Lake Geneva (with kids)!

Back in October, Greg and I went to Lake Geneva, WI for three days to celebrate our 5th anniversary.  We stayed at the Grand Geneva Lodge in the Grand Geneva Resort.  Also at the resort is a hotel called Timber Ridge Lodge that has an indoor water park.  We had such a great time in October that we decided to take the kids and stay at Timber Ridge for two nights as our 'end of tax season getaway.'  While it wasn't relaxing (which I wasn't expecting anyway), it was every bit as much fun as I thought it would be! :)

We left on a Monday around noon, eating lunch in the van on the way up.  It's only about a three hour drive, and all three kids took great naps before we got there.  Once we had settled into our room, we drove to the downtown area to walk around and eat some supper.

The kids LOVED the fountain in front of the Riviera building.  I think it was their favorite part of the whole town!

Cute Nora.

For supper, we ate at Sopra, our favorite restaurant from our last visit.  Click here for the blog post from October that talks about it.  This time, we took pictures of our food! :)

Greg got the pork tenderloin with mushrooms (which he loved),

and I got the trout (the special of the day), which was very very good!  The kids shared the chicken, spinach, and smoked mozzerella gnocchi that I got last time.  It was all incredibly yummy!

Back at the hotel, we checked out the water park and discovered the arcade that was nearby.

(Sorry, I can't get this highlighting to disappear!)

Greg played some Mario Kart.

Nora 'played' some Mario Kart.  It was so funny to watch her...she didn't even care if she was actually playing the game or not. :)

The next morning, we decided to take the trolley to the Dan Patch Stables that are at the resort.

The trolley driver offered to take a family picture...I wish it weren't so blurry!

At the stables, we wandered around the petting zoo...Max liked the cows, goats, and donkey.

All of a sudden, a herd of horses came galloping through a gate into the big fenced in area in front of us.  They were SO pretty!  It turns out they were all headed to the barn for feeding time.

Nora liked the funny chickens; Tirzah did NOT so much.

Beautiful!

Once the horses had eaten, they wandered out into their pasture and nearly all of them came up to the fence so we could pet them a bit.  Tirzah liked them!

They offered rides on a little pony named Patches.  Not surprisingly, Max and Nora both said they wanted to go, and Max was about ready to try and climb up by himself!  He was pretty excited. :)

Here he goes!

The lady who led Patches around was named Jessie...I'm pretty sure Max was talking her ear off as he rode around.

Once Max was done, I was not surprised at all when Nora shied away from the pony and said she didn't want to ride.  After some whining, maybe a little crying, and petting Patches, Greg finally got her to sit on the pony.  She was still not too sure.

Greg offered to hold her hand for a little bit while she rode Patches, and she was still not too sure.

Finally, Greg let go and she went by herself...and she LOVED it!  You could tell she was pretty proud of herself, and to be honest, so was I!  It's always exciting when our timid Nora will do something out of her comfort zone...I am afraid that she is WAY too much like her mom.  I told Greg that he is pretty much always going to have to be the one to make Nora try new things...I'm too much like her!

Evidence that Nora really liked her pony ride:  She and Max both petted this cute little pony on our way out of the stables,

and when Max left, Nora stayed a bit longer by herself!  Not scared at all!

We decided to walk back to Timber Ridge instead of taking the trolley so we could try and get some pictures.  Here are the kids in front of the entrance to the Grand Geneva.

The tulips were all SO pretty!  We tried so many times for a good picture of the kids, but it was just not meant to be, I guess.

Gorgeous!

We did get a decent self-timer shot, but you can't see many tulips. :)

As we got to the hotel, Max and Nora wanted to stop and see the waterfall at it's entrance.

Tirzah was about done with pictures...the ones on the camera before this were of her crying and fussing.  Then, when her daddy started talking to her, the change was instant!

Love it!

Next, we went back downtown to take a carriage ride!  As it turned out, we had the same horse as our ride in October.  Her name is Maddie.

Hi, Maddie!  You're pretty!

After the ride (in which Nora almost fell asleep), Max fed her a carrot.

"She ate it!"

Nora wouldn't do it, so Greg had to help her.

More fountain fun...it was warmer this day, so...

Max loved getting splashed!

We ate lunch at a place called Popeye's that we had heard good things about.  They are well-known for their flame-roasted chicken, pork, and beef.  Greg got a sampler platter and they were all delicious!  I got some kind of chicken wrap and it was the best thing I'd eaten in a long time...amazing!

After lunch, we walked back to Kilwin's so the kids could pick out a treat.  Max and Nora both chose mini ice cream cones that had a chocolate covered marshmallow, decorated to look like ice cream.  We took our treats and ate by the lake...no good pictures, but the kids loved it.

The older kids wouldn't nap back at the hotel, but Tirzah slept for several hours.  That evening we just ordered a pizza in for supper and went back to the water park.

Max and Nora 'drying off.'

That green slide was a tube slide.  The kids were not too excited about it the first couple of times they went with Greg, but eventually Max loved it and Nora liked it...but every time she would get to the top, she would still cry a bit and say, "I don't want to go!"  Once she was on the tube and going down the slide, she was fine!

This was her favorite part, though:  the Lazy River!

That night she just crashed on the couch...too much vacation (and no nap!)

This was our room...it had a loft where the kids slept.  They LOVED being able to sleep up there by themselves!  And since we had two bathrooms (one upstairs, one downstairs), Tirzah was able to have her own 'room' in the huge bathroom downstairs.  It was the BEST couple nights of sleep in a hotel I've had with kids!

Wednesday morning Greg took the older kids to the water park one last time and we all played in the arcade for a bit.  Greg was trying to just use up tokens and, at one game, won 1000 tickets!  I wish I would have had my camera...it was pretty funny!

Checking out of the hotel, Max and Nora posed with Bruce the Moose, the mascot of the hotel.

We drove into town to look for a place to eat lunch, and the Baker House parking sign made me laugh.  They were closed, unfortunately.

Instead, we ate at Sprecher's, which was still as good as ever!  Nora loved her grape soda!

It was a super fun two days, and a great way to end Greg's busy season...we loved Lake Geneva!  (Or, as the kids called it, Chimpaneva!)