Great Wolf Lodge

Before Joel left on his trip to Finland, we wanted to do a fun surprise get-away as a family. We had talked about going to the Great Wolf Lodge, and when we found out that another mom at our Homeschool Co-op worked there and could get us a half-price discount, we were in!

We packed up and didn't tell the girls where we were going. They were thrilled when we pulled up in front of the hotel.
We first spent some time at the kid's club all by ourselves, where the girls watched Mary Poppins, did some free crafts, looked at books and played. (I wish I had taken pictures in the kid's club--it is a really neat place!) Then we had a blast in the awesome water park which was virtually empty. The girls enjoyed the slides and we even got to ride a big water ride together as a family (on which Gracie's terrified eyes were as big as saucers-until she wanted to ride it again!)

At one point in the pool, I looked around and literally could not see another person only the lifeguards! It was that empty! Definitely a major plus of homeschooling--we can go places mid-week!
That evening, the girls put on their jammies and we had a yummy dinner at a restaurant in the hotel where the girls got wolf ears!
At eight o-clock, the clock tower did an animated show with music which the girls loved.

After the clock tower show, a hotel worker read a bed time story to all the kids and the hotel mascot came out to greet the kids.
Then we went to the arcade and played some games!
After a super fun night, it was time for exhausted little girls to go to bed. The next morning we met with one of the kid's club workers who taught the girls about wolves and helped them make an origami wolf. We are hoping to make this an annual event! Even though it is only 10 miles from our house, what a wonderful family get-away!