Great Wolf Lodge!

The boys had two half days in the middle of the week.  We knew we would be taking days off of work to be home with them, so we threw caution to the wind and said, "Let's take the boys to the waterpark for the night!".  So, after stalking prices at numerous waterparks, we booked the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky for Wednesday evening, only calling them out of school for a half day on Thursday. 

We kept this a surprise from them and wanted to reveal it after picking them up from school on Wednesday.  I had a coworker cover my last class of the day so I could leave around 12:15pm.  I met Scott and the boys at the house, revealed we were going, and we hit the road!

It was smooth driving all the way to Sandusky and when we arrived at check-in, we were upgraded to a family fireplace suite!  This was the room we actually wanted, but it sold out when we deliberated about going overnight.  The boys got new wolf ears that were cool colors for a change and we all were excited to see our room and get our suits on for the waterpark. 

We swam and enjoyed the lazy river and slides for two hours before it was time to eat some dinner.  I brought fruit and vegetables from home so we grabbed a pizza upstairs at the "Hungry as a Wolf" cafe and took it into the waterpark.  It was fun to have a little pizza party in the waterpark.  After eating, we swam some more and decided to go up to our room around 6:30pm for showers and pajamas.

Favorites in the waterpark on our first day were definitely Evan's slushie and he loved the slides!  Especially the one in the play structure.  Sean was a big fan of the pool and the hot tub!  He went down all the slides several times, but you could tell they weren't his favorite.  Both boys did the rope/logs activity and made it across multiple times.  It was a fun day!

After washing up, we explored the hotel and played some games in the arcade.  We got Sean chocolate ice cream and Evan some dippin' dots before they did the Clock Show and Story Time.  I'm bummed to report that both boys found it to be quite boring and we left in the middle of the story.  It was also very hard to hear.  The speaker's voice did not project well through the lobby.  We went back to the room and let the boys watch a movie that was on TV until they fell asleep, but unfortunately, we had some very loud people above us that were running around or jumping off beds for over an hour.  I ended up having to call and complain to the front desk before they stopped.  Scott and I enjoyed the fireplace and watched TV/sat up and talked with some adult beverages until it was lights out for us too.

The boys were up early the next morning so we let them watch cartoons and we made breakfast that we brought from home.  The boys had cereal, some fruit, and a cinnamon chip scone (from Trader Joe's).  Scott and I had some homemade breakfast sandwiches that we warmed up in the microwave with some fruit.  The waterpark didn't open until 10am so we had a long morning waiting for things to open up.  I really think that's something they need to reconsider as a lot of families were wandering around the hotel aimlessly looking for something to do.  The only thing open before 9am was the arcade.  So, we played a few more games (which Sean won a bunch of tickets from). 

I let them each pick out something small from the Gift Shop and they also cashed in on their tickets from the arcade.  Sean got a Great Wolf Lodge bracelet that had 3 snap in charms that also fit in Crocs from the arcade and he picked a stationary set and a keychain from the Gift Shop.  Evan won Fun Dip from the arcade (yay sugar!) and he picked this cool Melissa and Doug water art book that was Great Wolf Lodge themed.  Good choices all around! 

Finally the waterpark opened.  Scott took all the bags to the car since we had to be out of our room by 11am and I grabbed a table closest to the lazy river and the slides.  It was a great location!  We swam and did rides until 11:30am and the kids wanted lunch.  We grabbed a few things we could all share from the snack bar inside the waterpark and combined that with the fruit and vegetables I brought.  We swam again until about 2pm and decided to get changed and head home. 

Favorites on the second day in the waterpark included the hot tub and the slides.  But, on the second day the lazy river was the top choice for a lot of the time!  The boys pretended the double slide was a ship and they were hunting for treasure.  We went around and around that river many times with them while they pulled us on the tubes.  It was so fun!

We enjoyed our stay at the Great Wolf Lodge!  It was a lot for the middle of the week and I'm really dragging today back at work, but I'm glad we escaped for the night.  The boys loved that it was a surprise!  They both slept most of the way home and while I needed a nap too, I stayed awake to keep Scott company as he drove.  And then it was back to reality with homework, packing lunches, doing laundry, and Sean's piano lesson in the evening. 

Mid-March Updates

We have been extremely blessed to have the most uneventful March we've ever had!  Our weekends have been wide open, with the exception of swim class on Saturday mornings.  I can't recall ever having a month like this and the best part is that the rest of the weekends remaining this month are open as well!

After returning home from Tucson, we celebrated Scott's birthday that weekend.  He was one lucky guy to have his birthday fall on a Saturday.  The boys and I woke up and worked on his birthday banner and snuck off to Dunkin' Donuts to grab breakfast donuts and coffee before Scott woke up.  Since Scott didn't want a cake or pie this year, we sang to him and lit a candle in his apple fritter.

Evan actually had a birthday party for a classmate of his at the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum that morning.  Scott and Sean stayed home and hung out, playing with Legos while we were gone.  It was Evan's first "friend" party that he attended without Sean and he was a bit unsure of himself for a while.  It didn't help that the only person he knew at the party was the birthday kid.  None of the other classmates were there.  We made do and enjoyed ourselves.  The cake was my favorite part, as it was from Holiday Market.  Evan liked making a volcano with the leader from the museum.

Later that evening, we asked our neighbor's daughter to babysit the boys so we could go out to celebrate Scott's birthday.  We went to Ironwood for dinner and drinks and walked over to Sean O'Callaghan's for another drink before heading back home.  It was a fun evening and the boys did great with Avery!  We'll be asking her to babysit again!

The following morning we took the boys to Bode's diner for breakfast, but they were bummed that no trains came by as we were eating.  We met up with Scott's family for his birthday bowling that we do every year.  Sean bowled the best game of his life - a 104 with minimal bumper use!  He actually looked like he knew what he was doing.  Evan?  Not so much, but we still had fun.  We had a late lunch/early dinner next door at Buddy's Pizza.  Yum!

The following week was a busy one.  We had a few nice weather days, which had us outside as much as possible.  I got two runs in Monday and Tuesday outside.  Evan worked on mastering the monkey bars at the park one evening.  He still has some work to do, but he'll get there soon!

I had parent-teacher conferences that Thursday evening and of course, the timing was awful as I came down with a nasty cold.  I put in for a sick day Friday, but we ended up getting a snow day!  While I was excited to not have to use an absence, it put a wrinkle in my plans of sleeping all day when the boys had a snow day too.  Poor Scott went off to work while we stayed home.  I survived all day with them and they let me get some rest, but I was sure happy when Scott came home.

Last weekend was filled with swim class (make-up) on Friday night, swim class on Saturday morning, me trying to get healthy, open gym at Splitz to get some energy out, Chuck E. Cheese on Sunday with some friends from school, and some shopping.  I actually got to escape on Sunday for an hour and a half in the morning before I took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese to shop at Marshall's.  Like literally browse and stop to sniff all the candles, shopping.  It was amazing!  And I realized that our weekends have been too booked to be able to enjoy such a simple thing as browsing in a store.

This past week was all about surviving.  It was a five day week (we haven't had one of those in a while).  I was still getting over a cough, which was a side effect of my lovely cold.  In hindsight, I probably should have gone to urgent care as I'm quite certain it was/is in my chest.  Scott had parent-teacher conferences Thursday evening.  Catechism and piano lessons kept Sean busy.  But, Friday finally came around and I was excited for another low-key weekend!

Last night the boys watched Casper on Netflix.  We made popcorn and enjoyed just hanging out at home.  Today, they had swim and we ran some errands to get Sean equipment for baseball that will start in a month.  Once Upon a Child and Play It Again Sports  were good to us today!  Sean is definitely set for both baseball and this summer with the haul we brought home today.  The kids played outside for a bit doing a fossil dig and helping Scott get the wood in the backyard organized and ready for a fire tonight.  We did some St. Patrick's Day crafts and watched Moana after dinner.

Tomorrow we'll do our grocery shopping/Trader Joe's run and maybe go to open skate at the Artic Edge.  I tried talking the boys into going skiing with me tomorrow since the lift tickets are discounted this late in the season and we only went out once this year, but it's not looking too promising.

We're surprising the boys with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky this Wednesday.  They have half days on Wednesday and Thursday that we were going to take days off of work to stay home with them, so we figured this would be a good time to go and a much cheaper time to go than on a weekend or during spring break like we had originally planned.  I'm hoping they'll be excited to come home at lunch time on Wednesday and find the car packed and ready to go!  I'm excited to do something fun and break out of these winter blues that I seem to be stuck in.  This month has been disappointing with the cold temps and snow.  I was hoping we'd start warming up a bit.  Hurry up spring!