wolfing it

I am feeling fairly dry and overdone after the last couple of days. The kids and I took a trip with a few friends to Great Wolf Lodge up in Washington yesterday and today. We went up with others in a larger homeschool group to take advantage of a group discount. I am sure this would be a lovely place to hang out for some kids and their families. We, unfortunately (or fortunately?), are not those people- at least not now. It was actually one of the more stressful trips I have been on with the kids. It reminded me of how things were a couple of years ago. Honestly if I had known, I never would have taken them. Ah, contrast, sweet guide that she is, always helping us to refine our preferences...

That said, we did have some fun at different points and of course it was great fun as usual! hanging out with friends. Today Eva really enjoyed- and Samuel also- the wave pool. Once they decided to get rid of the rafts and just enjoy the waves and the pool, they had a lot more fun. The hot tub was also a hit, both last night and today. There was a "secret" passageway from inside to outside through the wall in the hot tub and Eva had a LOT of fun going back and forth through that passageway, hopping on one foot the whole way.

The kids also enjoyed a type of scavenger hunt game the lodge had set up called MagiQuest. It saved us last night, to be honest, and they had a lot of fun this morning as well going through several of the quests. When they weren't solving the quests, they could walk around waving their wands at various stuffed animals and fairy houses and the like found around the lodge. There is nothing like stuffed ferrets yelling at you from a cage and fairies laughing it up overhead in a fairy house to lighten up a tense lodge experience. Did I mention two stuffed chipmunks on a teeter-totter who actually teetered and tottered when you waved the wand at them? You get the idea.

Before heading over to Great Wolf Lodge, the kids and I took a tour of Wolf Haven, a nearby wolf sanctuary. I was glad we were finally able to see the sanctuary. We had tried on a couple of different occasions and had never been able to fit it in. It turned out to be perfect timing for Samuel. He really enjoyed himself and walked a little ahead of us so that he could hear the tour guide better and get up close to the enclosures. After the tour Samuel was very interested in becoming a member and "adopting" one of the wolves- his favorite was named Blackhawk.