A few weeks ago, we took a little mini-vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. I love mini-vacations and stay-cations. Don't get me wrong---I LOVE the beach. It's my happy place. But it's exhausting to go to the beach, is it not? There's the obsessing over where to stay...then the obsessing over packing...then the obsessing over child-proofing your new home for the week...then the obsessing over how in the world do you get your kids to sleep in a location that is totally unfamiliar to them....then the exhausting pile of laundry to tackle when you get home. (Maybe I'm the only crazy person who obsesses over these things.) I always wish for a few extra days off from work just to recover from the vacation.
But MINI-vacations...that's different. I still obsess a little over where to stay, but you don't have to pack as much, they're usually a little closer to home, and you still get a few days to just veg out relax in your pj's at home before you have to get back to the real world.
We LOVED Great Wolf Lodge. This was our first time visiting, and I really can't say enough nice things about it. Everything is kid-friendly...I thought Sam's head might explode from excitement. This knight was in the hallway on our way to our room, and every. single. time. we passed it, Sam had to stop and tell it hi.
Our first night there, Sam spotted this arcade with a kid-sized bowling alley, and he was mesmerized. So the next night we decided to bowl a few frames. Pandemonium ensued (I was really glad we didn't launch one of the bowling balls at the neighboring lanes), but the kids had fun.
They had games that you could actually play, but the kids were happy sitting in this little bus and pressing buttons on the machines. (No coins necessary.)
But the absolute best part about our stay was the waterpark. Unfortunately, I don't have many pictures from that part because I didn't think to buy a waterproof camera before we went. And once you're inside the water area, there really isn't an area that is completely water-safe. I snapped just a few shots then put the camera in our locker.
Sydney was not a fan of the slides. At. All. But she loved this little splash pad with the shooting geysers, and she really liked the wave pool too. So that's where she and I hung out while the boys went thrill-seeking.
Sam, on the other hand, LOVED the slides. He was a little bit offended that there were two slides he couldn't ride because he didn't meet the height requirement. He has asked us every single day since we got home if we can go on the waterslides again. Every. Day.
I think the star of the show was this giant tree house they had. It was full of water sprayers, dumping buckets, water spouts the kids could turn on an off...lots of fun.
We had one little scary moment while we were there. Sydney and I were in the wave pool, and Shawn came over and told me he couldn't find Sam. They had gone down a slide that ended in the lazy river. They had gotten separated in the river, and apparently Sam had gotten out without Shawn. I immediately went into crisis mode. I went to the top of the highest waterslide so I could get an eagle-eye view of the park and sent Shawn to find a lifeguard. I tried to remain calm and reminded myself that Sam had a lifejacket on, but I started playing all of these scenarios in my head of someone packing him off and me never seeing him again. Thankfully, about 5 minutes later (honestly maybe less) I spotted Shawn and he flashed me the "ok" sign. The lifeguard simply got on his walkie-talkie and radioed out that we were looking for a 4 year old in a blue puddle-jumper lifejacket with navy shorts on. Just a minute later someone radioed back that he was on the treehouse.
When I caught up to Sam, I asked him if he was afraid. He looked at me like I had lost my mind and said, "No, I was just playin'." He didn't know anything was wrong. He had simply finished one fun thing and had gone on to the next.
I was so impressed with the lifeguard staff. They were well-organized and very focused on their job. Even before we lost Sam, I had noticed what a good job they were doing. Instead of sitting on chairs, they were constantly moving and scanning the water areas, and they did a great job of keeping the area safe without being overbearing. The times I did see them correct anything, they did it without making the child feel scolded.
Sydney couldn't hang as long as Sam. Swimming is fun, but MAN is it exhausting.
