Great Wolf Lodge

For Christmas this past year I mentioned to my mom that the boys didn't need any more toys, and maybe an experiential gift would be better.  Well, this weekend we finally got around to experiencing our gift from Nana and Papa...the Great Wolf Lodge! 

 

We started our trip in high spirits.

However, this quickly put a damper on things.  Traffic!  Bleh.

I took pictures of the other two, but trust me, C was the only one enjoying himself at the time. ;)

We finally made it!  At this point, C still didn't know where we were.  We told him we were just going to drive until we found some place fun.  We sent Daddy in while we waited outside.  While I asked C what he thought might be inside he told me, "I think I've been here before, but I can't remember exactly what it is.  I think there were monkeys inside though.  Or maybe apes."

Hubby got us checked in and we told C it was a hotel and that we were going to stay not one, but two nights.  We took the boys to check out our room and mentioned that we thought they had a little pool.  They, of course, wanted to try it out right away so we all got in our suits and headed downstairs.  While we were waiting for the elevator C caught a glimpse of the "little pool" and this was pretty much his reaction!

Headed to the water park and so excited.

I didn't get any pictures that first night.  Whew!  We were all over that water park.  The boys both LOVED it!  And they were thrilled that we were going to get to go again the next day.  We stayed until it closed at 9 and ordered some pizza when we got back to our room.  It was 11 pm before we got those munchkins in bed!  One day they will learn the art of staying up late and sleeping in the next morning. 

We were up bright and early Saturday so we headed out for pancakes before the water park opened up for the day.  C is learning that rolling the window down can help everyone when Daddy decides to be um, less than polite in the car.

We were able to get some pictures.  The boys were often in two different places.  There was no way hubby could keep a camera dry splashing around and going down slides with C.  And I needed both hands free to keep track of little mr. adventurous in the water!  So, we took advantage of being in the same area so we could have some photos to remember our fun.

These were all in the wave pool which was a favorite attraction for both the boys.

Lil' peanut had the best time standing inside a tube and spinning around in circles.  Ha!

Getting a little too brave and thinking he could just walk on into the deep end.

Another favorite of C's, surfing.  He almost lost his pants on his first attempt!  He stayed on the board for a bit his second time before wiping out, and after that he was a pro.  He could surf until he made it to the bottom corner to jump off and send the board back up to the top.

 

Lil' peanut started asking to go night-night and he almost did!  He rested up for about 20 minutes and then got a second wind to make it until after lunch for an actual nap.

They had a cute clock tower show and story time at night.

We played hard and we are worn out!  (Well, at least hubby and I are!)  Both of the boys had a great time and it was so fun watching them enjoy themselves that much.  Thank you Nana and Papa!  We loved our trip to the Great Wolf Lodge.

 

Catoctin Zoo

We're headed to Kansas toward the end of May.  The same time when C's class is going on a fieldtrip to the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve and Zoo.  We didn't want him to miss out on it completely, so we thought we'd check it out ourselves.  And also, some of the crazy reviews online had us thinking "We have got to see this place!"  Haha!  Some people thought they should be shut down, it made others sad to see the animals living in those conditions, and one person even claimed the wolves were suffering from dementia.  Others, however, thought the place was great.  See why we were so intrigued? 

 

I thought it was a fun little place.  They had some different animals that you don't see at some of the bigger zoos.  And a ton of snakes, which C loved.  Their playgrounds were pretty sketchy and there were gnats everywhere!  I spent most of the time fanning them away from my face with C's hat.  Other than the bugs though, we really enjoyed it.  And we did not see any signs of dementia from the animals...but then again, I'm no veterinarian.

 



The monkeys were putting on quite a show!  Maybe that's why they have bleachers set up in front of their enclosure.

Doing the butterfly stretch in the butterfly garden.

I love this one.  Daddy and his boys!

I'm not sure if petting the fish was allowed, but C sure did have a good time doing it!

Feeding the animals in the petting zoo area.

It took C a few times to warm up to the idea, but then he was running all over the place choosing which animals to give his food to.  He spent most of his time making sure the two baby goats got enough to eat.

Lil' peanut never did warm up to the idea. ;)  Doesn't he look terrified in this picture!?  Poor guy!

Now this will make a mama nervous.  C loved that he was so close to them.  And he really got a kick out of that one in the bottom right corner.  Yep, the one that looks like he's about to have my child for lunch. 

We had a fun morning checking off something from our "need to do before we move" list.  Next up, a final trip to Williamsburg this weekend!

Soccer star

C is playing soccer again this Spring.  He really enjoys it and he's actually quite good, so we're sticking with it until he expresses interest in another sport.  Right now we're working the hardest on teamwork and what it means to be a ball hog. ;)  He's had 2 games so far.  They don't officially keep score, but his team did win the first one (he scored 2 goals!) and really lost the 2nd game (he scored 1 goal!).  These pictures are from his 2nd game.  Hubby took most of them as I missed about half the game cleaning up lil' peanut's most epic blow-out to date.  Somebody, ahem Daddy, secured his diaper while he was standing up.  Or rather, attempted to secure his diaper.  Needless to say, it failed us when we needed it most.  We had no extra clothes so he was walking around in his shirt, diaper, one sock, and tennis shoes.  I don't have any pictures of that! :)  Onto the soccer action...

 

Warming up before the game.



 

Waiting his turn to play.  Don't ask me how, but our team ended up with twice as many players as every other team!  Most teams have 7 or 8.  We have 15!  The first game they were all there so everyone basically only played one half of the game.  This time though lots of kids were missing from our team, which ended up being kind of nice because C got a lot more playing time.

Taking a turn at goalie.  I missed all of this, but hubbby said he stopped about half the shots that came his way.  And he didn't shed a tear when the ball got past him.  Big improvement from previous seasons people.  Big improvement.