The Great Wolf Lodge

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Great Wolf Lodge which is an indoor water park and hotel in Grand Mound, Washington. A lady in a different ward somehow was able to secure a bunch of rooms at a discounted price, so a lot of people from our ward and our old ward went at the same time. It was a really cool place. We were all really impressed with it. In the actual swimming area, it was really warm, and the water was warm too. That was very nice for me because I really don't like cold water and being cold. They had a wave pool, an area for little kids, a big fort with water slides and a huge bucket that dumped a TON of water every few minutes, some fun and bigger slides including one called the Tornado, which was fun but kind of freaky. Garrett and I had to take turns staying with Noah and Bella and then going with the older girls. So both of us got to go on slides and things, but we also did a lot of sitting around and holding Noah while he slept and ate. Next year, it will be better because he'll be able to play in the kiddie area.

This is the outside of the buidling. I love the giant wolves carved in the front.


This is a picture of the inside of the tornado that I got off of their website. You start off going down this slide in the dark and then you go down this steep drop off (sometimes backwards--which always freaked me out) and then come out in this yellow and red area (it looks like a top from the outside) and you slide back and forth going up the sides to the point where the person across from you is looking down on you and you are hoping that they don't fall on top of you. :) Sorry, not the best description, but it was fun--"wicked awesome" is how my girls described it.

This is another picture I got off their website of the fort with the big bucket of water, although I don't think this one was in the Washington one because it looks different.

Taking my turn with Noah

Bella eating her hot dog lunch.

Paige, me and Bella (on my lap) in the wave pool

The hotel part was really nice, too. We just got a basic room, but there are much cooler ones with bunk beds for the kids and "cabins" in the rooms for the kids as well. Maybe next time we'll try to get one of those rooms.

They also have arcades and restaurants and something called MagiQuest where you can buy ridiculously priced high-tech wands and go on a live-action adventure game, solving magical challenges and quests to earn powers and points and move on to bigger quests and adventures. Garrett got wands for Maggie and Lydia and they had a blast going throughout the resort on these quests.

What's nice about this place is that you can start swimming at 1pm the day you get there, until it closes at 10 pm. You check out the next morning at 11, but you can still stay and swim until it closes that night. It's a really fun place and I think we'll definitely be going back again next year.

All about the kids...

Just thought I'd post some random pictures of the kids that we've taken lately...

Lydia chasing the soccer ball...

Maggie waiting for ball to come down to the goal, so she can defend it.

Our soccer girls

Paige after she lost her first tooth at school. She pulled it out herself and got $2!

Bella in her new big girl bed.

Bella and Noah

Noah in his bed

Look at this handsome boy--so cute! He is now 3 months old and weighs 13 lbs.

daddy messing around with Noah

a little tummy time

I had to include this cute video of Noah talking and smiling. It's really cute!

Family Photo Shoot

Last summer (2009), our ward had a silent auction. My friend's husband is a photographer and they were auctioning off a photo shoot and all the photos on a disc. So, I bid on it and won. I didn't use it then because we had two family reunions planned that summer and we were getting family pictures taken at each reunion. So, they were nice enough to let me hang on to it and use it whenever. So, after Noah was born, we figured it was a good time to get another family picture. So, here are the pictures from that photo shoot.

Thanks Shawn and Rockelle for the great pictures!