I emphasis the word 'Great' above, because it was! My only complaint............that we didn't stay more than one night! Ah, what a blast that place is; worth every penny. After packing up what seemed to be way too much crap, we headed to the Lodge Saturday afternoon. Jordan had to work til 6:30, so he met us there after he got off work. Katrina and Logan met me there and helped get the boys and our bags unloaded. We checked in, got our bracelets, changed clothes, and headed to the water park. When checking in, they sold me on the 'Paw Pass' which was an up-front purchase of all these activities and things that I was most likely going to by anyways. Just add it to my tab. Since the 'Rapture' was supposed to happen yesterday, I thought, 'What the heck, the world's going to end, let's live it up; we won't have to pay the credit card bill now!' Silly me; I'm thinking Citi will want their money next month now.
I had bought Austin a life jacket last year to take on the cruise, but he never needed it. I wasn't sure he would cooperate when it was time to put it on, but he surprised me. I didn't make him wear it all the time, but it was handy to have. Austin
loved sitting on the jet ski's and shooting water at everybody.
The kids play area was amazing and kept him entertained for sure. At the beginning, he was a little hesitant at doing anything and was hanging on for dear life on our first trip to the lazy river. But he soon warmed up into the water bug I wished he would be. After all, this trip wasn't free and I wanted my money's worth! :)
Chase was such a trooper the whole time. We sat in the water and splashed around a bit. He rode in mine or Jordan's lap through the lazy river and didn't really mind having all the water being splashed on him. He would let me know when he got sleepy and take a catnap. That kid was not disturbed the least bit by all the noise and kids running around in there.
When Jordan arrived at 7, we changed out of our swimsuits and headed down to the buffet.
Granted, it was $16 a person, but it was convenient. And Austin definitely enjoyed the dessert section to say the least. I don't think he ate one healthy thing the entire time. Oh well.
After filling our bellies, we headed down to where all the action was. We got 25 tokens for the arcade with the Paw Pass, so Austin had some fun in there.
Then we did their version of 'Build-a-Bear'. I had intended on us going down to the Clock Tower for story time, but we definitely weren't settled down by then.
We finally headed back to our room. We had reserved the 'Kid Kabin Suite', which was complete with a separate area with bunk beds, a twin bed, and a tv of course. Austin was in heaven!
After watching the Mavs whoop up on the Thunder, we got some shut eye.
A cheery little boy greeted me at 7am next to my bed, ready to go to the water park. Hah, it doesn't open til 9 buddy, back to bed! I did the easiest thing and crawled in his bed with him and we all slept til 9:30. Chase got a quick diaper change at 7am too, and then got in the bed with Daddy to continue to snooze.
After snacking on some convenient breakfast snacks I had packed for us, we packed up our stuff, took it to the car, and then headed back to the water park. (Water passes are good the day of check-in
and check-out; what a bargain!) Austin insisted on eating his breakfast on the balcony. He loved watching airplanes fly by from the nearby airport.
Austin was way more excited today and quickly got back into the swing of things. We took turns playing with kiddos so that the four of us would be able to enjoy the big kid attractions as well.
I took Austin to the 'Cub Club' to color his t-shirt that came with the Paw Pass. As he left me to color the shirt as he played in a clubhouse, I recognized one of the workers. If you caught the episode of 'Undercover Boss' for Great Wolf Lodge, they were at the Grapevine location on the show. The CEO 'worked' in the Cub Club area and the employee that was training her (Bree) was there! I told her I recognized her from the show and we chatted as I sat in a chair that only allowed half of my bobo to sit on, just six inches off the ground. What a day!
As the clock struck 2pm, I knew our traditional nap-time had long passed and we should probably start packing up soon. We got changed, got a quick spider tattoo for my Spiderman, and headed to the car.
What a whirlwind trip, that went by too fast! We are already trying to figure out when we can go back this summer for 2-3 days. We're not planning on taking a big vacation this year, so this will definitely do!
