousin's 6 year old. Brielle, oh yes, Brielle. My son whispered her name while he fell asleep on Saturday night. Kind of cute and also kind of creepy. He refers to her as "my Brielle." He stares at her longingly. I ask him if he needs help opening a juice box and he replies, "No, Brielle will do it." So easily replaced by first love.

Saturday night we stayed in Madison and that was great as well. He was just so happy. I can't explain it. It was all a joy to him. Walking around trees, singing songs down the street, chasing Ryan, randomly sitting down cross legged on the sidewalk and giggling. Not sure what that last one was about but it cracked me up. Will get old if it continues. As you can imagine, it takes a long time to get anywhere with Everest unless he is on Ryan's shoulders. We figured out that we are finally experiencing what people experienced with Everest in China. They would laugh continuously. Now that we understand him, now that he speaks Englsih, we laugh as well. It feels good to laugh.