Great Wolf

About 6 months ago, Jeremy called me at work and said he found a group deal for a night at the Great Wolf Lodge and we should use some of our vacation fund for it. We thought we'd bring the kids when they got older, but we had a hard time turning down a screaming deal and most of our friends have already made the big trip down there and said it was amazing. So, we jumped on it, waited six months and made it part of the kids' Christmas present on the way down to Shelton to spend the weekend with Jeremy's family.

We told the kids we were going shopping (it was the most boring thing we could think of) and that it would take 3 hours to get to the store. They didn't bat an eye (really? we thought this would ignite a lot more impatience). We pulled up to the lodge, parked the car and walked inside and the kids looked around with wonder and quiet excitement and knew something was up. We walked to the back of the lobby where there are 50 foot windows looking out to the indoor water park and knelt down in front of them and hugged them and told them "Merry Christmas! We get to stay here, spend the night, and explore this fun place!" They were over the moon.

We changed into our swimsuits and spend 4 hours in the water the first day. We followed it up with pizza for dinner and magic wands and hunting for secret treasures around the hotel. We watched movies in bed and threw out bedtime. We ate cupcakes for breakfast and played War, snuggled amongst the pillows. We changed into our swimsuits again and spent 7 hours in the water the second day. Parker and I lapped one of the waterslides 8 times when the line died down. We floated in the wave pool, ran around the sprinklers and snuggled in the hot tub. Everly got her courage up just before we left and went down one of the big slides by herself. The kids were happy, exhausted and content. Then we headed to the cabin to see cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles. And the excitement began again.