Archive for October 2008
We woke up today in Covington, KY (just south of Cincinnati) and peered over the river as the city was waking up. I was awake and chipper because I got the Super Best Sleeper Award last night, but Mommy, Daddy, and Parks were all pretty groggy from a rough night of flopping, flipping, moving, and squirming. Breakfast is a pretty good motivator, though, so we got ourselves ready for the day and headed up to the very tippy top of our crazy circle-shaped hotel. The restaurant at the top usually spins around very slowly to give all of the people a view of the area. But, this morning, it stayed still so we enjoyed our view of the Ohio River while we gobbled up the eggs, donuts, biscuits, bacon, and other goodies.
With bellies full, we packed in the car and headed north on a short jaunt to IKEA. Mommy loves all of that crazy Swedish stuff (<a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo”>Bork! Bork!</a>). We wandered around a whole floor before I dropped off the parents on another floor and headed in to the Kiddie Playland while they shopped. They must have had fun because the cart was full when they stopped back to round me up before checking out!
Next is what we’ve all been waiting for…Great Wolf Lodge! We jumped back on the road for another super-quick skip to Mason and right in to our hotel. We are staying in the Kid Kamp, which means that there is a special kids-only area in the room! It looks like a pup tent in the forest, complete with table, bunk beds, and our very own swing out TV. I got the top bunk since I’m bigger and can climb really, really well. Parker gets the bottom bunk…mainly because he still wets the bed.
Anywho…after we broke in the room and checked out the rest of the hotel, we changed in to our suits and headed down to the main attraction. This water park is HUGE! There are about 241 water slides, a lazy river that is a mile and a half long, and a wave pool that produces 16 foot gnarly surf! Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it really is a massive place and has just about every fun water activity you can think of. Parks was still suffering a little jet lag from his night last night, so he pretty much snuggled with Mommy while Daddy and I made our way all over the park. We rode the big kid slides together in double inter tubes and played water basketball (he lifted me up to dunk 
).
After swimming (and Parker finally waking up), we changed back in to our clothes and chowed down at Camp Critter. I don’t know if it was just because we were hungry from all that swimming, or of the lodge just really knows how to make dinner for kids, but we had a super meal and everyone earned the Good Eater Award.
Finally, we camped out in the big lobby in front of the 3 story animated Clock Tower and waited for the evening show. The whole thing came to life to tell stories and sing songs, including the trees, squirrels, owls, and that crazy moose. After that, Wiley Wolf came out to read one last bedtime story before we headed back to our special Kids Kamp and drifted off to sleep.
Great Wolf Lodge
We woke up today in Covington, KY (just south of Cincinnati) and peered over the river as the city was waking up. I was awake and chipper because I got the Super Best Sleeper Award last night, but Mommy, Daddy, and Parks were all pretty groggy from a rough night of flopping, flipping, moving, and squirming. Breakfast is a pretty good motivator, though, so we got ourselves ready for the day and headed up to the very tippy top of our crazy circle-shaped hotel. The restaurant at the top usually spins around very slowly to give all of the people a view of the area. But, this morning, it stayed still so we enjoyed our view of the Ohio River while we gobbled up the eggs, donuts, biscuits, bacon, and other goodies.
With bellies full, we packed in the car and headed north on a short jaunt to IKEA. Mommy loves all of that crazy Swedish stuff (Bork! Bork!). We wandered around a whole floor before I dropped off the parents on another floor and headed in to the Kiddie Playland while they shopped. They must have had fun because the cart was full when they stopped back to round me up before checking out!
Next is what we’ve all been waiting for…Great Wolf Lodge! We jumped back on the road for another super-quick skip to Mason and right in to our hotel. We are staying in the Kid Kamp, which means that there is a special kids-only area in the room! It looks like a pup tent in the forest, complete with table, bunk beds, and our very own swing out TV. I got the top bunk since I’m bigger and can climb really, really well. Parker gets the bottom bunk…mainly because he still wets the bed.
Anywho…after we broke in the room and checked out the rest of the hotel, we changed in to our suits and headed down to the main attraction. This water park is HUGE! There are about 241 water slides, a lazy river that is a mile and a half long, and a wave pool that produces 16 foot gnarly surf! Ok, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but it really is a massive place and has just about every fun water activity you can think of. Parks was still suffering a little jet lag from his night last night, so he pretty much snuggled with Mommy while Daddy and I made our way all over the park. We rode the big kid slides together in double inter tubes and played water basketball (he lifted me up to dunk ).
After swimming (and Parker finally waking up), we changed back in to our clothes and chowed down at Camp Critter. I don’t know if it was just because we were hungry from all that swimming, or of the lodge just really knows how to make dinner for kids, but we had a super meal and everyone earned the Good Eater Award.
Finally, we camped out in the big lobby in front of the 3 story animated Clock Tower and waited for the evening show. The whole thing came to life to tell stories and sing songs, including the trees, squirrels, owls, and that crazy moose. After that, Wiley Wolf came out to read one last bedtime story before we headed back to our special Kids Kamp and drifted off to sleep.
Great Wolf Lodge
Today was a very, very busy day! We got up and started scrambling around the house to get out the door ASAP so we wouldn’t be late for our photo shoot. We met up with Riely and Taylor at Sears for 2-sessions worth of photo fun. I can’t be too specific about the photos, but I’ll summarize like this: click, flash, cry, wiggle, what?, on Daddy’s head!, I want one, get Morgan!, flop, Parker no!, cry, snap, Please smile, where?, pause for intermission, again?, over here, M&Ms, Parker seriously please smile, look up, snap, done!
After the photo shoot, Daddy was on kiddie duty while the Mommies had the impossible task of picking the best shots from the rolls and rolls of good stuff we pumped out today. The Kid Krew started out in the Miracle Ear waiting room for a while before moving out to the mall playground when we ran out of made-up games and magazines. When the Mommies made their way to us, it was time to head off to get some grub after all of that hard work. We first hit Aunt Annies for pretzels and drinks, then kept heading down the mall to Panera for grown-up food. We were all very good in the restaurant before wrapping up the first half of the day.
We covered our little midday interlude with a trip to Mema and Pepa’s for some rest and recovery before Part 2. I watched Elf with Pepa while everyone else snoozed and charged their batteries. We woke up just before Riley and Taylor showed up with Aunt Carrie and Uncle Manata, and the part got started right away! We colored for a minute while the Daddies made like the Easter Halloween Bunny and hid baby pumpkins and gourds all over the back yard. They opened the door and we hit it runnin’ to scoop up all of the little orange treasures. After that, it was time for a hay ride on the back of Pepa’s tractor. He scooted us around the yard for a while while we waived, giggled, and sang in the straw-filled wagon. Our trip concluded right over by a humungus leaf pile! This thing must have been made from 1000 trees because the pile of leaves was taller than me! All for of us jumped and rolled around for a long, long time…long enough to get leaves lodged in places we weren’t expecting. Uncle Manata even got in on the action a few times and performed death defying feats of athleticism by performing a front flip in to the pile. Seriously, he did! Check the photo evidence. Gigi, it would have scared you more than a flying butt kick or indoor football.
When we decided to leave the leaves (ha, get it?), we packed in for one more tour around Macy Acres in the hay wagon while the grown ups got dinner ready. We all ended up out by the fire, roasting hot dogs, toasting marshmallows, chomping chips, and slurping drinks until our bellies were full. When it got dark, we broke out the glow sticks and pumpkin lanterns, too.
Thanks very much to Mema and Pepa for having us over for such a great party! And, it was awesome to hang out with our most favorite cousins for another weekend.
Fall Party
Today was a very, very busy day! We got up and started scrambling around the house to get out the door ASAP so we wouldn’t be late for our photo shoot. We met up with Riely and Taylor at Sears for 2-sessions worth of photo fun. I can’t be too specific about the photos, but I’ll summarize like this: click, flash, cry, wiggle, what?, on Daddy’s head!, I want one, get Morgan!, flop, Parker no!, cry, snap, Please smile, where?, pause for intermission, again?, over here, M&Ms, Parker seriously please smile, look up, snap, done!
After the photo shoot, Daddy was on kiddie duty while the Mommies had the impossible task of picking the best shots from the rolls and rolls of good stuff we pumped out today. The Kid Krew started out in the Miracle Ear waiting room for a while before moving out to the mall playground when we ran out of made-up games and magazines. When the Mommies made their way to us, it was time to head off to get some grub after all of that hard work. We first hit Aunt Annies for pretzels and drinks, then kept heading down the mall to Panera for grown-up food. We were all very good in the restaurant before wrapping up the first half of the day.
We covered our little midday interlude with a trip to Mema and Pepa’s for some rest and recovery before Part 2. I watched Elf with Pepa while everyone else snoozed and charged their batteries. We woke up just before Riley and Taylor showed up with Aunt Carrie and Uncle Manata, and the part got started right away! We colored for a minute while the Daddies made like the Easter Halloween Bunny and hid baby pumpkins and gourds all over the back yard. They opened the door and we hit it runnin’ to scoop up all of the little orange treasures. After that, it was time for a hay ride on the back of Pepa’s tractor. He scooted us around the yard for a while while we waived, giggled, and sang in the straw-filled wagon. Our trip concluded right over by a humungus leaf pile! This thing must have been made from 1000 trees because the pile of leaves was taller than me! All for of us jumped and rolled around for a long, long time…long enough to get leaves lodged in places we weren’t expecting. Uncle Manata even got in on the action a few times and performed death defying feats of athleticism by performing a front flip in to the pile. Seriously, he did! Check the photo evidence. Gigi, it would have scared you more than a flying butt kick or indoor football.
When we decided to leave the leaves (ha, get it?), we packed in for one more tour around Macy Acres in the hay wagon while the grown ups got dinner ready. We all ended up out by the fire, roasting hot dogs, toasting marshmallows, chomping chips, and slurping drinks until our bellies were full. When it got dark, we broke out the glow sticks and pumpkin lanterns, too.
Thanks very much to Mema and Pepa for having us over for such a great party! And, it was awesome to hang out with our most favorite cousins for another weekend.
Fall Party
Our third annual trip to Stonycreek Farms was more like a visit to the equator this year! I don’t like to be hot to begin with, but throw in some prickly straw, sticky vines, and an unseasonable amount of bees and you could potentially spell d-i-s-a-s-t-e-r! BUT, not our family. We made the best of this October heat wave. A rendezvous was set for our house early Saturday morning with the Lafayette Lawsons and Mema and Pepa.
The hayride out to the pumpkin patch was first on our list, but while we waited for Daddy, Uncle Manata, and Mema to buy tickets we jumped and climbed all over the HUGE straw mound. Pepa kept our place in line while both the Mommas snapped away pictures hoping to get one of all of us smiling and looking at the camera. Silly Mommas…that will NEVER happen!! After a nice ride out to the patch, we selected two more pumpkins to add to our collection of five from our own vine. Daddy gave Momma some grief about why we needed two more, but Momma just made The Momma face and Daddy changed the subject.
We went back to our cars to unload our orange jewels, make some clothing adjustments, and get a snack. After feeling refreshed and refueled, we hit the inflatable caterpillar obstacle course minus Parker. He took in some shade with Mema, Pepa, and Momma. After two or three rounds, all the girls talked the Daddys into going into the inflatable Haunted House Maze. The heat combined with all of our inflatable fun domination worked up an appetite for elephant ears and lemonade.
Next on the agenda was the straw maze…again accompanied by the Daddys, but with the addition of Parker Parks. On to some play time at the outdoor playground where Parks went down the slide at least eight times! I enjoyed the rock climbing wall. Everyone was getting a little tired so Momma suggested that we go to the candle making station where I chose to make a purple one and Parks made a yellow one.
After taking a ride on the pumpkin train and a visit to see some farm animals (Parker kept saying, “Hi Cock-a-do,” to the rooster and waving) everyone hopped in their cars and caravaned to Red Robin for some much needed grub. I love Red Robin! They have the best macaroni in the world! We finished our day by watching The Incredibles in the basement with Riley and Taylor. What a jam packed day of fun…even though it was hot! Thanks to the Lafayette Lawsons, Mema, and Pepa for sharing our day with us!