In mid-May David always gets a few days off (Spring term ends, Summer term is about to begin). This year, we decided to head to Great Wolf Lodge for a few days! I've been wanting to go there for years, but knew we should hold out until the twins were a little older.
I have several friends with kids the same age who said their kids were able to do all or most of the activities there, so I went ahead and booked it.
I'll be honest, I was totally the most excited person in the family when it came to this trip!
I googled images and made all four of us sit around the computer and look at all things we could do there and imagine all the fun we were gonna have.
I'm an anticipation girl =).
We booked the trip in March, and before we knew it, it was time to go!
Abs and her pup Scratchy "helping" me pack...
It was about a two hour drive from our house, which was just enough time for the kiddos to watch a movie on the travel DVD player, and for David and I to get some good chatting done. I love that part of road trips =).
I loved how "lodgey" Great Wolf Lodge was! It was all log cabin and wilderness.
They give you these adorable wolf ears at check-in...
They have all kinds of super-cool suites, but in order to save money we just got the standard room. Our kids still managed to have fun...
A family shot with the self timer =). This was Abbey and Luke's first time using that feature, and poor Abs held her "cheese" the entire 10 second count down. Bless her heart.
Abs being "the Hulk" (I love how you can see David laughing in the background)
Luke showing us his Hulk impression...
Then we headed down to the Water Park!! I loved that it was all inclusive inside the resort. No going outside in the cold in swimsuits and flipflops!
I also loved that your wrist band served as both your room key and your debit card. That made it SO handy to not have to bring keys or wallets with us anywhere.
I didn't bring my camera down there the first afternoon. But trust me, although it is undocumented, fun was had.
=)
After a few hours of water fun, we headed back to our room for dinner. We ate pizza in our room, bathed the kids, and then David played Trouble with the kids while I showered and got ready for the night.
I also loved that your wrist band served as both your room key and your debit card. That made it SO handy to not have to bring keys or wallets with us anywhere.
I didn't bring my camera down there the first afternoon. But trust me, although it is undocumented, fun was had.
=)
After a few hours of water fun, we headed back to our room for dinner. We ate pizza in our room, bathed the kids, and then David played Trouble with the kids while I showered and got ready for the night.
then I took them downstairs for the Bedtime Story...
"Wiley" the resort mascot =)
After the wilderness show and the story, (which our kids ATE UP by the way! Five was a perfect age for this place!) we got to meet Wiley up close and personal.
I shared a bed with Abbey that night, and David with Luke. And I was reminded again of why I'm not a cosleeper. I love the idea of it. I wish I could do it. But sweet mercy that was a terrible night's sleep! It was like sharing a bed with Mohammed Ali. (I'm just assuming, of course)
The next day we ate breakfast in the room (I made up some sausage balls, cut up fruit, and donuts - family vacation tradition! And brought them along as our room had a fridge and microwave- hooray!)
We got ready and headed down for a day of water fun!
We got ready and headed down for a day of water fun!
I brought my camera along to catch some of the fun.
Luke and Abbey heading into the Wave Pool...
The five flights of stairs you climb to get to various water slides...
Both kids LOVED this lily pad crossing thing. They only needed a *tiny* bit of help (that's me helping Abs across), and we did this eleventy billion times.
Our sweet girl having the time of her life!
Another view of parts of the park...
This little two person ride was a favorite as well! We went down this TONS of times!! It was SO GREAT being there mid-week, there were hardly any lines and we just walked right up to the rides time after time without any wait!
I triple-dog-dare you to find a cuter boy than this one...
Luke declared that "shootin' hoops" was his favorite part of the trip...
(Abbey)
This is a picture of the bottom of my favorite ride. Our whole family gets into one of those beige circular rafts you see going up the conveyor belt there, and goes down a twisty, windy tunnel. SO FUN.
We spent some time playing in the "Little Kids" area each day as well...
More of the Kids area...the twins each took turns squirting Daddy.
He's a pretty good sport =)
These were Abbey's favorite. Every time you asked her what she wanted to do, she'd declare "the Red Slide and the Yellow Slide!" Without hesitation.
Luke
David
Luke standing on Daddy in the Wave Pool (Abbey off to the left)
We took an early afternoon break and came back to our room for lunch and rest.
I'm the only one who napped.
(and I'm not even ashamed. Momma was kicked.)
We headed back down mid-afternoon and swam and played the rest of the day away.
We headed back up to the room for showers at about 7pm. Normally our kids go to bed around 7:30pm, but one fantastic thing about five year olds is you can stretch them a bit. Having two infants/toddlers the same age really required we be pretty regimented and scheduled for a long time. It's what we needed to do to stay on top of the chaos. But now, we can be a lot more flexible with schedules, and we are ALL loving that =).
We headed down dinner around 8pm.
I know.
My handsome boys, killing time before our food comes...
Me and my girl...
And a few goofy pictures to pass the time...
The kids and I went to the Bedtime Story again that night, and enjoyed it even more now that we knew what to expect.
Luke imitating the dancing tree...
And then it was back to the room for bedtime. I shared a bed with Luke that night, and he was MUCH less restless than his sister. Well, that, and we all CRASHED after playing for so many hours that day!
We woke up our last morning there, ate breakfast in the room, and headed down to play. We swam and played, and had a blast together!
Before we left, each person got to pick their favorite thing to do, and the whole family did each thing together. I picked the family raft ride, Abbey the Red and Yellow slides, Luke the Lily Pads, and Dave the two-person raft ride.
Then we showered and got on some dry clothes, picked out a lovie from the gift shop (I'm a sucker for something to remember fun times by!), and said good-bye to Great Wolf Lodge!
We got home around 4pm that afternoon, and the kids were wiped out. They came in from the van and immediately plopped on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, watching a movie. (which I didn't hate, as it allowed me to get us all unpacked and laundry started in peace =) )
A fantastically fun family vacation on the books!
