Great Wolf Lodge 2009

Spring Break 2009 was a SPLASH! Nana Loughlin surprised Brendan and all of us with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City, MI. We left on a blizzardy, Monday morning packed and ready to hit the waterparks! By the time we got there, all the tummy's were rumbling so first things first... We had lunch in the Lodge restaurant. The setting was super cool, and we later found out that the Magi Quest that Brendan did was connected throughout. He had a wand and was able to make certain animals or pieces react by pointing his wand towards them. Definitely had its pro's and con's, if you know what I mean. ;-)




Thankfully our room was already cleaned and ready for us at noon when we arrived, so we unpacked and left our suits ready for a quick change after lunch. We wasted no time getting down to the water park, and what a BLAST! Brendan was a super helper with Ashley and we all stayed in the munchkin swim area for the first bit to help her accustom to the setting.




Well, it certainly didn't take too long... Ash dove right in and made her splashes!! It was the water slides that she eventually fell for and we couldn't get her away from. That is in the video at the end of this blog. Too cute!

We took a little break when Daddy called and said he was coming. Ash was also needing a nap! The warmth of the room made ya' a little sleepy... so we all took a little breather waiting for Daddy's arrival.

Once he came, everyone seemed to have an energy burst... and it was off to the slides again!

We had one more meal in the Lodge's restaurant, the one where we discovered the Magi wand's
"secret" strengths. The food was yummy, but not nearly as good as the yummy stuff Nana packed for us from home!

Mr. Magi Quest. Brendan and Rob spent some 4 or 5 hours playing this the second day!!! I know, you should have seen how exhausted Rob was when they were done. Out of respect for Rob, I decided not to post that photo shoot! Brendan had so much fun, and would have kept plaing were it not for the fact that it was getting close to bedtime!

And we did not want to miss the bedtime story. The lodge has a special hour set aside for all the kids staying to come out in their jammies and be read a nighttime story by the entryway. They have someone who leads at the end with all the kids up howling like wolves... It got very loud! I added a short video clip of that at the end of the blog too. Enjoy, but adjust the speakers. :D

Here's B-man having a great time with one of his classmates, Maheen, and her brother. We ran into them in the waterpark, which made for some extra fun!

Nana and the kids by the fireplace at the entrance. The Lodge is decorated with lots of stuffed wildlife, which made for a fun adventure walk that night.

We were all getting pretty tired at this point. I don't know if I could have stayed for a whole week. Ashley became pretty water logged by the early afternoon of the second day. She didn't even want to play on the slides anymore! Brendan on the other hand would have been like the Energizer Bunny and kept going, and going, and going....

Brendan was very thankful for his Spring Break surprise, and we all had a spectacular time!

THANK YOU NANA!!!

Definitely a location to check out with the family.

Here's some video of different spots we were at... ENJOY!