Drying out

At 7:00am Jeff goes down to the parking lot to try starting my car.  Nope, nothing. Back to being dead.  He gets the hotel to jump start the car again and makes his way to Williamsburg Honda, which is conveniently located just down the road.  They checked the car in and made Jeff priority number 1 about 5 minutes before they even officially opened.  Within 15 minutes, Jeff reported back to me it was only the battery.  Yay!!  And within 1 hour of being gone, Jeff was back in his bathing suit and joining us for some last water park fun.  It really couldn't have worked out any better.

The only problem was at this point, Sam has had enough!  She is done with a capital D.  I think the last 2 days were all she could handle and now she no longer wanted in her swim diaper or wanted to get wet.  She was a big-time Miss Cranky Pants.  I am still contributing any and all behavior issues to sleep deprivation.  When we arrived on Saturday, she was having the time of her life.  And even on Sunday, she was doing ok, but starting to turn a little.  At one point, we took a little break on Sunday and Sam fell asleep on me.  This usually never happens.  I think I can count on one hand how many times Sam fell asleep in my lap since she was born.  As our time wore on at Great Wolf Lodge, Sam  was getting less and less sleep than she needed.  The girl can only take so much fun.

I am most proud of Ian.  On Sunday he was really enjoying the wake boarding until he had a sensational crash.  According to reports, Ian's boogie board slipped out from underneath him and it resulted in Ian doing a 180 degree turn in the water, essentially doing a back flip and having his head end up where his feet should've been.  Ian then got thrown upwards to the top of the ride.  Jeff was even concerned that Ian had broken his neck by the way this crash resulted.  Rightfully so Ian was scared and not planning to go back on this ride any time soon. The next day (our last morning at Great Wolf Lodge), Ian said he wanted to give it a try again.  Gooooo Ian!  He faced his fear and didn't let his fall ruin this ride for him.


SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:
1. Traveling with friends makes the trip so much better.  It was wonderful enjoying this experience with another family. And it was so nice for Ian and Samantha to each have someone they are good friends with.

2.  They say the temperature is 84 degrees.  There's no way!  It was freezing when you came out of the water.  Some of the rides the water would be nice and warm, and some of the rides the water would be freezing.  If there is one thing I could change, it would be for them to heat everything to a warmer temperature and make it consistent.

3. The wrist bands are the coolest!  This wrist band is designed to be your room key (really, you swipe your wrist in front of the scanner on the room door and it opens), your ability to pay for every single thing in the entire hotel, and it is proof that you are a guest at the hotel.  It is quite amazing how if you have the wrist band on, you don't really need to carry anything with you.

4. Obviously you shouldn't book the room at the rate advertised on the website. Sign up for the email alerts and wait for a sale.  There is a huge range of rates for these rooms.  It is crazy what the full price is...wait for a sale!

5. Sunday seemed like the best day for when the crowds were the smallest.  Most everything we were able to walk on without a line.  Saturday was crazy busy, but it was still manageable. And Monday seemed to bring in a new flock of people to start the crowds again.

6. The lazy river is too narrow!  It gets very congested, very quickly. However, it didn't keep me from going on it.  I could sit on the lazy river for hours and hours.  What fun!

7. Two nights was a good amount of time.  Our 48 hours away felt like we were gone for much longer.  There was plenty of stuff to do, but we also felt there was enough time to do and see everything.

So, here's my plan...go back in 6 years.  Ian will be 11, Sam will be 8.  We take the Wilson's back with us and rent a private cabana for Jeff to lounge in and watch tv, and still feel like he is part of the group.  Ian and Ethan can have the freedom to walk around on their own (within reason) and the little ones are close by, but given some flexibility on being on their own - under a very watchful eye.  In other words, we don't have to go down the water slide first and catch them as they come down. 

We can now officially check Great Wolf Lodge off the list.