Frassati Fest @ Kalahari

Jack and Abigail had the opportunity again this year to join other high schoolers from around our diocese for a retreat at Kalahari. They heard some inspiring speakers, got to go to Adoration and confession, had some group disussions and some free time at the parks with friends.

Hi, Jack!

On Sunday morning, we met Mike, Jack, and Abby at Kalahari for Mass celebrated by the Bishop. This one was being kind of loud and naughty, thanks to four days and nights of lousy naps and nights, so we had to listen from outside the conference room.

Our pastorate's great group of of kids (and leaders).

Great Wolf Lodge {Part 2}

These are the only pictures I got, but our friends joined us on Saturday! My friend Carol brought her two girls, who are Iris's and Opal's ages. We were able to get them day passes for free by exchanging our big people's wristbands, since they weren't there anymore. The girls had SO much fun at the waterpark, playing games and making bracelets back in our room. And I cherished the opportunity to catch up some with my friend.

Another hard day of play.

I took the kids to dinner at the hotel restaurant, since we had some credits on our account.

After dinner, we took one last trip to the waterpark, since in the morning, we'd have to leave at opening time for Mass. (This looks like she's posing, but it was actually mid-action as she gracefully leapt from lily pad to lil pad, and she quickly turned to look when I called her name :-D)

My big kids were immense and eager helpers in the absence of Jack, Abby, and Mike.

What took place between these two photos included a horrific diaper incident, me running a third of a mile or so through the hotel hallways with one toddler under each arm, apologizing to fellow elevator occupants for the smell (they were all very gracious), a big mess, a bath. I'd left wipes in the room and the bigger kids were off doing water slides- I'd run into Toby and told him to pass on to the others I was heading up with the little two. After this, ice cream was, obviously, required.

I was going to share with her, but she insisted on feeding herself.

We happened to be in the lobby at dance party time, so of course, we hopped on that train. Penny was really feeling the music- https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uPSVlgCNcbI

It turned out to be a lovely evening, despite the diaper hiccup. We went back to the room and watched Ratatouille before crashing. The next morning was a bit crazier as we tried to pack, get luggage carts and and down the backlogged elevator, and get our room check-out ready in an hour (I wasn't expecting everyone to sleep SO late- should have set an alarm!)...

Still, we managed to make it to the Kalahari convention Center to meet Mike and the big kids for Mass celebrated by Bishop Hying at 10:29, and it didn't actually start until 10:38 :-) To be continued...

Great Wolf Lodge {Part 1}

For our annual "Dells in the winter" waterpark this year, we chose Great Wolf Lodge. It's geared mostly toward little people (though there's plenty for teens/adults as well), and we figured we should get one more visit in there while we still have a few in that "little people" category.

The kids (Iris and down) and I picked up Opal from gymnastics a little early last Wednesday. We grabbed a pizza at Costco for dinner, picked up a few last minute items (ahem, swimsuits for growing girls) from Target, and headed to the Dells. Mike and the big two came later after Mike's church meeting and religious Ed.

While I was checking in, there was a dance party in the lobby, so I had Iris help me bring the kids inside to let them stretch their legs a bit after being in the van for a while.

Very pleased with herself

The next morning- (Not) well-rested and ready for the waterpark!

As soon as we walked down and found a place to put our stuff for the morning, I heard, "Kellie Ryan!" it was my friend Hannah (A mutual friend of Kaethe's, who I ran the Fall50 and Ragnar with), who was there with her husband and three children. It was fun to catch up some with her and introduce families, whom we'd only heard about until now.

This one conked out after a busy morning and a low blood sugar spell

My sweet girls

Their matching suits

He was living his best life at the water park.

Famous Dave's for dinner

Found this on our bed <3

This boy played hard and crashed hard in the afternoons

Mike and the big two left for Frassati Fest at Kalahari on Friday evening before dinner. The man who was supposed to chaperone the boys had to cancel due to his wife's health problems, so Mike took his place. The younger crew and I held down the fort at Great Wolf Lodge for a couple of days without them.

Movie night!