Great Wolf Lodge: Day 2

Even after our long night of alarms, we woke up bright and early Monday morning ready for more Great Wolf Lodge fun!

The water park didn't open until 9am, so we ate breakfast at a family favorite, Dunkin' Donuts, (combining it with some healthier options which I packed from home), and then set out to do more exploring of the lodge.

The hallways were decorated with these trunks, which were apparently part of a scavenger hunt type activity, as we saw some older kids pointing wands at the trunks and various other "treasures" throughout the lodge.  While Dan liked the wand and did request one, he was really good when we told him we'd save that for a future visit.  I do think the kids would have enjoyed the hunt, and maybe if we had a little more time, we'd have considered it. But, we had plenty to do without it; and I do think it was more for the older kids. Plus, you have to leave something for next time, right?! 

Hey! Look who we found in the lobby!!
Just as long as he doesn't try coming home with us or anything....no more critters on Preakness Place, please!

They had two more small presents to open, joint gifts to enjoy together. One was a magnetic picture book and the other was a First Words puzzle.  

I had to get a picture of this. Dan is so funny sometimes. Though I packed his flip flops, he didn't like the way they felt on his feet, so he decided to wear his clogs (which were designed to be winter shoes- they have a faux fur lining).  I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea for him to remove his socks. I suppose since we were going to be in a water park. Well, it wasn't such a good idea because the lining in the shoes stuck to his feet, creating more of an ordeal than the flip flops themselves.  Never a dull moment! 

Despite the shoe debacle, by 9 am we were lined up with the other guests at the entrance to the water park waiting for them to open the doors.

This time I had my camera!

This was called Fort Mackenzie, a large interactive tree house for kids to explore. There were a few slides around the side, which were accessible from the top; and while Dan ventured up a few times to try them, he changed his mind when he got up there. They did look a bit intimidating. At the top there's a 1000 pound bucket which dumps water every 10 minutes or so as it fills up.  Here's a video of it- it was funny watching everyone stand below it and get drenched.

This was the Cub Paw Pool, which is probably where Anabella spent the most time. Daniel really liked Fort Mackenzie. 

Warming up....

This was a favorite activity of Anabella's from Water Country this summer.  The nice thing about this Cub Paw Pool is that the water was shallow enough to let them practice their walking on hands, a pre-swimming technique they learned at lessons last spring.

Dan liked spinning this wheel and watching the water spray out.

They enjoyed these water slides in the Cub Paw area.

Another fun sprayer

Loves getting drenched! 

While most of my pictures are from the Cub Paw Pool and Fort Mackenzie, we did explore some of the other areas, but I got tired of lugging the camera around (protecting it by wrapping in a towel) and returned it to the room after I got what I figured was enough pictures for them to remember the visit.


The Cub Paw Pool and Fort Mackenzie were both activities toddlers/preschoolers could pretty much do independently.  There were some other activities we all enjoyed together but Daniel and Anabella wouldn't have been able to do without a parent holding onto them. One was riding the rafts down the Crooked Creek, a lazy river.  Another was the wave pool, the Beaver Tail Pond, but they didn't like this much. I remember them not liking the wave pool much at Water Country either.


We did ride one slide together as a family, The River Canyon Run, where we all piled onto a large inner tube type raft and whooooshed to the bottom spiraling around corners and down steep drops, almost tipping at one point and then finally landed safely in the landing pool where both kids were in tears. Oops.  Guess it wasn't so family friendly after all. Appropriate for 5+ maybe, but not for our almost 4 year olds.  You couldn't see the slide very well, and while we stood at the bottom and watched a lot of families reach landing in the water pool, they all looked happy, so we thought it was safe and fun. Not so for us. It went a little too fast for them (and, to be honest, for me too). I was really surprised it was considered a "family" ride.  Chip agreed. Even Dan, who is our thrill seeker, said it was "too scary."

Fortunately, they recovered quickly, and were happy to have some down time in the Hot Springs (a huge hot tub), where they had a great time swimming around- requesting life vests so they could float on their backs. I don't have any pictures from the Hot Springs because I enjoyed it as well (we really need to get a waterproof camera), but it was a favorite for us all, both on Day 1 and Day 2.  In fact, when we asked them both about their favorite activity in the water park, they both agreed- the hot water pool.  They are my kinda kids! :)


Following the few hours they'd had at the water park the day before, a few hours Monday morning was plenty of time to feel like we got our money's worth from our stay.  A little before 11am (they gave us a noon check out due to the inconvenience of the alarms the night before), we returned to the room to pack and get dressed.

We got them dressed first, and then they enjoyed some popcorn while watching TV from the top bunk.

We had to keep a somewhat careful watch on the remote to make sure it didn't end up in someone's pocket or suitcase! 

I was trying to get a cute picture of them together while they were watching a show.
This is what I got. 

Ok, I'll smile, but I'm not turning to look at you. 

Last destination (which we promised we'd do "later"....it was later:

The Northern Lights Arcade! Hurray! Ugh.

Having managed to avoid an arcade for almost 4 years, they were a little awestruck to say the least. It was loud (SO LOUD!!) and bright.  We walked around and surveyed a little before they finally decided on their first activity- they wanted to ride the carousel! Is that cute, or what? I love my sweet babies! Reminded me of Hayden's birthday party back in 2011, one of my first entries in this blog, when they took their first carousel ride with Caleb.

Anabella wanted to drive a car. First, she picked a pink car, but then changed her mind and picked this one. Usually at the malls and stuff, we just let hem sit and "pretend" to drive.  It's always worked in the past, but now that they're older, we actually bought some tokens and let them do it for real.

Dan chose to play basketball. 

Daddy couldn't resist shooting a few himself.

They both liked this game.

We only played a few games (and they were happy with that), but we did earn some tickets; and believe it or not, we all left with a few tootsie rolls in our pockets! Woohoo!! Maybe arcades aren't so bad after all.

On our way out, I had to get a few pictures of the lodge from the outside.

I'm pretty sure that was our room. (heehee)

On our way to get pizza the night before, we spotted an Ihop just down the road from the lodge. Since we gave them the choice (want to go to IHop for lunch? YESSSSSS!), that's where we went. 

Since it was almost their birthday, and since they ate such a good lunch after working up an appetite swimming all morning, they finished off their meals with birthday sundaes! Kiddie sundaes which I believe our friendly waitress upgraded for them since it was their almost birthday and all. (don't you think those are a little big for a kiddie sundae?) 

Dan didn't like all the whipped cream on top, requesting just "white" ice cream (which he calls vanilla), so I scooped off his whipped cream and fed him just the white ice cream being careful to avoid any chocolate syrup. I found a place for the chocolate bites, as I did the rest of the sundae after he ate only a few bites and decided he was finished.  Meanwhile, Anabella didn't need any help at all finishing off her chocolate sundae; sorry, Daddy, you can share with Daniel next time (maybe).  

Naps for all on the way home. Besides Daddy, sorry Daddy, next time (maybe). The trip home was a little longer as we had to detour through Front Royal (which from Williamsburg is a real detour), but we had to pick up our briskers (a.k.a. Solomon and Shilee), who were being spoiled by Mom and Dad since I dropped them off there on Saturday.

As we pulled into our neighborhood, nearly four hours after we left Williamsburg earlier that afternoon, I said something to the effect of, nice to take a vacation, but nice to be back home. Dan's response was that he wanted to go back to the lodge. He liked the bunk bed.  Anabella's response- she missed her dogs.  When I asked them what they liked most about their birthday vacation at Great Wolf Lodge- that day and the days thereafter- can you believe what they said? What they've told everyone.....what they'll probably always remember the most?

BEEEP, BEEEP, BEEEEEP, BEEEP, BEEEEP, BEEEEP......MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?!

awww, man, I forgot to get a picture of the fire alarm!!