Goin' to the Lodge...

...The Great Wolf Lodge.... darn that jingle. It gets in my head and stays for DAYS! As a former marketer... it's genius... as a radio listener (yes, some of us still listen to the radio) it drives me bananas. Despite their jingle, it's a pretty amazing place!

We were able to nab day passes a few months back and had one of our favorite days as a family ever. This time, my parents found a groupon so we (and by we I mean Daniel and Parker) stayed overnight!  The best pictures are on my mom's cell phone since I was leery of taking the SLR around water but I did capture some highlights.

I didn't know they were offering Trick of Treating but since I packed their Woody and Jessie jammies, no one knew we didn't intentionally pack costumes!

The arcade was closed for renovations so "due to the inconvenience" (which was NO inconvenience since I wouldn't normally pay for that anyways!) many of the games were moved to the lobby and halls and made FREE! Daniel Parker really enjoyed the racing games. Daniel kept exclaiming "We came in 1st!" which really meant "I came in 1st while Parker sat in my lap!" I took a spin on the motorcycle with Parker and it was downright embarrassing! I am certainly no gamer!

Daniel got a little too into it and played the shooting game with P. The only problem is he was shooting meerkats... Parker's favorite animal!  I'm hoping he isn't traumatized for life.

Parker watched the "storytime" while Avery tried to jump the fence to join the show. Eventually I took her back to the room and after 2 hours of trying to get her to sleep, I gave up and drove her home. I was hoping she would sleep at home but apparently she wasn't up to sleeping that night anywhere! The next morning, we hopped in the car and headed back to the boys who loved their overnight stay! My parents joined us soon after and we headed back to the waterpark.

  It was fun having my parents there to watch the kids so Daniel and I could do the big slides together. One of the slides is so amazing it actually made me pukey! Howlin' Tornado was the death of my equilibrium but SOOO addictingly fun. 

Parker wasn't tall enough to do the big slides with us but I know he would have loved them! He was quite content on Fort Mackenzie doing the still scarily high, kid's slides. That smile was worth every mile I drove there and back twice in 24 hours!

There is something for everyone from a baby and toddler pool, to little kid's slides, a wave pool, and multiple level of thrill slides for older kids and adults. The Great Wolf Lodge is fantastically done. The rooms are themed, spacious and clean. The kids had their own little room within our room which Parker LOVED... or maybe it was just the TV hanging over his bed.  The staff was friendly and the facility is resort quality. With the exception of Avery's sleeping issues, it was a blast and I look forward to doing it again when A is a bit older.

I leave you with outtakes of my attempt to get pictures of the kids in their pajamas costumes.