Great Wolf!!

Okay so this is surely the record for how many pictures I have put in one post! But it was hard to not want to capture everything and a picture is worth a thousand words, and we all know how wordy I already am. Our family went to Great Wolf Water Park this weekend to celebrate Jack Angelo turning the big 1-0! Yes, my baby boy is going to be 10 years old this week. It is mind boggling I tell you. So instead of a birthday bash or presents we decided to go for 2 days to what Brad calls "better than Disney". Keep in mind, Disney is not Brad's most favorite place since we have gone twice with kids, once with a newborn and once with a sick pregnant wife and a sick 3 year old, so not the best experiences. Anyway, this was a blast!

For my family back in Florida, you must understand we don't have water parks on every corner in this neck of the woods, and if you are going to have a water park and hope to make any money (which I am sure this place is making some money) you need to have it indoors. So this is an indoor waterpark that is connected to a hotel and you must stay in the hotel to use the park. But they have tons of other things for the kids to do as well. And they make it all oh so easy by giving Mom and Dad wristbands with microchips in them so you can easily charge all these other fun things to do to your bill. It could get a bit crazy.

We all had such a fun time! They really had something for everyone. If we had a baby sitter for just a few hours it would have been perfect since both Issie and Kadie still need someone with them and with Issie basically being wild, crazy and fearless, either Brad or I were attached to the girls while the other adult got to go on the super fun rides. It was still fun but a little time without the baby would have been fun too.

Jack was the biggest and able to go on all the rides and rode the biggest Tornado ride a ton of times, it was crazy fun! The first day he went with Brad all morning exploring and trying all the stuff. Then that night Brad took the girls to bed and we went back just me and Jack. We were on our own from 7 til 9 when it closed and the lines were shorter so we could ride the big rides over and over. The first time he took me on the Tornado was crazy. He made me go backwards and I don't know what was scarier not seeing where I was going when dropped several stories or watching is "freak out" face! He just loved it. We laughed so much. It is not often I get that much time alone with Jack, the girls are always there and he is so independent that I forget how important it is. This was special. It was fun to just have no responsibilities and have fun with him. He is such a good boy, a great big brother and he is really funny. I am so glad we did this for him and for us, it was just what we all needed.

On the second day Jack was off on his own a lot but also took turns riding the big ones with me and Brad. It was a great time. Here he is riding solo on one of the other slides.

My big 10 year old!

Kadie was a bit more cautious. She went right away up to the slides when we first got there with Daddy then got scared and hung out in the kiddie area with me and Issie for most of the first day. She was happy to swim around and practice going on her back and tummy. She even freaked out at the wave pool because she got splashed. She forgets that she learned to swim underwater last summer, but she figured it out and felt better once she had a life jacket. On the morning of the second day we convinced her to go with Daddy on a tub slide with her googles on and she did......

....that is not a smile on her face. Apparently her little bottom is too skinny and she slipped down and bumped her butt several times. It was a bummer and she was done with those slides. But then we again convinced her to go on the River Wild ride which is much bigger but you are in more of a raft and cannot fall out. Well this was the winner. She went with me and Jack and then again with Daddy and Jack.

There's the smile. Success!

But most of the time, Kadie's favorite was just swimming in the pool. She loves to swim around by herself playing imaginary games.

Daddy's girls

Mama and the girls.

Kadie's attempt at the Lily Pad challenge, she did not make it past the first one, it was just too hard!


Jack mastered the Lily Pad challenge after doing the splits about 7 times the first time. He was a pro by the second day.

Then there was little Miss Issie. She is so crazy. Fiercely independent. A quiet calm. I am serious when I tell you she was the bravest and craziest kid in that kiddie area! I swear about 30 other parents came up to me and said "wow, how old is she? She is crazy?" Thank goodness for that life jacket! There were 2 slides in the kiddie area and she went up the steps and down each slide at least 50 times. She would go down sitting, on her tummy, face first, walk down until she flipped on her tummy and then flew down, you name it! She always had a huge smile on her face, even when she was flung under water because I could not get there as fast as she could. She learned 2 new words the first day, "Weeeee!" and "Again". It was so fun to watch. Here we have Kadie at 5 floating around in 2 feet of water (totally content and happy) and this little 18 month old ball of fire racing around the place. She would often refuse my help unless she was going under or wanted to get up the steps to the slide faster. She would walk right past everyone to the front of the line, oblivious that you may need to wait your turn. If some other little kid was sitting on the slide and hesitating, leave it to Issie to give them that "push" they needed to get out of her way. Fortunately, everyone seemed to think she was the cutest thing ever and allowed and encouraged all of this behavior. What a crack up. Here she is soaking in the scene on the morning of the second day (much less busy than when we first arrived).

My cutie pie!

Not the best focus but I had to try to get a shot of her on the slide and still run and catch her a the bottom without dropping the camera in the pool. Too cute.

Here are the big kids at the end of the day, apparently Jack is getting too cool for the pictures.

The lodge also had a ton of other cool things for the kids to do when they were not in the water. One of the things was this interactive game called Magiquest. You buy a wand and follow this book of riddles around the first 5 floors of the lodge and when you wave your wand across different pictures, and treasure chests and crystals you earn points and then complete quests. I am sure I am not explaining this well since I could not keep up with them and finally stopped trying and just let Jack and Kadie run around solving the riddles like a million other kids. Thank goodness my kid can read, the parents that had to keep up were looking haggard. It was a super fun little addition to the stay, since at this age the kids can only handle the water for so long before they are raisins and exhausted.

All and all it was wonderful and we will save our money and do it all again as soon as we can.

Issie at the end of the second day. How we all felt but only Issie could do.

Happy Birthday Jack. What a great family memory for your 10 year old celebration!

We love you.