Great Wolf Lodge

I am embarrassed but I didn't take a single picture of our trip.  I was just so damn busy!

At any rate, here is a post about how our weekend went at Great Wolf Lodge.  It's an indoor water park located about 90 minutes from Portland.

I had an extensive packing list done beforehand in case I missed something essential, you know, like my swimsuit.  We were all packed by 10:00 Saturday morning and ready to head out the door.  After a quick pit stop at Fred Meyer for coffee, money and a car toy for Jack, we were on the road.

Jack must have been super tired because he fell asleep in the car on the way up as did Cal.  We hadn't told Jack where we were going other than "it's a surprise" so he really had no idea what was in store.  We made it to Longview where it was time to stop for lunch.  I had pre-packed Jack a lunch and I am glad I did because being that we stopped at McDonald's, there was nothing he could eat.  He is not a fan of fast food (thank God!).  Jack woke up as we pulled into the parking lot and noticed the play structure.  Game over!

We sat down to eat outside while Jack munched on his sandwich and fruit.  After hastily finishing half a sandwich, he announced "all done" and scrambled over to the structure.  Surprised the hell out of me but he climbed up the ladder like no one's business and played with the other kids.  Cal was a perfect angel and allowed Jason and I to eat.  I think Jack probably thought the play structure was the highlight of his day but boy was he in for a surprise!

After loading up and heading out, we drove another 40 minutes and made it to Great Wolf.  Jack still didn't know what was up but as we got to the front door, there were huge carved wooden wolves at the front.  He was mesmerized.  As we were checking in, I think he caught a glimpse of the pool in the background.  Our room was ready (surprisingly!) so we trekked up the elevator to the 7th floor and went into our room.

We had booked a suite so my sister and her boyfriend could join us for the weekend.  The rooms were very nice.  There was a main bedroom with a king sized bed and its own bathroom for Carrie and Grant.  Jason and the kiddos and I had the living area with two queen beds and our own bathroom.  In addition, there was a couch, tv and a table and chairs.  Jack chose "his bed" and we settled in for a few minutes before heading to the pool.

Out of the blue while we were waiting, Jack announced "Go swimming".  Of course, when he says it, it comes out as "Go peeming".  That kid is too smart for his own good.  I have no idea how he knew we were going swimming.  Our room overlooked the outside of the water park and you could see the water slides so Jason lifted Jack up so he could see.  Boy did he get excited!

Carrie and Grant arrived and after a quick change for all of us, we made the pilgrimage down to the pool.  I wish I had taken a picture of just how excited Jack got when he saw all the excitement.

The water park is very warm so it was comfortable walking around in your bathing attire.  Cal didn't even wear a top and he was plenty warm.

Jack splashed and played in the children's section for quite a long time.  He had such a blast going down the kiddie slides and getting wet.  He normally doesn't like getting his hair wet in the tub so seeing him getting drenched was funny.  He would act surprised and then just keep going.  At one point, he and Grant were playing under the big bucket (it periodically dumped 1000 gallons of water) and he got nailed.  He just shook it off and kept climbing the structures.

It was fun watching him play with the water spouts and try and stop the water from flowing.  He would run to each spout and play with it and then move on to another.  I will probably say this more than once but Jack is fearless.  He climbs, runs and plays on anything without fear or hesitation.  He so badly wanted to go on the "big water slide" but in order to do so, he had to go alone and I didn't think he would be able to handle a huge water slide without riding on my lap.

After a couple of hours at the park, we hoofed it back to our room to change for dinner.  We ate at one of the restaurants in the lodge and it was pretty good!  Cal slept the whole time (angel baby) and Jack was very good.  They give the kids a pair of wolf ears to wear and Jack thought those were pretty good.  After an active day, Jack wolfed down (pun intended) his macaroni and cheese and applesauce.  We have been hesitant to take him out to dinner lately because he's so busy and just doesn't want to sit still.  He surprised us and did a really great job.

Jack had one tantrum after dinner (he was wayyyyyy overtired) in the arcade.  He was running around and trying to play with all the machines and Jason was having a hard time getting him to listen.  Jason brought him back up to the room basically kicking and screaming.  I could hear him all the way down the hall.  We snuggled for a bit, watched a movie on the laptop and got into jammies.

Instead of having Jack sleep in one bed, we decided that I would sleep in bed with the boys and Jason would take the other bed.  This worked out really well and after about an hour, Jack went to sleep. I think he was still so excited because he kept chattering at me trying to stay awake.  We were watching the National Geographic Channel and I finally had to turn it off and shut off the light because he was narrating the whole thing and it was keeping Cal awake as well.

We slept, although I didn't sleep well due to two babies in bed with me, and in the morning Jack wanted to immediately go to the water park.  We had to eat breakfast though and again, he was so good.  It was a buffet breakfast and there was enough to choose from that even picky eater Jack had plenty to choose from.

We played in the water park and I was able to hand off Cal to my sister so Jason and I could go on a slide. Let me just say that I am such a weinie and DID NOT LIKE the water slide I went on.  You sat in an inner tube and because I was facing backwards, I got nauseous.  I have such a weak stomach and get sick on amusement park rides so this was no surprise.  I remember screaming to Jason "I am going to kill you when we get to the bottom!" but I was so dizzy that I didn't have any energy to kill him.

We played until lunch time and then Jack threw another temper tantrum (likely hunger related) because he didn't want to leave.  After a frazzled time of changing him, Jason emerged from the locker room slightly shell-shocked and deemed no more water parks until Jack was older.  I guess he had a hard time wrangling a crying, kicking, hungry, upset boy.  I got the easy baby to change, ha!

We hit the road and Jack finally calmed down.  After a pit stop at Dairy Queen where Jack ate his lunch like an angel, both boys fell asleep and didn't make a peep the entire way home.

I would say all in all it was a successful weekend!  Much fun was had by all.