Great Wolf Lodge

 John decided this year to not have a birthday party with his friends.  Daddy and I offered to take him on an adventure in lieu of having a party.  We planned a surprise trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  John is a lot like Daddy and hates surprises.  So he requested a few clues to help him guess our destination.  We told him: 1) it was some where we have never been, 2) we would need a bathing suit, 3) it would take awhile to get there, 4) we would have to pack.  John guessed right away.  He said "I think Great Wolf Lodge. Cause we never been there and you need a bathing suit.  Daddy said we would be a pack, and wolves live in a pack!"  I was shocked.  I didn't know he had heard of Great Wolf Lodge (GWL) before.  I asked him how he knew of that place.  He said "I heard it on the radio."  I tried to play it off like I had never heard of GWL.  He didn't give it up.  Any time we talked about his birthday adventure, he would mention GWL.

We left on Thursday and headed to GWL.  As we pulled in the lot, John immediately said "I knew it!"  

At check in, John received wolf ears with a built in birthday hat.  He also got a special wristband that said he was a birthday boy and he was able to get free ice cream for our entire stay.  I was worried that the ears would cause drama with Gillian, but she didn't care.  And John actually let her wear them too!

We scoped out the lodge and set the kids up to play MagiQuest. MagiQuest is an interactive game played throughout the hotel. To play you need a special wand. Gillian chose a pink wand with a unicorn topper and John had a brown wand with a red dragon topper. 

Then we hit up the water park. We checked out the pools, the kiddie slides, the lazy river and then headed to the big slide. Gillian was just tall enough to go on the big slides with a parent of course. We read all the signs and headed up to the slides. As we approached the platform, I realized that we were in line for a big slide with what we like to call "a toilet bowl." I tried to convince the attendant to let us go on another slide. It didn't work. So the kids first big slide spun them around and basically scared them. Gillian hated it. She was so angry at me for taking her on that slide. It took a little while to convince her to go on another slide. But when we did, she fell in love. And that's where we spent majority of the rest of the afternoon. 

We went back to the room for a little bit and the kids were excited to find a tent! It was their own little room with bunk beds and their own TV. 

We played more MagiQuest and ate a late lunch and then headed back to the water park. We timed that well because while most people were eating dinner we were enjoying short or no lines on all the big slides. John and Daddy checked out a really big slide. All four of us also got to go on one big slide together. 

We watched a show in the lobby. Gillian loved it. John just wanted to get back to MagiQuest. 

The next day we spent more time in the water park and John attempted to finish his MagiQuest. 

We didn't get a lot of photos of our adventure, but I did get this video of the kids and Daddy on one of the water slides.

Water park

We were invited the go to an event at Breakwater Beach Water Park in Seaside Heights on Monday for a local radio station. But there was a little thunderstorm on Monday and it got moved to Wednesday. We told John on Monday morning that we would have a surprise for him after school. He was a little disappointed when Daddy told him that it was cancelled. He said "Oh, it was an outside surprise?" We eventually told John that the surprise was a trip to the water park. He was so excited. I picked the kids up from school today and John came running to me. "Is it today?" I nodded. He immediately told his teacher "Miss Denise! Today is the day! I'm going to a water park! It's the best day ever!" 

We got to the water park and John went running. He didn't know which way to go first. He wanted to try everything. We stayed in the kids area for awhile. Gillian played on the small slides and John slowly ventured higher and higher. He and Daddy would go to the top and I would catch him at the bottom. Not that he needed catching. It was more so we could keep track of him (he moves really fast). 

Then Aunt Missy arrived. She took him to the top and they both went down a blue slide. Daddy then decided to show John the BIG slides that you need to take a tube down. John was not afraid. On his first trip, Daddy and John went together and Aunt Missy went down after them. Gillian and I waited at the exit. John and Daddy came out and John had a huge smile on his face. He said "This is the best ride ever!" Next Aunt Missy and John went together in a double tube and Daddy followed in a single. Again he loved it. He said "Let's do it again!" Now it was my turn. We climbed and climbed up the steps. As we got closer, John said "The blue is the best!" And "Mom, don't worry we will go backwards." As we climbed into the tube, John told me "You can close your eyes. It's ok!" He giggled and laughed the entire trip. It was awesome!

Overall we had a great trip to the water park. Can't wait to go back again!