Dorrel and Stephanie

Wild Wednesday

I'm glad not every day is as crazy as it was on Wednesday.  The craziness actually began on Tuesday when I went to pick up the papers.  They weren't there yet and I was told to come back in an hour.  The newspaper office is too far away for us to leave and be back in the hour (we'd spend the whole time driving) so, the kids and I went to the library for an hour.   Dode met us there on his way home from work. After an hour, Dode went home to make dinner and I went back for the papers.  Still not there.  I was told they'd be ready in 1 1/2 hours.  The kids had a youth activity at church so we went home.  Then, after we dropped them off at the church, Dode and I drove back down to Marysville to pick up the papers.  Once we got them, I started to frantically stuff them as Dode drove.  I was going so fast, I think I was aerobic.  I could feel my cheeks flush!  I got enough stuffed for Dode and I to deliver part of the route, then we picked up the kids, brought them home and finished stuffing.  Once we had enough papers, Dode and I got back in the car to finish that part of our route.  We had to get those papers done because Wednesday was full with no wiggle room.

5:30 alarm goes off
6:00 Out to deliver with Isaac
7:00 finished with newspapers!  Home to get Miriam, William and myself dressed and fed
8:00 leave for Miriam's dentist appointment in Mount Vernon
8:30 Miriam gets two cavities filled
9:15 Sears store to pick up lawnmower part
10:00 home, housework
11:00 wake up Isaac and Jacob, tell them I'll be back for them in an hour
go visiting teaching
12:00 home, grab sandwich for me and get boys, off to the doctor
1:00 check ups for Isaac and Jacob in Everett
2:15 Staples, school supplies
3:30 drop off Isaac Colson at his home in Marysville
4:00 home, make dinner
5:30 dinner is ready, waiting for Jacob to get home from cross country
6:00 we eat!
6:20 off to the school open house for Anastaya, (Dode and other kids head to library)
7:15 Costco, Michael's, Best Buy, Famous Footwear
9:00 collapse!

I had to get all my errands done on Wednesday because the next two days were taken up with our final fun of the summer, a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge.

getting photo for asb card

trying out her new locker

Great Wolf Lodge

We had one more Thursday of the summer.  What to do?  I talked it over with Dode and he suggested we go to the Great Wolf Lodge.  When I told the kids we had one more play day planned, I let them choose if they wanted to be surprised or to know what we were doing.  Isaac wanted to know but the girls wanted a surprise.  Isaac did very well at keeping the secret.  I did the packing (so the kids would not figure out the secret) for everyone including clothes and food and we were off around 11:00 Thursday morning.  As we drove there, Elizabeth says excitedly, "I think I know where we're going."  "Well, keep it to yourself, don't spoil the surprise."  A little later she says, "I know I'm right, I just saw the sign!"  "Good, now keep it to yourself."  We're sitting in the left turn lane, waiting to turn into the parking lot and she says, "That looks just like the Great Wolf Lodge!"  I say, "It is silly!"  She says, "I thought we were going to the Space Needle."  (We'd passed it only 100 miles back!)  Anastaya said she'd had no clue.

The Great Wolf Lodge is a family resort.  The lodge is done in a wilderness resort theme with lots of logs, antlers, and animals.  There is an indoor water park that is only for the guests.  One night's stay at the hotel gives you two days of playing in the water park.  In addition to the water park, there is an electronic magical adventure game that the kids can do called MagicQuest.  You can start using the resort facilities at 1:00 the day you check in and are allowed to stay until the water park closes the next day at 9:00.  We got there a little after 1:00 on Thursday and stayed until 6:00 Friday.

We stayed in a room that had a mini log cabin in it where the girls slept. 

looking in to their "cabin"

Miriam on the top bunk

They thought it was fun to have their own place.  Most of the photos are of William and Miriam because that is who I spent the most time with but I promise all the kids had fun.  It was a bit of a stretch to be there with five kids because someone had to be with the little ones at all times but the older ones also wanted to play with me.  If I asked one of the older children to watch William and Miriam, they'd feel left out of the fun.  We went right to the water park when we got there.  Miriam and William were so excited to get started playing.  We started off in the small child area where they played for about an hour. 

Then, we went to a big water tree house type area. 

there's slides to go down and lots of fun ways to play with water

Finally, they were ready for the big river ride.  I wish I had a waterproof camera because the look on Miriam's face was pure bliss as she went down the river ride.  She thought it was a the best thing ever!  We did it over and over again.  Once we got tired of playing in the water, we went back to the room to eat dinner and then off to do MagiQuest.

I thought Miriam and William would be too young for it but Miriam loved turning things on with her wand.  William just wandered around with us and didn't quite "get it".  There are objects scattered around the hotel and when you point your wand at them, they turn on and move or talk to you.  There is a large bearskin rug hanging on the wall and when you wave the wand at it, his eyes light up and he speaks.  Miriam would laugh and laugh each time she woke him up.  The object of the MagiQuest is to find different specific objects and wave your wand at them to collect them.  The objects are marked with a symbol and when you collect them, turn on with lights and sound.  Once you've collected all the objects you're looking for, you get some kind of reward, like getting to open a treasure box with sparkling jewels inside (you can look at them but not can not take anything) or fighting a dragon.   The objects are scattered around five floors of the hotel and you just can't walk through those areas without smiling at all the kids running around with wands accompanied by smiling long suffering parents.  (They like to give the kids a workout going up and down those five flights of stairs.)  Isaac is our master MagicQuest participant.  He's willing to stay up late and get up early to do it.

getting ready to fight the dragon

Friday was a full day of more water sliding and MagicQuest.  Around 3:30, Miriam hit the wall.  She sat beside me in a chair in the water park and was soon asleep. 

She woke up around 4:00 only to curl up in my lap and pass back out.  I held her for over an hour before I just had to move because my legs were going numb.  That woke her up but she never was awake enough to want to go sliding again.  While I was holding her, I was still able to keep an eye on William in the tree house area and  the older children were willing to take him a few times over to the pool.  They were done with the water park at 6:00 and I'm sure would have liked to go do some more MagiQuest before leaving but I knew I had a two hour drive ahead of me and an early morning for produce so we headed for home.  We must have tired William out because he NEVER EVER sleeps in.  Today, he woke up at 11:00!  Of course, as some of you have noted, a vacation for me just isn't a vacation without...

peanut butter cup + fresh waffle cone= yum!