Time Together at the Waterpark

We had planned to go camping this weekend but the weatherman was predicting rain and thunderstorms. So, Chris took advantage of a special offer from Great Wolf Lodge and booked a two night stay. We didn't tell the kids where we were going. When we pulled in the parking lot, Wesley said, "This is the swimming place with the waterslides!"

On our first stay at Great Wolf we were upgraded to a room with a loft and the second time we were upgraded to the room with the special kids' bunks. This time we were not upgraded.

We gave the kids a quick snack of rice crispy treats and fruit before heading to the water park. We love going to Great Wolf because it is a great family getaway. We spent uninterrupted time with the kids this weekend and we enjoyed seeing how much fun they had. It really was a blast.
Lydia fell off the "wood".


Then Wesley helped her stay on.


Lydia had better balance on her hands and knees.




We spent two and a half hours at the water park before heading back to our room to change clothes and go to dinner. We went to Captain George's and enjoyed the seafood buffet. The kids did great at dinner especially considering it was past their bedtime and they were very tired. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Wesley holding up crab legs. He kept Chris busy opening them for him. The kids both ate crab legs, shrimp, hush puppies, deviled crab and mac and cheese. The buffet is free for kids under five if you order a drink for them. So for the price of two milks, the kids feasted.

The next morning Chris worked out while I had donuts with the kids (same thing on Sunday). I forgot Lydia's pajamas and she had to wear the second pair I bought for Wesley.
In January I thought the room we had was not very nice. The Lodge really is like a Super 8 with an awesome water park. This time, I thought the room was fine. The Lodge wasn't as crowded as it was for MLK and the inauguration so it was quieter. Additionally we had not just stayed at a brand new luxury resort the previous weekend. The fire alarm did go off at 1:35 AM Sunday morning. Thankfully they got it turned off very quickly. We received an apology letter under the door later this morning.

Chris tried out the flow rider on Saturday morning.

I didn't get it on video but we saw some great progress with the kids and their swimming skills. Lydia could swim with the life vest on. She enjoyed swimming between Chris and me. Wesley did a lot swimming with his face in the water (for short bouts at a time) and it looked like he could do it without the life vest but when we took away the life vest, we took away his confidence.
After three hours of playing in the kiddie pool, going down the kiddie slides, playing in the wave pool, going down the inner tube slides I was afraid Lydia would fall asleep for her nap and sleep until the next morning.
For lunch we went to our favorite barbeque place, Pierce's. This is one of the top barbeque places according to Southern Living magazine. We think it deserves all of the awards it gets. After lunch, the kids and Chris napped in the van while I did some outlet shopping. After a quick popcorn snack we went back to the water park for two hours. In January, Wesley did the slides below by himself and last night we figured out that Lydia could do them also. I went down, then Wesley, then Chris helped Lydia get started and I pulled her out at the bottom, and then Chris went down. After the first time, the lifeguard who was sitting between the two slides recognized the pattern and when I stood by the slide to get Lydia, he stood beside me. I think he wanted to make sure the little girl was okay. She loved it! I didn't get a picture of her though. This is a picture of Wesley from January.
Wesley and Lydia were able to do everything at the water park except for the Howling Tornado (you have to be 48 inches tall) and the Flow Rider (you have to be 42 inches tall).

For dinner Saturday night we had Pizza Hut pizza. They have a little Express place at Great Wolf. The pizza was excellent. I grew up eating at Pizza Hut but now that we have more choices we don't often order from there but maybe we should more often.

Lydia was happy to able to open and close the "frigerofrator" on her own.Tonight after dinner Lydia was trying to get a "ticket card" (credit card, metro card, gift card, etc) out of my wallet. I told her no that she couldn't have anything in my wallet. She replied, "But I potty trained now! I potty trained now!" (What does that have to do with my wallet?) She only had one accident in her underwear this weekend but she also spent a good amount of time in a swim diaper so I don't think we can declare that she is potty trained now.