Great Wolf Lodge!

At the beginning on February Michael had the opportunity to go to a Water Conference that was being held at Great Wolf Lodge. The kids and I have joined him once before at this conference and this one couldn't have come at a better time. With all the crazy things going on with the house it was a nice reprieve to get away and not see the upheaval that was going on at home. For just a few days we were able to get away and rest before we really dove in feet first into repairing our house. 

The room we were put in was massive. I've never seen a hotel room that was this big. We were told we had a room with 2 queen beds and pullout couch....not at all what we ended up with. Right when you walked in the bathroom was your right. Then past that was the 2 queen beds and the pullout couch. 

If you walked in further towards the beds you could see there was also a table and a TV. 

I'm standing in front of the bed Ella was sitting on in the first picture. This is a whole kitchen area! This high table with barstools was the coolest. I really wished we had brought some board games to play since it would have been the perfect set up. 

Through the kitchen was a whole other bedroom with a king size bed. It was so nice!!! 

I wish I had taken more pictures, but they have completely remodeled Great Wolf Lodge. They've also completely redone the Magi Quest game. The kids no longer had to find things in the stairwell. There are still things they have to do on other floors, but the stairwell isn't crazy anymore. They also changed the game where you can actually finish it during your stay. Our kids have never been able to finish the game before, but this trip they did. 

The first night the kids ran around playing the game and we just chilled out in the room. 

The next day I woke up with a headache...I took one of Ella's Excedrin. I also  was feeling kind of stuffed up. I figured sitting in the nice humid air of the water park would help so I went down to save seats in front of the wave pool. The kids wanted to just play the wand game. They didn't join me until lunch time and then I got a pizza for us to share. The kids went swimming for a little bit, but then they wanted to go back to the room and play on the Switch. I ended up hanging out in the water park by myself until Michael was finished up with his classes that afternoon. It was so nice just sitting there reading my book even with all the craziness going on around me. I will say that I probably won't ever take another Excedrin in my life. I'm not sure if it was entirely the meds fault or if it was a combination of meds and the fact that I was drinking Pepsi Icee all day, but I felt like I could feel all my blood rushing through the my veins. I felt at times like my heart was racing and I had all this pent up energy. It was honestly not a fun feeling at all. It took me until later at night to finally feel like I was coming down from whatever was going on with my body. The good news was my headache was gone and I didn't feel stuffed up anymore. Silver lining! 

That night we went out to nice dinner there at the Lodge. After dinner when we came out to head to our room it was almost time for the nightly dance party. I wanted to dance so bad....probably partially due to the fact that I was hopped up on caffeine.  

I got the kids to smile for this picture, but they were not happy to be here. They wanted to go back to the room and they were mortified that I would make them stay. I danced my heart out and had a great time. I finally told the kids that if they danced one song with me they could go back to the room. The funny thing was they all waited so long the song that most of them danced to ended up being the last song. :) 

The next day Michael ended up coming with us to the water park. I went down 2 slides and then I was good. We got food from Buckets in the water park and then after that the kids wanted to go back to the room. Michael and I sat in the water park me reading and him dinking around on his phone. That was when we decided that most likely our Great Wolf Lodge days are over. The kids just aren't as into it as they used to be and it's just not worth it. We've been 4 times now so it's just not new and exciting anymore. Which is okay....it's good to know that! 

I left my glasses up in the room since I knew I was going to be swimming, but Ella brought hers and took them off to go on the slides. I decided since I was going to read I was going to try and see if hers would work. We have almost the exact same RX....I think they look pretty good on me...except they're cuter on her! 

The next day it was time to head home. 

Great Wolf Lodge 2020!

In early August, Kim had mentioned wanting to celebrate Josiah's birthday in September at Great Wolf Lodge. There were some really good deals going on and they could get a kids cabin for cheap. Josiah decided he wanted Jack to come with them to celebrate his birthday. I was all for letting Jack go, but Kim also said if we wanted to we could book our own room and join them on this adventure. She said she'd still list Jack under their room though. I talked with Michael and for a little over $100 we were able to book a standard room for 2 days of fun. 

I ended up mentioning the deal to Rachael and she convinced Lance that they should come too. We've never actually gone on a vacation with either the Storer or Dial Families so this was so fun. We have gone on a couple trips with Micah and Kim prior to having kids, but none since then. 

On Sunday, September 20th we went back to church for the first time. The service was held outside on the field. They called it Live & Outside. It was so nice to get to meet our new Pastor and his wife and to see people that I haven't seen in months. I did talk to people about how going to church and seeing people was so hard for me since I'm a natural hugger. I equated it to someone who loves cake going into a cake store and being told they can't eat any cake. They had sections for each family to sit in....we all brought our own chairs...and we didn't have to wear masks which was so nice. Thankfully there were other people that felt the same as I did about hugging so I ended up getting my fill of hugs! It was glorious!!! 

Right after church we drove to Wendy's to grab lunch and then headed down to Great Wolf Lodge. We got there shortly after the Dial & Storer Families. The night before I had received an email that enabled me to pre-check in online. I took advantage of that and was so thankful I did. The Storers had showed up about 20 minutes before us and were still way back in the line. Kim said she was unable to pre-check in online which was a total bummer. I was getting ready to go stand in the normal line, but I mentioned checking in online to Micah and then he stepped out of the way and showed me the line for online checking. I ended up only being second in line. It was so nice!!! 

We got checked into our room and ready to go to the water park. We did have to wait for Micah and Kim to get ready because they had Jack's wristband since he was listed as staying in their room.  

As for staying at Great Wolf Lodge during a pandemic here are my thoughts. There are risks in everything you do. There is a risk of choking while eating, getting in a car accident while driving, getting hit by a car while walking, drowning while swimming and the list goes on and on. Our life will never be risk free! We have to weigh those risks and decide what's best for ourselves and our family. We are a healthy family...we don't have any sort of health conditions that concerns me. I'm not afraid to get Covid-19. In fact I'm pretty sure we will all get it at some point if we haven't had it already. It is a virus after all...it's not going anywhere. I'm not seeking it out, but I also refuse to live in fear. I do where a mask when it's required. Life has to go on and we are a family that is choosing to live life. We might only have a few days, weeks or we might have many many years left, but no matter what we are going to live the life we do have to the fullest and that includes spending time with each other at a waterpark! 

For dinner on Sunday we were thinking about going to Burger Claim...it's in the parking lot of GWL, but the kids didn't want to leave so we ended up eating in the waterpark at Buckets. The biggest bummer due to Covid was the change in regards to getting refills. We still have our fun GWL cups that in previous years you can get free refills of ICEE drinks. They have been lifesavers with getting the kids to drink. Unfortunately no refills anymore! :( 

After dinner I was able to find better seats than we originally found when we first walked in. I love being near the wave pool since that's basically the kids' home base. We ended up swimming until the waterpark closed at 8pm. It was fun to the be one of the last people in the wave pool for the day. 

After closing down the waterpark we went back to our room and everyone took showers. Kim had made cupcakes for Josiah's birthday, so once we were dressed we went over to their room that was conveniently across the hallway and down a couple rooms. We gave Josiah his card, sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes. I visited for a bit and then Ella and I went to Lance & Rachael's room. 

Ella just loves her friends! 

They had worked out the sleeping situation so everyone would be happy. If I remember right Kendra did end up moving to the couch since Jaymes was taking up the whole bed that she was sharing with him. 

I love being the first one in the waterpark in the morning. The kids and I went to stand in line about 15 minutes before it opened. Due to Covid the waterparks hours are shorter...they are open from 10am - 8pm instead of 9am - 9pm. I'm sure this has to do with the need to sanitize everything. 

I got my favorite seats...right in front of the wave pool. 

Another stipulation for GWL to open, was that they could only operate at 50% capacity. It was amazing! I think in the first 30 minutes, Michael and the boys were able to go down 5 slides if not more. It was funny because there were so few people you actual started recognizing people...oh those were the people I talked to in the line for the Tornado or those were the people I saw eating next to us. Or those were the boys that were playing in the activity pool with us. It was fun! 

 

For lunch Ella and Zeke wanted pizza. The pizza at GWL is disgusting IMO. 

They were so excited that they got their own piece. Or course right after this Jack and Owen came over and wanted pizza too. I went and bought 2 more pieces. 4 individual pieces of pizza cost about the same price as a whole pizza would have. Lesson learned! 

Michael and I got chicken strips for lunch and a couple orders of chips and salsa. There was this one chip that was all puffy! Zeke was so excited about it I gave it to him. I will say in years past Buckets has been my favorite place to eat, but they have definitely changed. They don't have their taco salad anymore which is a total bummer. Also their chicken strips used to be AMAZING and now they are just okay. 

I told the kids we were going to stay until at least 3, but no later than 5. Michael, the boys and I were ready to go right at 3, but Ella was terribly sad. I was able to find Lance and Rachael to ask them if they could bring Ella home with them since they were staying later. They said yes and all was right with the world again. 

I'm always amazed at how tired we all are when we get back home from GWL. The water really sucks the life right out of you. Ella got home around 6ish. Lance and Rachael let the kids spend some of their money at the gift shop and if I'd known  that I'd have given Ella some money, but Lily ended up spending some of her own money so Ella could buy something too. It was so sweet! They also got ice cream at DQ on the way home. Such a lucky girl! 

It was such a fun family trip and just more fun memories made during this crazy year that is 2020!