Great Wolf Lodge

We left last Sunday after church to drive down to Williamsburg, to the Great Wolf Lodge. Our homeschool support group has been getting a special deal for the past few years to go down in December, but quite honestly I just wrote it off each time I would see the email. Things like that don't work out for our family! We're too big! It's too expensive! But this time Christine McC told me that the hotel was giving us ALL the suites for the same price of $139, including one that sleeps 8. That answered my objections, so we made reservations for all three nights of the deal. Secretly, though, I still thought it was too good to be true, and so I threw 2 sleeping bags into the van, just in case.

When we got to the room, however, I was very pleasantly surprised by how big it was! It was actually 3 rooms--one room with a queen size bed and attached bathroom, where Bob and I slept, along with Faith in her pack-n-play; a second bedroom with 2 queen beds where Anna, Grace, Caleb, and Jonathan slept, and a third sitting room with a fold-out sofa where Nathan and Luke slept. There was also a hallway with a counter and a microwave and small fridge, as well as a second bathroom! VERY spacious! Since we had more than 5 kids, we haven't stayed at a hotel where we all actually had a bed!

(Picture from the kitchen hallway, looking into the bedroom with one bed and the sitting room. The other room is off to the left.)

Monday was a really fun day because the other 2 families in our Rivendell co-op were also there. The boys had a grand time playing together! Here they are all getting drenched by a big bucket that pours out thousands of gallons of water every 5 minutes or so. Notice my girls are nowhere near this. They were all terrifed of the big bucket, and they steered a wide berth around the whole area the entire time, LOL.

The waterpark was really nice, albeit really hot and humid. They keep it at 84 degrees year-round in there, which is great if you are exiting a water slide, but not so nice if you are pregnant and trying to relax by reading a book! I had to keep dipping my feet in. When the girls were down, I had to be right there with them, but sometimes Bob would take them up to the room (they were definitely "done" with water much more often and quickly than the boys!) and I could just relax. The boys just sort of did their own thing, with me trying to keep a vague idea of where they were always. The lifeguards at all the areas were super-vigilant.

I was able to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. I read the whole thing during the 3 days we were there, which tells you how much wonderful time I had for relaxing and reading! So nice! I really enjoyed the book--I thought it was very well-written, and it told the story of a volatile time in our country's history, but not in too harsh or idealistic a way.

Since we were there until Wednesday, everyone got plenty of time at the waterpark to do whatever they wanted to do! It was interesting to see the different personalities come out, as far as what they each enjoyed. Nathan and Luke went on every single waterslide multiple times. They didn't want to leave! Caleb didn't go on one single waterslide, despite (because of?!) insistent pleading from his older brothers. He did really enjoy the wave pool and the water basketball. Jonathan was quite independent, maybe even a bit TOO independent, LOL. He rode some water slides with the older boys, but he also enjoyed waveboarding and the wave pool. One time he also ingested a lot of water one time in the waveboarding place, and they had to turn off the water so he could get out! That didn't phase him--in fact, he never even mentioned the incident to me, and I would never have known if Bob hadn't filled me in!

Anna was also pretty independent. She rode on several slides with her older brothers, and she definitely is a little fish, taking after her father and his side of the family! Grace, being more like me, was much more cautious in the water. She eventually got up the courage to go down the water slides in the kiddie area, as long as I was right at the bottom of the slide, touching it, to catch her. Faith also went down the slides in the kiddie area, and she had a good time splashing around. The waterpark has a ton of life jackets of various sizes around the facility on hooks, so we usually put one on her, much to her great dislike. Grace and Faith both enjoyed the wave pool, although Grace only really enjoyed it during the cycles when the waves were off, LOL. Then I would give her and Faith rides in the nice calm water. Anna loved getting in a raft and fighting the waves!

You can sort of see how curly Faith's hair is. It was actually very, very curly. Even Grace's hair curled up a bit on the ends! All that humidity! I brought all the swimsuits I could find for the girls, and I was so glad. We would go back up to the room for lunch, and they would usually stay there for a little while while Faith napped, and at least Grace would color or look at books. Then they could all put on dry suits! No one likes putting a wet suit back on, LOL.

We also brought tons of food, so we could eat breakfast and lunch in our room, as well as have snacks. That worked out well and saved a ton of money. Monday night we went out to Golden Corral with the McCs and another family in our homeschool group, who had 4 kids. After swimming all day, all the kids, boys especially, were STARVING! The restaurant lost money on us that evening! The next night we ordered in pizza, which was delicious.