So after Richmond, we finally arrived at Great Wolf Lodge. We had planned a maximum of four hours for the drive, but with all our stops and I-95 traffic, it was eight hours before we actually got there. The entrance is truly impressive!
The kids were so excited to be there! We spent the evening at the waterpark and then drove down the street for a late dinner at IHOP (because $20/per person for a buffet, when 4 of us are considered adults is just not happening! So glad we packed food for breakfasts and lunches!) and then put the kids to bed incredibly late. With all of us in one room it took forever for them to fall asleep, but it made me really happy laying there in the dark and listening to them all giggling together. Highlights included Gavin commenting on the fact that Gideon had opted to sleep on the floor rather than sharing a bed with anyone by saying "Gideon is really sleeping on the floor?! That's ADORABLE." I have no idea why his choice of the word "adorable" so tickled my funny bone, but it makes me laugh just remembering. And then somehow Serenity and Gideon switched places and all three boys were in one bed and Gideon was telling them stories to lure them into sleep. He and Gavin so often struggle to get a long, it was a balm to my mama heart to hear them being happy together like that. In the end, the two little boys ended up falling asleep in bed with me and then I snuck out to join Rob in his bed. We repeated this pattern the second night.
The waterpark was AWESOME
(this picture just shows a small part of it)
Gideon and Gavin loved the surfing simulator, the big kids had a ball on the waterslides and wave pool. The little boys loved the kiddie pool with it's small slides and ropes that triggered sprinklers and dumped buckets full of water. There was a water basketball court that Gavin thought was great and a lazy river that Jasper enjoyed. We spent the whole morning of our second day playing happily in the water.
Around noon, poor Gideon totally wiped out in the wave pool and scraped up his face on the bottom of the pool.
This incident really put a damper on the trip for him. We took him to the lifeguard stand and got him patched up and then took a break for lunch. He was so pitiful sitting there staring dejectedly into his hamburger and lamenting "I just want to go home and play Minecraft with Hope [his pet rat] on my shoulder." He'd already been feeling a little homesick and missing Hope and this was just kind of the end of his fun for the trip. After lunch, he said he didn't want to swim anymore and went to the room and took a nap.
The rest of us played a little longer. Rob and Serenity and I tried to convince Gavin to try one of the big waterslides with us, but he refused. Jasper, however, overheard us talking about it and said HE really really wanted to go! There was one large slide that did allow kids his size to ride. It was one of the longest slides there and you rode it in as a group of 2-4 sitting inside a little raft. We agreed that he could ride it with Rob and Serenity and I'd stay at the bottom with Gavin, but Gavin had an EPIC meltdown about it. He was terrified that something bad was going to happen to Jasper and begged us, sobbing not to let him ride it. We assured him it would be fine, and sent them on their way, but he cried and cried and then ran away from me, up the stairs to where they were all in line waiting to ride and threw himself at Rob's feet crying and begging him not to do it. And then JASPER started to cry, not because he was scared but because he thought we were not going to let him ride. Eventually, Rob carried Gavin down the stairs (because he's too big for me to wrestle when he's freaking out like that) and I continued in the line with Jasper and Serenity. When it was finally our turn, we all sat down in the raft when suddenly Serenity jumped up and said "I can't do this!" I was utterly perplexed because she had already BEEN ON THIS RIDE. Twice. She said "I'm sorry. I just can't take Jasper down this slide." And then she LEFT. And because she left, Jasper was suddenly too scared to go, so we all got out and walked back down the stairs. I was so mad at Serenity. After all that mess with Gavin and everything! Fortunately, the next day Jasper said he wanted to try again. Rob took him just the two of them and he LOVED it. Gavin and I sat at the bottom and talked with the lifeguards about how no one had ever died on that ride before. And after he'd gone once with Rob, Serenity agreed to go down with me and Jasper, so he got to do it twice and everyone got to redeem themselves for their silly behavior.
In addition to the waterpark, Great Wolf Lodge had a lot of activities we didn't choose to do--minigolf and bowling and 3-D games and a spa. We did buy a ridiculously overpriced wand for their MagiQuest game, which I didn't play, but Rob did it with the boys. It's basically like a big treasure hunt all over the lodge. They had this cheesy animatronics show in the lobby several times a day. Jasper was MESMERIZED by it and sat through it three times.
They also did bedtime stories, dance parties, balloon animals and a bunch of other fun stuff in the lobby. It was a really fabulously Kid Oriented place and we just had a nice relaxing few days of Family Time. It was mostly very positive. Gideon got really moody the last day. He was just totally ready to go home. Fortunately the drive home went a lot faster than the drive there!
All in all a successful family vacation. We feel very lucky to be able to have such a fun and relaxing time! Gavin wishes he could live at The Great Wolf Lodge.
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