We decided to spend Labor Day Weekend at Wisconsin Dells (which is a 2-hour drive) in continuation of Rinoa’s birthday celebration. Mica and Rinoa had an incredible time, and there was so much to do that I wondered why we never considered visiting this town before. It’s like the Las Vegas of waterparks.

We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge, which had a woodland theme and which we found to be one of the most children-friendly places in the area. Three times a day, they have an animated clock tower show here in the lobby. And every night, children in their pajamas gather here for storytime.

Our room, which sleeps 7 people, had a children’s cabin with a bunkbed that Mica and Rinoa went gaga over (shown behind Mica in the picture). I’m also showing Troy who went nuts with a glow stick that Mica and Rinoa won at the arcade.

Our room included free passes to the waterparks for the length of our stay. The hotel had three themed waterparks. It’s surprising to see Rinoa so fearless. She went down a 5-storey water slide about 8 times – the one that made Troy purple when he tried it once.

Mica had the most fun at Magiquest, a live interactive pixie/dragon adventure game. It was quite interesting. You purchase a wand and go on quests throughout this 4-storey building. It took Mica two days to complete all her adventures/quests.

To make the most of our stay at the lodge, we purchased a Paw Pass for each of the girls. The pass included the following:

• Magiquest wand and adventure game
• wand decorating workshop (well, where you get to decorate your wand)
• stuffed animal (similar to Build-a-Bear)
• 50 arcade tokens
• souvenir sipper cup
• coupon book for the nearby outlet mall (which I was able to use)

The Paw Pass was $40 or $50 each. (I don’t remember exactly). But it was just $5 or $10 more than simply purchasing a wand and a game, so we went for it.

We also went to the Wisconsin Deer Park, which is located downtown. Mica and Rinoa were thrilled to be up close and personal with the deer.

And this is for my good friend, Rhea. Troy and I thought the sign was hilarious. =)