Back to the Wolf Den
Back in 2012, our family took our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge up in Concord Mills, NC. We had a blast! We were only there for 24 hours, but it made quite an impression on us all. Even Jocelyn, who was not even a year old yet, had a good time.
The kids have been eagerly awaiting our return. We skipped going last year (Um, hello, DISNEY WORLD trumps GWL any day!) but decided to try again for this year.
Four days before our trip, Jocelyn was diagnosed with pneumonia. The paediatrician assured us that Jocelyn was not contagious and based on her lack of fever and activity level, coupled with a strong antibiotic, she'd be fine to continue with our Thanksgiving day and Great Wolf Lodge plans.
However, we would end up leaving a sick child behind. Jayce came down suddenly with a sore throat after family pictures the day after Thanksgiving. Our doctor's office was open Saturday morning so I took him in. It wasn't strep; it wasn't the flu. Just a bad virus and he was miserable. And contagious.
Jayce was too sick to even care about missing the trip. He asked if he could stay home with Grandma and play video games. And he did just that.
The rest of us packed up and headed out the door with promises to bring our sick boy lots of goodies.
Each child received a pair of Wolf Ears upon check in. Luckily I had thrown in a "nice" (i.e. non-character shirt) in Jocelyn's bag in case we went out to dinner. It just happened to be gray and it is now known as her "wolf shirt".
Jocelyn absolutely LOVED the "Wolf Den Suite" and pretty much just wanted to stay there and play with her wolf puppy (a stuffed animal dog she brought from home). We finally convinced her to go downstairs to get a glimpse of Santa arriving in a helicopter.
It was packed! We couldn't see Santa very well at all, so we headed upstairs for a better view.
And then! The tree lighting!
Okay, I was a little disappointed in the luminosity of the tree. I think my expectations were a little high.
After the tree lighting, we went out to dinner. We *thought* we'd be eating at Quaker Stake and Lube. Only it was closed. Like, not in business any more. We chose Sticky Fingers instead.
Back to the Lodge for Story Time...
We got a kick out of watching his hat fall off mid-performance :)
At the end, it started to "snow".
Jocelyn was freaked out at first. Then we told her it wasn't real snow, just bubbles.
Then it was dance party time!! I need to get Brian to upload the video from his phone. Jocelyn was hilarious! She was getting down!
Then it was off to bed. Well, Jocelyn pretended to go to bed while Brian and Jaina played MagicQuest.
That's the closest she'd get to sleeping for the next TWO hours. Y'all, Jocelyn has never been a great sleeper, but she's NEVER resisted bedtime. Never. This was a first. And hopefully a last. She was uncontrollable. Absolutely refused to lay down. Kicked and screamed and hit when I picked her up to lay down next to me. She finally cried herself to sleep at 12:30 AM.
While the toddler was protesting bed time ("NO! THE HOTEL IS NOT GOING TO SLEEP NOW!"), the 12-year-old suddenly found herself sick to her stomach. She moaned and complained for hours that she felt like she was going to throw up. But she miraculously was better the next morning. Brian made her sit out of the water park anyway, just in case.
Jocelyn lasted about 10 minutes in the wave pool. A face planting episode in the kiddie pool area the day before made the water park a "big scary place!" to our 2-year-old.
"Can you take my jacket off now? I just want to sit by Jaina."
This is what the wolf Holiday Ears looked like. She scored both pairs.
After Brian and I rode a few water slides together, we walked around the rest of the resort and then took pictures in the lobby before heading out.
If we keep with our traditions, Jocelyn will be almost FIVE when we go again. That just blows my mind. Craziness! These kids just need to stop growing!
We sure missed our Jayce! He loved his beef meximelt that we brought him back from Taco Bell. Sure, the sword and wolf ears were great, too, but that boy loves his Taco Bell :) We were just glad his throat was better enough to eat it!
Next up on the blog catch up... my birthday, migraines, and MRI results. Not quite as fun as Great Wolf Lodge by any means :)
The kids have been eagerly awaiting our return. We skipped going last year (Um, hello, DISNEY WORLD trumps GWL any day!) but decided to try again for this year.
Four days before our trip, Jocelyn was diagnosed with pneumonia. The paediatrician assured us that Jocelyn was not contagious and based on her lack of fever and activity level, coupled with a strong antibiotic, she'd be fine to continue with our Thanksgiving day and Great Wolf Lodge plans.
However, we would end up leaving a sick child behind. Jayce came down suddenly with a sore throat after family pictures the day after Thanksgiving. Our doctor's office was open Saturday morning so I took him in. It wasn't strep; it wasn't the flu. Just a bad virus and he was miserable. And contagious.
Jayce was too sick to even care about missing the trip. He asked if he could stay home with Grandma and play video games. And he did just that.
The rest of us packed up and headed out the door with promises to bring our sick boy lots of goodies.
Each child received a pair of Wolf Ears upon check in. Luckily I had thrown in a "nice" (i.e. non-character shirt) in Jocelyn's bag in case we went out to dinner. It just happened to be gray and it is now known as her "wolf shirt".
Jocelyn absolutely LOVED the "Wolf Den Suite" and pretty much just wanted to stay there and play with her wolf puppy (a stuffed animal dog she brought from home). We finally convinced her to go downstairs to get a glimpse of Santa arriving in a helicopter.
It was packed! We couldn't see Santa very well at all, so we headed upstairs for a better view.
And then! The tree lighting!
Okay, I was a little disappointed in the luminosity of the tree. I think my expectations were a little high.
After the tree lighting, we went out to dinner. We *thought* we'd be eating at Quaker Stake and Lube. Only it was closed. Like, not in business any more. We chose Sticky Fingers instead.
Back to the Lodge for Story Time...
We got a kick out of watching his hat fall off mid-performance :)
At the end, it started to "snow".
Jocelyn was freaked out at first. Then we told her it wasn't real snow, just bubbles.
Then it was dance party time!! I need to get Brian to upload the video from his phone. Jocelyn was hilarious! She was getting down!
Then it was off to bed. Well, Jocelyn pretended to go to bed while Brian and Jaina played MagicQuest.
That's the closest she'd get to sleeping for the next TWO hours. Y'all, Jocelyn has never been a great sleeper, but she's NEVER resisted bedtime. Never. This was a first. And hopefully a last. She was uncontrollable. Absolutely refused to lay down. Kicked and screamed and hit when I picked her up to lay down next to me. She finally cried herself to sleep at 12:30 AM.
While the toddler was protesting bed time ("NO! THE HOTEL IS NOT GOING TO SLEEP NOW!"), the 12-year-old suddenly found herself sick to her stomach. She moaned and complained for hours that she felt like she was going to throw up. But she miraculously was better the next morning. Brian made her sit out of the water park anyway, just in case.
Jocelyn lasted about 10 minutes in the wave pool. A face planting episode in the kiddie pool area the day before made the water park a "big scary place!" to our 2-year-old.
"Can you take my jacket off now? I just want to sit by Jaina."
This is what the wolf Holiday Ears looked like. She scored both pairs.
After Brian and I rode a few water slides together, we walked around the rest of the resort and then took pictures in the lobby before heading out.
If we keep with our traditions, Jocelyn will be almost FIVE when we go again. That just blows my mind. Craziness! These kids just need to stop growing!
We sure missed our Jayce! He loved his beef meximelt that we brought him back from Taco Bell. Sure, the sword and wolf ears were great, too, but that boy loves his Taco Bell :) We were just glad his throat was better enough to eat it!
Next up on the blog catch up... my birthday, migraines, and MRI results. Not quite as fun as Great Wolf Lodge by any means :)
When I read where you guys planned on eating I swear it said Quaker State and Lube... and that sounded like a place to get your oil changed! I thought, well they just must do things differently there? LOL
ReplyDeleteSounds like a neat place to visit during the holidays. One of my fears about planning big vacations is the unexpected sicknesses. I'm always paranoid I will spend months planning something, only for someone to get the flu the day before or something crazy.
Whoops... yes, that should say, STEAK and Lube. Which, is a kind of funny name for a restaurant. But it does have a car theme :)
DeleteWe want to go to Great Wolf Lodge at some point. We might go when Tom gets back from his deployment. It looks like a lot of fun and we have one about 3 hours away.
ReplyDeleteLooks like such a fun place to visit! They have one up here in Kansas City and I want to take the kids there! This makes me even more excited to go! :)
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, that whole trip looks amazing! Sorry Jayce had to miss it!
ReplyDelete