Category Archives: Gifts

I had been planning on heading to Great Wolf Lodge when Tom returned from Afghanistan…but he suggested we go beforehand. So he took two days off work and we headed up this morning. I had the brilliant (if I do say so myself) idea of taking our babysitter, Virginia, along for an extra pair of hands and eyes…and as it turned out, it was completely AMAZING—it was great being able to pay more attention to Owen (who will remember it) and be able to take tons of pictures (though Virginia is in most of the pics with Katie!). But seriously, Virginia was awesome with Katie the whole time—even when we weren’t actually at the water park.

So without further ado, the pictures.

Proof we were actually here, LOL—though this picture was taken as we were checking out. 🙂

We splurged and got a Kid Cabin suite—complete with log cabin bunk beds and a day bed (and their own TV which we never even used). Owen was excited about his own room/bed and testing out the bunk bed steps. He didn’t make it to the top because he was too scared. 🙂

The view of the outdoor pool area from our third-floor balcony.

Katie was (of course) intrigued by the new annoying band on her ankle.

Sneaking one of my fries. Tom ran to get us Chick-Fil-A while we got settled and into suits. We figured we’d be eating at the hotel enough (and spending enough money on overpriced food) that fast food was acceptable for our first lunch.

Waiting in her 2T suit. We had brought her 12m suit (that Grauntie Rose got her for her birthday) and I actually put it on her but it was really too tight.

Ready to go with Miss Virginia!

She SEEMS to be interested in the bubblers, but unfortunately it only lasted about seven seconds (if that). She just wanted to MOVE. This is where Virginia came in really handy.

Owen liked them quite a bit, however.

Of course, she was more entranced with the hole that had no water coming out of it…

This is how Owen watched the 1,000-gallon dump bucket—far away from the action on the sidelines…

…in the bubblers. 🙂

One of the few things Katie could reach and was semi interested in.

Miss Virginia on constant vigil—keeping Katie’s face out of the water as she tried to drink it.

FEETS!

This is where she liked to crawl.

Making sure I actually get in a photo!

She LOVED the lazy river (Owen hates it with a passion—he has some strange fear about inner tubes).

The outside frog slide that he loved!

Just hanging out. I cropped the pic so he appears closer than he really was. He was pretty far out. I love that he’s old enough we can let him do that and not worry or freak out.

It was about this time that Tom and I decided to splurge on drinks from the bar…since it was right there and all…and it was HOT outside. Yeah, we only had one drink because while they were certainly tasty, they were NOT worth the price. But, as a bonus, while we were standing there waiting for the drinks and Tom was holding Katie, she peed on him. (She had a swim diaper on, but they can only hold so much.) 🙂

I then had Virginia take a family shot—and she only took three and one of them came out really well!

This is how Katie crawled most of the time—her knees were sore (yours would be, too, if you were crawling on cement!) so she would kind of drag one leg while actually putting the other foot down (if you look closely you can see the foot prints on the right side).

Owen having fun in the pool with the water toys.

Virginia spent a lot of time walking Katie around. Again, brilliant idea.

Owen on his favorite indoor slides. It was terribly hard to get good pictures of this due to timing and the new camera that I wasn’t totally familiar with the best settings to get the best shot. So lots of the future shots might look a little off. I did the best I could. 🙂

The other area Katie liked—the waterfall station (well, it was more like a sheet of water). It was somewhat interactive because the water did crazy things when you stuck your hand in it.

Tired boy…and we had only been there 2.5 hours at that point!

Climbing in the ropes with dad. They headed to the top to attempt the waterslide…but once Owen got to the top he said NO WAY (even though the one he went on in Kalkaska was about the same).

Back at the room for dinner. This is where Katie loved to crawl.

Miss Virginia taking a break.

Owen and daddy taking a break.

Virginia stayed in the room with Katie while I took my real (i.e. non-waterproof camera) down to try and get some better pictures of Owen.

Owen liked the sheet of water, too.

This is him doing his robot through the falls.

Back up at the room on the balcony with Virginia and Katie. Katie liked to push the furniture around and stick her feet out the slats.

Completely THRILLED that she got the remote and we didn’t take it away from her!

Owen in his own bed!

Katie had only slept about an hour in the car and then didn’t get an afternoon nap at all…so we were hoping it would help her fall asleep quickly. And it did…she only screeched for about four minutes before she was out cold. I’m sure Owen wasn’t too far behind, and Virginia even put away her laptop and went to bed about 9:20. Tom and I turned our phones off about 10:30 as we were exhausted, too. However, I didn’t have a great night’s sleep…I tossed and turned and it felt like I had slept a loooong time but when I looked at the clock it was 1am. Ugh. The cycling of the A/C pretty much kept me up/woke me up—when it was running, it was COLD and you needed to be under the covers…and when it was off, it was WARM and you didn’t want the covers on. Plus my back hurt (as usual) from the car ride and what carrying of Katie I did (though Virginia did most of it). Plus it was only a Queen bed. So I knew I’d be exhausted the next morning…