Vacation

So, here's how this all went down.  Friday afternoon I was looking at prices on the site for Great Wolf Lodge.  Brian had the weekend off, and it seemed like a good time to go (friends went earlier in the week and said they'd gotten a great homeschool rate.  I couldn't seem to find that code, but found another deal that was do-able.)  I decided to ask Brian about it when he got home that night.  Unfortnuately, he worked late Friday night and I was asleep when he got home.  Saturday is my early morning, and I take off (usually before anyone is awake) to Starbucks to do my homeschool planning for the week (or at least get a start on it.)  When I got home, I found Brian in the girls' room, changing Natalie's diaper.  I went in, shut the door (Sam and Hallie were in the livingroom), sat on the floor and whispered "Let's get out of here!"  His first response was "Huh?"  As I explained my idea, he got excited about the possibility and said "Yeah!  Let's do it!"  I hopped online to reserve a room and was bummed to see the rates had just about doubled overnight.  Not to be deterred, we checked our account balance again and decided to proceed.  Within about an hour, we were on the road, headed to Grand Mound.

For some reason, this weekend the larger "Kid Cabin" rooms were actually cheaper than the next level down.  A seperate area in the room had 2 bunks and a daybed, it's own TV, and was decorated to look like a little cozy cabin in the woods, complete with friendly woodland critters painted everywhere. 

 
(Sam and Natalie in the kid cabin, ready to hit the waterpark.)

At check-in, we were all given plastic bracelets.  These were a brilliant touch.  Not only were they our admission tickets to the water park, but a little microchip inside made them double as our room key (just hold your wrist up to the door and it unlocks... no need to keep track of a key while using the waterpark!)  Beyond that, they could be scanned to pay for food at the restaurants (or in-resort Starbucks), or items at the giftshop... no need to carry cash!  I know... it's all a little "endtimes-ish", but it was removable, and really convenient!

 

In the evening, there was a audioanimatronics show at the "clock tower", followed by a storytime for all the kids in their jammies.  (This night the book was "Caps for Sale.")  Following the story, the children could line up to hug or high-five Wiley the Wolf.  Sam was obviously very excited (lots of "happy hands"), and the storyteller lady could see that.  What I loved was, she didn't ignore it, or look down on his odd behavior... she seemed to get a kick out of it, and whispered it to Wiley, so he'd be ready to give Sam a BIG hug. 

We grabbed a late dinner at Pizza Hut Express (right in the resort), and tucked the kids into bed.  Unfortunately, Natty only lasted a couple of hours before deciding she needed to wake the whole hotel.  She ended up in our bed, kicking me in the head the rest of the night.  When I asked her the next morning why she wouldn't sleep in her bed, she said (several times) what sounded exactly like "Bottom Bunk."  Which was where she was sleeping.  (She has an expressive language speech delay, and says very few words other than echoing someone, so we found that pretty funny.)

Natty also had to be convinced EVERY TIME we entered a pool with her that water was fun and safe.  After a few minutes, she'd be fine, but it was like starting over everytime we changed areas.  So while I had every intention of getting a photo of her having fun in the pool, we didn't have a chance.  (Because of the fun layout of the park, there was water splashing everywhere, and our camera is NOT waterproof, so we brought it out for just the last half hour or so that we were there before leaving on Sunday.  That didn't give us enough time to convince her water was fun AGAIN... AND snap a photo!) 

Sam and Hallie are not usually big risk-takers, but they were fearless when it came to the big slides.  They went on the River Canyon Run repeatedly with either Brian or myself (we took turns being with the big kids or the baby), went on the middle slides by themselves, went on Alberta Falls with me (The height requirement was 42 inches... Hallie was barely 43!), and Sam begged me to keep taking him on the Howlin' Tornado (Brian gets motion sickness, so I was the only choice for that one... not that I'm complaining... it was FUN!  We went 3 times.) 

The other thing I LOVED was the wave pool.  Hop up on an innertube, paddle around a bit, and wait for the sound of the wolf howl... that meant the waves were starting!  The first few times I just helped Sam and Hallie manuever their tubes... but the last day we all went in together, thinking we could take turns standing in the shallower areas holding Natty, but at one point I had Brian hand her to me, so he could push me out to the deep end (my paddling skills weren't great yet at that time) and I had her sitting on my lap in the tube, then he gave me a shove and turned back to help Sam and Hallie.  (I thought he'd be taking her back, but he evidently didn't interpret things the same way.  She whimpered a bit just floating around with me... she cried when I'd try to paddle, so mostly we just floated.  Then the waves started!  She panicked, but not crying, just tensing up and repeating "mow" over and over, which is one of her few words... it means "no."  So essentially, as the waves were going and she was (safely) floating with me, she was saying "no, no, no!" 

Hallie wanted me to go with her on the River Canyon Run again, and at that time, Sam and Brian had gone off to another pool area.  I told her we'd go do that after the next set of waves.  We were way out in the deep end, (about 5 ft), with Natty on my lap and my feet up on Hallie's tube, to keep her connected to me, when all of a sudden she turned funny and her tube FLIPPED!  She landed in the water, and I grabbed her arm, tried to help her up into her tube again (without dumping myself or Natalie in the water), but she was scared (thankfully the kids all wore life jackets throughout the park), and right then... we heard the howl!  Natty started in with her "mow"s, Hallie looked panic-stricken, and I quickly DRUG her up on the tube with us, all three of us on ONE tube, hanging on for dear life, as we were pitched and tossed by the waves.  (It was fun, though!) 

What else?  Oh, the breakfast buffet was incredible!  Pricey, but amazing.  They had an omelet bar, a breakfast quesadilla bar, toast, bagels, donuts, pastries, fresh fruit, french toast, pancakes, belgian waffles (with strawberries and whipped cream), eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, hash browns (several varieties), biscuits and gravy, sauteed veggies, smoothies, cereal, yogurt, applesauce, (and more!), and a kids area with everything you could imagine (from chocolate chips to gummy worms) to top your pancakes. 

We picked up a few souveniers for the kids.  (Because souveniers qualify this as a real VACATION, rather than just another activity!)  We got Great Wolf Lodge pins (thinking pins would be an easy thing to get on each vacation and wouldn't take up much space), a postcard for their photo albums, and even a little stuffed wolf for each of them (Natty's is pink and is named "Wolfie", Hallie named her white wolf "Eloise", and Sam's gray and white one he named "Wolfgang.") 

Comments

[kate steiner]

What a fun trip! We go to GWL every winter and our 3 kids love it. It's a fun tradition. BTW I have been reading your blog for awhile now but have never commented. I really enjoy it and look forward to your posts.

[Susan]

What is the current status with Natalie? I noticed you showed her face in the pics. which made me wonder if her case had changed.

By the way, I like to new family photo at the top of the page. We need one as soon as our adoption is final.

[Hilary]

Thanks for your comment, Kate! I'm afraid (for my wallet) this may have to turn into a tradition for us too... it was pretty great.

Susan, nope... no change. I was just being lazy and needed that extra push to do the photo editing. Thanks for the nudge. :) Isn't it HARD not to post those adorable faces?? We are coming up on a deadline in the next few weeks, though in Natalie's case, so we hope to have some news to share before long. You can bet I'll post that!