How to Survive the Wisconsin Dells

Our summer is in full swing and we've had our fair share of fun, sun, and our usual summer vacations: Sailing the Apostle Islands (sans-kids), and taking the children to the Wisconsin Dells. This is our third summer in a row doing back-to-back sailing and Dells, and just now have I had the brilliant realization that we are doing it all backwards. We need to do the Dells trip first, and then come home, drop the kids off with gma, and then go do our four days of adult seclusion around the islands, because woah-man, going to the Wisconsin Dells is cra-zy! Don't get me wrong. I love spending time with my family and making memories with the kids, but the Wisconsin Dells are like Las Vegas except for children. It's lots of bright lights, loud noises, large crowds, and spoiling the kids silly. So after three years, I've deemed myself expert and have broken down surviving the WI Dells into a simple 3 step process:

1. Make time for your own kind of fun.

This trip is all about the kids, there's no doubt about that. But there's only so much kiddie-water time an adult can handle. If you spend your day chasing your kids around with a bottle of sunscreen and playing cheezey-themed games, you are no doubt going to go insane. You need time for your own kind of fun, and for me that's relaxing by the pool. I love sunbathing, and now I have our family take a quiet playtime in a small contained pool for a short while while I lay on the side, supervise and relax. Everyone will have more fun when everyone has fun, so it's not selfish to prioritize some time for yourself.

2. Recognize your child's limits.

All children turn into little gremlins under the right circumstances: little sleep, empty tummies, sensory overload, etc. Avoid the gremlin transformation by allowing adequate time for transitions, prepping kids to wait in line, and feeding them healthy, protein packed meals.

3. Just Do It,

I know I know. Cheesey clique. But seriously. Your kids aren't going to be bouncing-off-the-wall-excited-to-be-in-the-wisconsin-dells little cuties forever. I'm going to have all the time in the world to sit still, eat quinoa salads, read books, and sip iced coffees once the kids are out of the house....or worse yet at an age where they'd rather hang out with their friends than be caught dead at a water park with me. So I decided to put all my adversities to crowds and blinkie lights aside in order to play hand-in-hand with my bright-eyed children who were begging me to have fun with them. And guess what? I loved it. And they loved me loving it.