We just got back from our first trip to the Dells with Miss Ellison. We have taken her up north to the Miller cabin a couple times and to her grandparents house in Manitowoc, but this was our first "vacation" with just the three of us. I say "vacation" because it was not exactly the relaxing type of situation I would typically think of as a vacation!
We picked Kalahari because it seemed to be the most "little kid" friendly of the big resorts in the Dells. I could not believe the size of the place when we drove up! My mom, sister and I spent a fair amount of time in Wisconsin Dells when Konneli and I were younger, because my grandparents lived there in the summer. All the huge resorts were being built right around that time...but none of them were anywhere near the size Kalahari is now. It's basically a little city! There's a movie theater, spa, indoor theme park (mini golf, bowling alley, ferris wheel, go karts, laser tag, etc), indoor and outdoor waterparks, 4 full restaurants plus tons of other smaller food places scattered throughout...it's insane!!!
Jay and I don't have many weekends off together, so even though we had been wanting to do this trip for awhile, we finally got around to officially picking a date within the last month or so. We wanted Ellison to be old enough to enjoy the water park! We drove to the Dells on Friday with half of our house in the car (seriously, toddlers require a lot of stuff!!!) and checked in around dinner time. After ordering some room service pizza - which was really good - we trekked down to the waterpark to check it out. It was past Ellison's bedtime already, but she was pretty stir crazy from being in the car so we figured we might as well go down and see what it was all about! (sidenote, I miss when she fell asleep in the car as soon as it started moving...she does not appreciate car rides anymore!)
On our way to the Dells
Let's go to the water park!
The hotel requires kids under a certain age to wear a life jacket in the water park. Ellison was NOT into it. As soon as we put it on her, she was completely freaked out and wanted nothing to do with anything. I don't think we even got a picture of her wearing it because she hated it so much. Luckily, one of the lifeguards told us she didn't need to wear it in the kid's area (which was called Tiko's Watering Hole). Thank goodness! Once that was off she started having fun. She especially liked these turtles whose heads made noise when you tapped them. She kept going back to them the next day, too!
We knew it wasn't going to be easy getting Ellison to sleep in this strange new place. We brought the Pack N Play along for her, but we were all in one room, so all the lights had to be out and we had to be as quiet as possible. Basically, if Ellison was asleep, all of us had to be asleep! Our room had two beds so Jay had the idea of propping one mattress up on its side and making a little wall between the Pack N Play and the rest of the room, so Ellison wouldn't be able to see us (she never would have fallen asleep if she could see we were right there). Eventually, she went to sleep and slept most of the night. I think she woke up twice. I actually can't believe she fell asleep at all, considering there was noise from above us, from the hall, basically from all around us. Guess the water tired her out!
Tiko's Watering Hole
"Coloring" at breakfast
After Ellison's second nap, we headed to dinner at another one of the restaurants, Kahunaville. The food was tasty (Jay and I both had stir fry, Ellison had chicken fingers and fruit) but E was a little wild. We had been planning on going back to the water park again to tire her out, but her behavior at dinner made it pretty clear that she was already tired! It took quite a while to get her to sleep, so by the time she was sleeping it was time for Jay and I to go to bed too. I actually got to read a chapter or two in a book before falling asleep though, which I haven't been able to do in forever!
Sunday morning we had breakfast at Ivory Coast again. We had been planning to go to the breakfast buffet at one of the other restaurants, but the wait there was a lot longer and Miss Ellison wasn't going to wait! Ivory Coast had delicious strawberry mimosas, so it was ok with me! By the time breakfast was done it was already time to start packing up for check out :(
Ellison loved pointing at the fans at Ivory Coast
The weekend went way too fast! I think we learned a lot about traveling with a toddler (get two rooms next time being number one for me). It was a lot of fun watching E play in the water! I think she had a good time, but she definitely has a toddler attitude now. She shrieks to get attention, to get what she wants, when she is tired, hungry, has a wet diaper...basically for any reason at all. She does not appreciate being told no or sitting still for any period of time. She has started hitting, which is not fun. It will take some getting used to her increased sass. But all in all, it was enjoyable and I'm glad we got away from home for a couple days! And, Ellison passed out in the car for the majority of the ride home!!!
Ellison is still not walking independently, but she continues to take steps now and then. I'm surprised she can't walk yet, but I know she will get it in her own time! She likes to hold our fingers and walk with us, and she has been cruising the furniture for months, so I know it's coming soon. She has been getting into everything since she learned to army crawl (six months ago tomorrow!), so I don't think much will change when she figures the walking thing out. She can make a big mess FAST and seems to always find ways to get things we don't think she will be able to reach.
Likes standing, but so far not walking!
Ells finally figured out how to clap a few days after her birthday. She has been trying to wink at us, which she does with both eyes. It's really cute! She will sometimes point out her eyes and nose for us (Gramma Janis has been working on that with her). She loves stacking toys (especially her rings) and today she put the shapes into the right slots on one of her little shape sorters! I was so proud of her! She has also started picking toys up and throwing them...not sure how I feel about that development.
Ellison has been trying to feed herself with both spoons and forks, and sometimes she even gets a bite into her mouth. She is still drinking most of her milk out of bottles. I'm not in a huge rush to completely transition to cups...she's so tiny and I want to make sure she gets in the amount of milk she needs to grow. If she wants it to come from a bottle, I'll let her have it that way for a little while longer. She will sometimes drink milk from a cup, but other times she will throw a fit and refuse to even pick it up. It's definitely a process! My goal is that by her 15 month appointment she will be done with bottles (but hopefully it will happen before that).
Still not too many words, but she babbles constantly. She calls both Jay and I (and sometimes other people), "dada". She still points constantly and says "what's that". Sometimes we will get a "cup" out of her. There are a couple other words that I think I hear (like "doggie", "hi" and "cute") but I am not 100% sure of! She has her own sign that she does for "more" when she's eating. Sometimes I think she does it because she can, and not because she actually wants more...although she can really pack in the food. For someone so small I can't believe how much she eats!
Loves to brush her own teeth
Such a silly girl
Having a snack in one of her chairs
Going for a ride!
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