Dubuque {family fun on a budget}

A few weeks ago we headed to Dubuque for a mini family getaway.  Our goal was to soak up each other and have tons of fun...on a budget!  We got a Groupon for the The Grand Harbor Resort a few months back and booked our room right away.  It saved us money on our hotel stay for sure!  The hotel was not fancy but it was clean and the boys LOVED it!  We packed food for picnic lunches and snacks on the go.  We packed healthy things and sweet treats to satisfy our sweet tooth.  The boys helped make the cookies and the banana muffins that we took for breakfast.  We took a lot of stuff for a short amount of time but you just never know what you might need with two wild boys!  We had so much fun...I hope this post makes you want to visit Dubuque---it is such a great town!

This is Hutchinson all snuggled in for the three and half hour drive that we had ahead of us.  Don't let his cuteness fool you, he only slept for about a half hour.  :)  We stopped for a picnic in Independence before getting to the hotel around 2 pm.

As soon as we got to the room, the boys started checking out the view of the Mighty Mississippi!  They thought it was so cool to see the river right out our window and of course, it had boats!  They even saw a river boat!  After a quick snack, we headed straight for the waterpark.  They LOVED it.  It was so awesome to see them be so brave and try new things.  It was a great lesson is risk taking.  You want to push them just a little so they try new things but you don't want to terrify them either!  Once Finnean tried the slides, he couldn't get enough.  Michael and I took turns going down with him.  Hutchinson liked the lazy river and shooting hoops a little more than the slides.  The boys cheered while Michael or I went down the super fast tube slide.  It was so cute to look down and see the three of them SO excited that I was going down the slide by myself. 

After our time at the pool it was time for dinner.  Our Groupon included $25 to the restaurant in the hotel.  It was PERFECT!  We ordered it to go and had a picnic in the hotel.  The boys thought it was awesome and enjoyed running along the beautiful river walk while we waited for our food.  Getting take out was the best idea-we only spent $3 on dinner...if we would have dined in, it would have been way more.  The boys ate some of the food we packed for the trip to complete their dinner of saucy chicken bites.  It was great AND we didn't have to deal with squirmy kids at a restaurant ;) After we let our food settle we headed BACK to the pool for some more fun in the water.  It was a perfect way to spend the evening.

After the second two hours at the pool, we were all pretty tired.  I gave the boys baths and Michael ran over to Wisconsin to get some of our favorite beer, New Glarus!  {Our treat for surviving three and a half hours in the car with two kids and then four hours at a waterpark!} Everything was going along fine and I got the boys out of the bath to dry off.  I thought that I smelled something but I just chalked it up to being in a hotel bathroom.  Then I told Hutchinson to go in the other room so I could get his diaper on, when he ran away there was a pile of POOP on the floor.  He had been sitting there all wrap up in his towel...going potty.  I HATE poop.  I was instantly grossed out and gagging uncontrollably.  Needless to say, Michael got a good laugh out of my little adventure while he was gone.  It was gross I tell you, just plain gross.  Anyway... I had to share because I definitely will not be forgetting that it happened anytime soon! :)

We brought along Cars for the boys to watch after baths.  They snuggled up in Finnean's bed and had a blast.  It just melted my heart to see them laughing together and just snuggling with each other.  It was a queen bed and they were all cuddled up on one side.  Of course, they both had to bring their Georgie and stripe blanket.  After we watched a little Cars, they were so tired.  Hutchinson slept in the pack and play and was out in less the 30 seconds.  He didn't make a peep.  He looked SO big in that tiny pack and play.  It is amazing how much he has grown.  Finnean did a great job and settled right down and was asleep in 15 minutes.  We chalked that up to a huge victory, cracked a beer and snuggled up to watch a movie on the iPad.  It was the perfect end to a super fun day!

The next morning we packed up everything and headed over to The Mississippi River Museum.  We luckily had two free kid's admission tickets and asked our hotel if they had any coupons...that saved us a couple bucks off the adult admission.  The museum is in the parking lot of the hotel, so just a few minutes after check out...we were off on our next adventure. 

They had a saltwater tank that the boys loved.  I love the bottom picture of the two boys.  Finnean up close checking it out and little Hutchinson standing back, soaking it all in!

After exploring some history, we headed up to the Wet and Wild room.  It was a fun place for the boys to check out how river works.  They really enjoyed building their own boats and floating them in the river.  They could have stayed there for a while!  We left that building and headed outside for some more exploring...

The boys of course loved the train tracks.  They also had big steam engines sitting in this courtyard...they were pretty cool too!

We headed to an old river dredging boat and got to take a tour of it.  It was nice because after a short history of the boat from the volunteer, we could walk around on our own.  They boys loved the captain's quarters and being up so high on the decks.  Hutchinson found this anchor that he really wanted to move.  Even with his big muscles (that he is showing in the top left picture), he couldn't make it move.  He called in reinforcements from big bro but even with two Wagler boys, they just couldn't get it to budge! :)

The boys spotted a train and they thought it was pretty cool to see it so close.  I enjoyed the river views from the other side of the boat.  Obviously, so did Hutchinson, as he isn't looking at the camera.  The bottom picture is all of us in the captain's deck of the boat.  It was such a neat experience!

  

After the boat tour, we headed for a snack break.  We relaxed on this pretty walk way and listen to a calliope.  You can see it in the lower left picture that Hutchinson is in.  It was loud but played very beautiful music.  I love this family picture of us-those boys have my heart!

After snack we headed into the last building of the museum.  This building focused more on the river and turtles.  They have this amazing collection of turtles.  They even had a turtle shell that you could try on.  Hutchinson was having trouble waiting his turn! :)  We explored all kinds of turtles and learned a few things for sure.  They also had different rooms of river boat in the old train depot building.  The boys loved exploring!



After we finished up at the museum we headed to a beautiful park in downtown Dubuque for a picnic lunch.  Packing food and picnicking was the easiest way to save money on our trip.  The boys ate because it was food they like and it was a perfect opportunity to run around a little bit.  We had lots of giggles under a big shady tree at lunch that day.  We were gearing up for our trip on the Fenelon Place Elevator.  If you go to Dubuque, you must do this!  It was only $6 (the boys were free) and the view was amazing.  The ride itself was so cool.  We were surprised about how quiet it was.  If you were standing in the dark, you wouldn't even know it was coming!  The boys thought it was awesome...so did Michael and I!

Views from the top!

Finnean is quite the photographer these days! I love this picture!

 

After a quick pit stop to go potty, we headed back to the center of our great state.  It didn't take long for the back seat to look like this!  It was a fast trip to Dubuque but filled with tons of family memories.  I absolutely love exploring with these boys and seeing the world through their eyes.   I should mention that the quiet did not last for too long but the boys were happy.  They weren't crabby or anything they were just demanding!!  Can I have a snack?  Could I get another book please?  Do we have any water?  What time will we be there?  Where is the Truck Book?  Do you have any more cars?  I want Lighting. (McQueen-from Cars) Oh. My Goodness.  I was exhausted.  I actually asked Michael if I could drive and I HATE driving.  I guess that is what we get for not introducing a DVD player in the car.  We are holding out until we REALLY need!  I shouldn't complain, they did awesome on the ride...they just needed me to help keep them entertained!

 

About the time we made it to Ames, we were all getting pretty restless.  We had to pick up Jerry at Uncle Trav's house, so we decided that Hickory Park was a good idea.  We were hungry from our adventures and their ice cream always makes everything better!  Michael, Hutchinson and I split a Smores Sundae.  It is one of my favorite things on the planet.  It is just so tasty and Finnean had a scoop of strawberry. I should mention that their BBQ is pretty darn good too!  Now that was a perfect way to end our awesome little getaway. 

{Side note: HP is an awesome place to eat on a budget-the kids split a meal because the portions are huge and it comes with a scoop of ice cream and a milk (sometimes they don't).  Michael and I got water to drink...$24 with a tip and that even included that yummy Smores Sundae for dessert!}