In the middle of May we decided to let Liesel use her full-day off pass (that she works so hard for every summer) and take a family trip to Charlotte to visit Great Wolf Lodge. I have been wanting to go there for some time now. It seems everyone and their brother has been. Yay....it was finally our turn!
We went with Craig's dad and stepmom and it worked really well for us. They let Caedmon and Liesel stay in their room while we just had Jensen in our room. It was a nice little break. Here are the kids checking out the cool kid bunk beds in their room. Jensen is excited but has no idea at this point, those beds are not for him.
Craig told Caedmon to pretend like he was scratching the wolf's nose. The picture turned out cool, but after looking at Caedmon's expression I think he is saying: "Are we done with cheesy pictures? I would rather go play at the water park." Well, that is what I was thinking.....shhh, don't tell Craig. HA!
What was Liesel doing? She was showing off her famous pose.
When we first got to the water park, they measured the kids height. Liesel was told that she could ride any of the rides. Caedmon could ride everything but the tornado. He was fine with it but Liesel, and her oh so spunky personality, wanted to ride the tornado first. Why of course, it was the one thing Caedmon could not ride. LOL! So, I managed to be the lucky winner and walked numerous steps up to the very top with Liesel to find
TORNADO!!! With a name like that, I was expecting something scarier then a ride named "rainbow." Hehe! While in line, I started to see Liesel start to second guess herself but she assured me that she still wanted to ride it. It was our turn to get in the big raft. Liesel just happened to be the one going backwards down the dark tube. There was enough light that I could see the big drop coming up soon. I did not show any fear on my face because to me it was fun but I also did not want to scare her. It was too late now anyways!!! As soon as the big dropped happened for her backwards, without warning...........her facial expression was priceless. It drops you into a big funnel and your raft goes back and forth, up and down the sides while water sprays on you from up above........kind of like a tornado I guess :) Then it shoots you into a pool and you are
free, I mean done with the enjoyable ride. The whole ride probably only lasted 30 seconds, but to Liesel it lasted longer than that!!! She told me she did not want to do it again. Somehow though, Craig and I managed to get her on it one more time. Daddy wanted to ride it and we did not want her to quit the ride on a bad note. We told her: "give it one more try and we will ask the lifeguard to make sure you are not backwards. If after that, you can quit if you are still scared." I don't know if that was good parenting or not. HA! She was scared waiting in line, still rode it for a second time and announced to us afterwards that she was done!!! She faced her fears, YAY for Liesel!
Jensen's favorite thing to do was sit on this wave runner in the kiddie area. It did not move, but you got to spray water. He would sit on this thing for 20 minutes at a time or more. When you tried to get him off to go do something else, he would point to get back on. Craig and Jensen look cute on the wave runner. Who wouldn't melt at Jensen's adorable face? "Sure Jensen, we can waste another 30 minutes on this thing!"
After a busy day in the water park, the kids got their pj's on and headed to story hour at the big tree house. Here is Jensen walking. So cute! I love pictures of Craig with the kids.
There was a little scene with the characters in the tree and then a staff member read the kids a story. It was fun.
My three munchkins snuggled together.....
Jensen was slightly afraid of the raccoon. I guess he has the same concerns his sister does about people in costumes.
Day two of water park fun:
It was nice having Craig's dad and Janice there because we actually go to ride some rides and leave Jensen with them. As long as he was on the wave runner, he was good. Hehe! He also liked going down one of the kids slides and having Opa wait for him at the bottom. Walking up the many, many stairs (sometimes even carrying a raft) made me realize I was older than I thought. I remember going to water parks when I was a kid and having all the energy in the world walking up the slides. Yet, while I am only 35 years old, I saw kids and teenagers pass me on the stairs. Liesel and Caedmon both would go ahead of me and say "Hurry up Mom!" LOL!!! I think I need to work out more. Ha!
Liesel spent a lot of time in the wave pool . I think that became her favorite thing to do. Here is Liesel and Caedmon in the wave pool.
Jensen loves his snack time, or as he calls it....."nack". Being at Great Wolf Lodge was no exception.
Liesel and Caedmon both got to do the obstacle course across one of the pools. They did it at different times and I only got pictures of Liesel because when Caedmon was doing it I did not have the camera. He literally crawled on his knees and jumped across the lily pads very fast. The second time he did it, he actually fell in and since he could not stand in the water, he was a little shaken up.
Liesel waited for her turn patiently and she was off!
I actually went across myself. I never fell in but it was not very graceful. Liesel just cruised right through it and I looked more like the guy on the course next to Liesel. LOL! This was not made for adults bodies, but it sure is fun to do. HA!
Even behind bars, Jensen is cute :)
Every 20/30 minutes or so this huge bucket that is full of water dumps out. All the kids from around run and get ready for it to dump massive amounts of water on you. Caedmon anxiously waited for the bucket!
Liesel wasn't as willing to be completely soaked by the bucket. She waited on the outside while playing in one of the sprinklers.
She would stand on the edge when the bucket was falling. Obviously Caedmon felt the effects more. Yet, they both seem unwilling to pose for the picture. I wonder why??? HeHe!
We had an awesome time at Great Wolf and can't wait to go back. Hopefully I will be more in shape next time for the stairs. LOL! The kids look worn out don't you think? Time to go!
