Friday, December 31, 2010

Great Wolf Lodge

On Tuesday we headed south to Centralia, Washington for a short family holiday at Great Wolf Lodge before Nathan headed back to Alaska. This was the kids' major Christmas present from us and Nathan, who contributed a huge amount of money to make this trip a reality.

After many trials, tribulations, and general gong-showness, we made it to the Lodge at 4 p.m.  We had been planning on arriving at 1, but that just wasn't possible : )  We unloaded our 2 vehicles, suited up, and headed to the waterpark. The kids LOVED it. Nathan and Patience hung out (Patience would do any ride that Nathan wanted), Dylan and Sean hung out for awhile and then headed back to the room to hook up to the free wi-fi, and Don and I double-teamed Nick and Jordyn in the little kid area. At first Jordyn wasn't sure about the whole waterslide concept, but by the end of the trip she would willingly go on any ride she was tall enough to go on!

After a few hours of playing, we ordered pizzas from the onsite Pizza Hut and watched as Nick inhaled 2 pieces in about 2 minutes...he was so hungry he didn't even wait for them to cool. Then we headed back to the room and got into jammies. Nathan took the girls to "storytime" and Dylan and Sean took Nick for a car ride to check out the outlet malls which they planned on hitting the next day. That freed up Don and me to go to Walmart to buy some stuff that I forgot to pack and get snack food and drinks. We all got back to the room around 9:00 and the Littles and I went to bed and Don and the boys stayed up and gamed together until the wee morning hours. One thing I have to say about GWL is that while it's a great place for a family holiday, Don and I were constantly on the lookout for the Littles (especially Nick). So while it was fun, it wasn't necessarily relaxing.

Nathan and the girls at storytime.


The next morning we all slept past 8, then went to breakfast buffet, which was really good. Then Dylan and Sean did their shopping, Nathan took the girls on their "magic quest," a kind of real-life video game, I took Nick to the "cub club" where he colored and played with their computer, and Don got some pictures. When Nick took his (short) nap, Don and the boys played a board game that they hadn't all played together since swim club days!


The girls with their wands.

Collecting "runes" and crystals.

Success!

The girls and I did some very fun stuff that we planned for them. First, they got pedicures at Scoops, the spa for girls.


I wish the lighting was better : ( But here they are in fluffy robes, tiaras, and the royal toe treatment. They loved it.







Patience chose "glitter."

Jordyn chose purple!

Then, they stuffed their own animals. Patience chose a wolf; Jordyn chose a lamb.






Then, they got to build their own crocs. Patience chose pink with a purple strap, Jordyn chose green with a pink strap, and they each chose a "jibbitz" to decorate their new shoes.





We went to an adjacent restaurant and ordered some gourmet hamburgers for supper and brought them back to the room for dinner. Nathan was watching the Sharks game...unfortunately they lost to the Wild : (

Later that night Don took a very tired Nick to bed and I took the girls to storytime, and then I put them to bed and visited with Nathan while the other boys gamed to their heart's content. Dylan and Sean got some excellent deals at the outlet malls. Both of them spent all their Christmas money and the money that Don and I gave them for the trip.

On Thursday morning we woke up, donned our swimming clothes, ate breakfast at the buffet again, and then went directly to the waterpark for another hour or so of sliding. We all traded off watching the Littles so we were able to do the rides that they couldn't do. Then we went back to the room, showered and dressed, packed the suitcases and started packing the vehicles. When we got to a reasonable point in the packing, the big boys took the girls to the arcade to use the last of the tokens which made getting out of the room much easier.

At that point, Dylan drove the Matrix home with Nick. And the rest of us went and had a blast doing things that we simply couldn't do with Nick along. First we drove to Seattle and saw the movie Tangled. I let Nathan choose the movie and since he had already seen so many "big boy" movies this vacation, he chose Tangled. Of course the girls were thrilled! It was a great movie and we all enjoyed it. Then we went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch, which was excellent as usual.




From there we took Nathan to the hotel by the airport that he had booked (he had an early morning flight today so this was the most logical thing to do) and then we drove home. We got home just after 8:00, in time to put some very tired Littles to bed.

It was a great family time and we're looking forward to doing it again when Nick is a little older...maybe 4. Then it will be fun and relaxing!

2 comments:

Pat and Lee said...

Definitely looks like a "do again" experience! What fun for everyone!
You're right - give Nick a couple of years and he'll have a blast!
Thanks for posting!!

Love you!

Val said...

Fun!! Looks like you guys had a great time :)