Gotta love your girfriends.

Nine women God brought together.

Hanging out in a large studio for the weekend.

At the Wisconsin Dells.

What a wonderful time.

But I'm a bit exhausted. No details now. Gonna get in a little nap.

A wet time

We're home from the Dells. Thankfully, my pain was not as bad as it had been on Thursday and Friday. And my husband was really great with taking care of the kids and going on all the water slides with Cameron, when I just wasn't comfortable enough to myself. (It really took all my effort to put on the bathing suit...and I basically wore a cover up and carried around a towel most of the time. The whole fake boob thing was just too weird and I was worried that I looked lopsided the entire time!)

The kids absolutely loved spending time in the indoor water park. This was Cameron's first time when he wasn't afraid of all the big slides. And although Max was too afraid to go down any slides, he loved hanging out in the hot tub with me. If you just mentioned the word "swimming" to Ella, she would get so excited, she could hardly contain herself, speaking in some crazy tongues so it seemed the whole walk down the halls to the park. When we told her that we were getting ready to go, she would rush to get her shoes on, grab my hand and pull me, saying, "Come on Mommy! Swimming." And she didn't care that her snowboots weren't really the proper footwear for the occasion.

Despite all the time they spent in the water, the only picture I can show for it is this one:

It was impossible to take any pictures in the actual park because Ella just kept taking off to wherever she wanted to go, with no concern as whether I was with her or not.

I also had a really great picture of my husband sleeping, to demonstrate how exhausted he was after literally spending almost the entire day with the kids at the park on Saturday, but he told me that I am NOT allowed to post it. And since he was such a good sport with the kids, I must respect his wishes.

Overall, it was a good time. It was especially great that because we were indoors the entire trip, we missed the snowstorm that blanketed the area. And when we came home, our neighbors across the street had shoveled our snow. Now how wonderful is that!

The kids are excited.

I had my 6th chemo treatment on Monday (my 2nd Taxol treatment). The shooting pains are back…but worse. They’re mostly in my legs. What I described last time as just annoying is a bit more agonizing. The docs gave me pain meds, but I have this fear of getting addicted to them ,so I take the mildest form possible. It’s not working very well.

It should be an interesting trip to the Dells this weekend. 3 hour car ride. 2 days at a waterpark. One day I’ll look back and laugh.

Our new Dells condo

This weekend we took a trip to Wisconsin Dells. For those of you not from the Upper Midwest, it’s sorta the Disney World around here. Just 3 ½ hour from the Twin Cities and also from Chicago. The town is one giant waterpark…with hotels more like resorts, offering both indoor and outdoor waterslides, wavepools, etc. In the summertime there’s even more to do with a river, small amusement parks, etc. It’s very touristy, with the class of Niagara Falls. I’m not sure if there is one, but I wouldn’t be surprised if on some corner there’s a Ripley’s Believe it or Not, or some Madame’s Wax Museum.

Before we left for this trip, Melvin asked me, “Are you ready for a relaxing weekend?”

“Relaxing weekend? We are taking our 3 kids, none of whom can actually swim, to a waterpark. I think you better lower your standards," was my response.

Actually, it turned out to be pretty fun. At The Chula Vista Resort, the kids splashed around in the water, too scared for any water slides, but loving the hot tub. There was a small arcade they enjoyed, and we stayed in a really nice studio, complete with a Jacuzzi tub and stone fireplace.

The weekend was pretty uneventful…..except for when Max sorta took off past our room without me knowing when he and Cameron were sprinting down the hallway. I found him about 7 minutes later, 2 stories up (he ran past our room, up the stairs), IN a room 3 doors down. (The cleaners had all the rooms propped open with the latch, so even though he tried to close the door, it remained open an inch). I kept yelling his name, and every so often I’d hear a faint “What?” until I finally found him. He was laughing and giggling at me. “I was hiding Mommy! I was hiding!”