Great Wolf Lodge

Soooooooooooo muuuuuuuuuuuuch fuuuuuuuuuuuuun!

Have any of you ever made the trip up to the Poconos to visit Great Wolf Lodge (or any of their other locations?) It's AMAZINGLY FUN!

The babies stayed home with Lindsay and we left after Zoe got home from school on Monday (half day kindergarten). That got us up to GWL with PLENTY of water park time!

Last year, when we went, I was pregnant - I did a lot of picture taking and wading in the water. So this year, I couldn't wait to go down the slides. We decided to "warm up" with a few "baby slides" and then quickly moved on to the "bum slide" (no tube...you just shoot down on your bum...hence the nickname). Ty and I decided to "race" (there are 2 slides side-by-side). When I went down...let me tell you something...I squealed like a scared little kid! It was so fast. It was crazy! However, when I got to the bottom, I waited...and waited...and waited some more for Mr. Ty. Then, slowly...practically scooting his way down the slide, came Ty! HOW? How did he manage to slow down? I tried! I honestly TRIED to slow down and couldn't figure out how! Everytime he went down...we had to wait. Finally, I figured out it was because he was pushing against the sides. By day 2, we convinced Ty to cross his arms in front of him and sure enough...he started flying down that slide!

After holding the kids off as long as possible, we began the ascent to the "big slides". Man alive, I had NO CLUE what I was in for. They say the heavier the people in the tube, the faster you go. So Zoe got the ride of her life by sharing the tube with me. Not quite the same as going down with Daddy! Again, I squealed. What's wrong with me? Am I a wimp?

Zoe & I went down the "toilet bowl" ride together. Remember...I've never been down this before. I knew the idea of the ride: it shoots you into a big bowl and you go around and around and around until you finally get shot out the bottom. (See where they got the nickname for it?) Well...no one warned me about HOW you get the speed to be shot into that bowl: You go down this DARK tube...and all of a sudden...you drop about 15 feet! You'll never guess what I did! Screeched!

When we were sufficiently drenched, we headed to our room: The Wolf Den Suite. It was very cute. It had a little "cave" with bunk beds for the kids with their own TV and a little window. They loved it. We cleaned off, put on cozy PJ's and ate dinner in the room. Rather than go "out", we brought Easy Mac (Ty's all time favorite) & hot dogs.

Once the kids were down, Shane and I ate our dinners. While we were eating, Zoe started her usual "spelling" game. About 1000 times a day, I get asked how to spell something, or what something spells. Sure enough, "Mommy, what does N-E-D-F-L-O-W spell?" Shane and I just looked at each other a little confused. Shane asked her to spell it again: "N-E-D-F-L-O-W". Hmmmm, frustrated that we couldn't figure out what she was talking about, Shane just answered (a little annoyed), "Ned flow...now go to sleep!

About 5 minutes later, it hit him...


Wolf Den spelled backwards.

The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we headed back out to the water park. An hour or so later, Zoe asked to go to the hot tub. I was putting the camera away at the table, but watched her from about 10 feet away. I noticed a guy sitting in one of the corners with some kids and his wife. He looked kinda familiar. It couldn't be...


...but it was! Shane's college roommate and his family: The Moses'! We hadn't seen them in a few years. It was a great unexpected reunion. Not only was it a wonderful time of catching up, it meant Shane & I could go on the one ride that Zoe & Ty weren't tall enough for. It's basically a water-roller-coaster! More screaching!

At some point during the day, Zoe realized she was tall enough to go solo on the rides. Forget it, I was on my own! You should have seen the joy on the face of a 5 year-old who has just realized her new found freedom. I did my best to get pictures of her, but they all turned out a bit blurry...sorry.


By 2pm, the kids were beat. We cleaned up and headed home. Both kids fell asleep in the car, of course. But when we got home, we couldn't wake Ty. We carried him in to the couch and let him sleep for another hour or so. He still went to bed by 8:30p that night and the best part? He didn't wake up until almost 8:45a the next morning! I guess all the stairs got to him.


We only had one meltdown (Zoe wanted a souvenier from the gift shop). It was a great time with JUST the big kids. I highly recommend it!