Family Vaca (Great Wolf Lodge)

As mentioned earlier, we spent our last night of vacation at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys loved it. We don't know whether we will ever do it again (unless another great deal comes our way), but it was such a splendid finale for our vacation. The boys were a bit timid at first, but by the end they were sliding down the biggest body water slides that their little heights were allowed. And Joel took me out to breakfast at The Flap Jack Shack. Yum!

Our favorite memory of the GWL (part 5)... Joel loved going on the rides and playing with the boys, the boys loved the slides, and I just loved seeing them all happy :)

The boys were all tuckered out from the long drive... we were thankful, since we wanted them to play until the park closed.

It is an outdoor and indoor waterpark. Here was what you saw when you walked in. They also had an obstacle course, an area with lots of basketball hoops, regular pools, a lazy river, a couple saunas, a kiddie area, and lots of body/tube slides.

Aiden pretty much just stuck to the kiddie pool (max height of 1.5ft) until about an hour from when we left.

They wouldn't even venture onto those slides for the longest time...

 If he wasn't strapped to me, he was usually guarding our stuff ;)

We would never coerce Liam onto the fort by threatening to go home...
just like he would never goof off and pretend to drink nasty, chlorinated water ;)

Posing for a picture, realizing what his Daddy was scheming, but a little too late. Luckily I had it on the right setting to capture the moment, since I was too far away to rescue him!
(That's 1,000gal of water that gets dumped every 5 minutes after a warning bell)

 Poor Guy!!!!!

 Aiden loved flirting with all the girl lifeguards.
They were switched out every 30min so that they would remain alert.

 Enjoying the "children allowed" sauna

The slides the two boys didn't want to leave. Liam enjoyed it for a couple hours, and then Aiden realized how much fun he was having and wanted in on it too. Joel couldn't ride down with him, but he still loved it anyways-- even when he accidentally flipped one time and went head first all the way down!

 

My husband had it down to a science... "shoulders and heels- make your body like a bobsled" he kept telling me, was how you went quick and made the biggest splash!

Joel's pancake order: homemade buttermilk peanut butter pancakes with peanut butter and chocolate drizzled... Yum!
It actually came with a chocolate coated ice cream scoop as well, but my lactose-free husband asked it to be held.

As any resort, there was a whole lot else you could do (some type of "magi quest", a beauty salon for kids, various restaurants, bowling, characters, arcades, etc etc)... but our kids were happy with just the waterpark, and frankly, we were too! But they did want to pose by this statue... I love how when they want the picture taken, they give their best smiles without even being asked!!