Great Wolf Lodge

The new Girl Scout year has finally started.  Hallie is a Brownie this year and Malaika is a Daisy.  There was some question about whether our troop would have to disband due to shortage of available leaders, and that would have been a tragedy.  Our troop is more loosely based than most.  Less "Girl Power" and more having fun together with friends and their families, which I very much appreciate.  Thankfully, someone stepped up to fill the open position, and someone else offered their home for meetings... so we are off and running!

Last week's meeting was a brainstorming session to see what the girls would like to do this year.  Among the ideas were horseback riding, rock climbing, screen printing and crafts.  Our BIG outing for the year was last month... we used the rest of our Cookie money to take the girls to Great Wolf Lodge!  (And those who wanted other family members to come along also got to do that for a nominal fee... so we were able to make it both a girl scout outing AND a family vacation!)

Renee and I volunteered to plan the meals to save everyone money, and I think it worked out really nicely.  We divided the food by room so everyone could have their meals when it suited them, and since each room had a fridge and microwave, that worked out just great.  For the first night's dinner, we brought all the fixings for Taco Salads.  For breakfast the next morning, muffins (both Pumpkin and Carrot/Cream Cheese) and homemade granola and milk.  And for lunch, wraps (turkey/cheese, and ham/cheese), chips, apples and cookies.  We left for the Lodge after church on Sunday, so we planned to do all the cooking on the day before.  I did the shopping and headed out to Renee's house.  We started getting things divided up, and she started to preheat her oven... until it started to spark and flash and make nuclear warfare sounds!  The element was going out and I have to admit, it was downright frightening... I thought the thing was going to explode!! She turned off the breaker, we did what we could without the oven and stove, and I packed everything up and spent the rest of the day baking at my house!  The meals got rave reviews though, and saved us all a ton of money over buying food at the resort.

 

I'll close with photos, but first... the grave injustice!!!  On the way into the water park the first time, they measured all the children and gave them a corresponding wrist band.  Green meant they were tall enough for all the rides, yellow meant they could go on all except the Howling Tornado and Red was even more restricted.  Understandably, both girls were too short for the green band.  But for some unknown reason, they decided Molly was close enough... and gave her a green.  Hallie is 3 months OLDER than Molly, but shorter, so she was given yellow, and for her second trip to GWL, couldn't ride the Howling Tornado (and couldn't go on the Canyon River Run without a grownup)... but her little sister could.  I felt put-out FOR her!  She handled it like a champ - I was so proud of her good attitude.

 
Eating Taco Salad and watching "Cars" - we called it a night fairly early the first night and decided to take it easy in our room watching a movie so we could store up energy for the next day.

 
The kids' room only accommodated 3, so the boys took the bunks...

 

Hallie took the daybed...

And Molly took the hide-a-bed in the main room.

 
 Sam and Hallie got stuffed wolves on our previous trip (right after Gideon and Malaika left us last fall), so we bought some for just the other two this time.

 

 
Hallie crosses the lily pads in the "play pool".

Molly and Sam, at the end of the Howling Tornado.

 
Hallie and Gideon trying to decide where to go next!  (At the beginning of our trip, the children had to stay with one of us at all times.  Sometime during the second day, we divided them into teams (each with a "buddy"), for a little more freedom.  We switched up the teams now and then, so nobody had to suffer from the limitations of Hallie's yellow wristband.) 

 
Keziah and Hallie disembarking the Canyon River Run.  As I said, Hallie's yellow band meant she couldn't go on the CRR without an adult, either... so when her siblings were paired with her, they couldn't do the big slides without a grownup, either.  Thankfully we have sweet friends who are old enough to pass for adults who were willing to fill in the gap now and then!

 
When we went last year, my favorite part was to float on an innertube in the wave pool.  It was both relaxing and invigorating, all at the same time. Between then and now, they nixed the tubes, saying it was too dangerous, since they could flip in the shallow end.  I was seriously bummed. 

 
Gid picks a tube for Alberta Falls. 

 
Totem Towers, with 2 smaller slides, various sprinklers and gadgets, and a huge dumping bucket of water.

 
The dreaded stairs to the big slides.  I'm in such better shape than I was 4 years ago, but these stairs were a killer after a few times up!

 
Thrill-seeking threesome after the Howling Tornado.  (Gideon, Sam and Molly.)

 

 

Comments

[Adalia Bergeron]

That was so much fun!!!!! Makes me want to go back... the Howlin' Tornado was the BEST!!!!!

[Nikki]

This place looks like so much fun!

[steel water bottle]

Such a great place, I took my three little monsters there last summer. Its was awesome. Kept them busy and they slept like little angels. Now I'm looking for another fun spot for winter. :)