Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Great Wolf Lodge
Last week was our summer vacation as a family to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. It was a fabulous trip, mostly due to the fact that Grandma and Grandpa came with us. (Because we all know that if the kids outnumber the adults, it is NOT a vacation.) Great Wolf Lodge is a great kid-oriented hotel with an indoor/outdoor waterpark just for hotel guests. It was perfect for us! There is also an outlet mall right next to it and lots of fun restaurants.
Here's a day-by-day breakdown of the festivities, not because you care, but because I'll need this to look back on when I scrapbook this seven years from now. (If all you want are photos, scroll down now.)
Day One: Arrived at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys went crazy over our room and the little room-within-the-room that looked like a tent and had bunk beds just for them. We sounded like a Great Wolf Lodge commercial when Christopher exclaimed, "Great Wolf Lodge is a GREAT place!" And that was even before we'd seen the waterpark, which is where we headed next. It had 3 huge water slides that you ride on an inner tube and two that Christopher rode by himself, just sliding down. There were multiple pools with various features and plenty of places to play! Christopher loved riding all the slides (although he didn't ride the scariest one until the last day), and Will enjoyed splashing around in the pools and fountains. Christopher was so excited that when Noel and I went to bed at 10:45 p.m., Christopher was still wide awake, watching the clock and waiting for morning. We have no idea when he went to sleep that night!
Day Two: After breakfast on the patio outside our room (Fruit Loops!), we headed back to the waterpark. A couple of hours later, we dragged Christopher away from the water slides for lunch at the nearby T-Rex Cafe. This place was incredible. You felt like you were eating among the dinosaurs, complete with sound effects and a "meteor shower" every 30 minutes. There was a huge aquarium right behind our booth, complete with sharks. After lunch and decorating dinosaur-shaped rice krispie treats for dessert, the boys went to play in the Paleozone, uncovering dinosaur fossils and learning more about dinosaurs. Just walking around the two-story restaurant seeing all the dinosaurs was a lot of fun! Later that day, the boys went to get ice cream with Grandpa and went to the lobby for evening story time while Noel and I went out on a date. Christopher said the highlight was meeting Wiley the Wolf after story time.
Day Three: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to Cabela's to look at everything an outdoorsman could ever need. Then we ate lunch at Ted's Montana Grill (love that place!) and went back to the water park. We hit the outdoor part of the water park for the first time, and Will fell in love with the little frog slide. We went back to story time that evening and Christopher was excited to see Wiley again!
Day Four: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to play mini-golf for their first time. Will's strategy was, "I'll just move the ball closer to the hole." Then we visited the water park one final time, and Christopher discovered that he loved the Howling Wolf--the scary slide that is completely dark for most of the slide. Will enjoyed floating on Mommy and Daddy's laps on the lazy river, and Christopher enjoyed pushing me through the waterfall on the lazy river, over and over again. Then it was lunch at Culver's and time to head home. The boys can't wait to go back to Great Wolf Lodge! We highly recommend it!
The boys peeking out of their "Kid Camp"
Indoor water park
Christopher at the end of one of the water slides
Noel and Will on the lazy river
Will loved to climb on this snake
Noel and Christopher shooting out of the water slide
Will and his beloved frog slide
The boys in front of T-Rex Cafe
Eating at T-Rex Cafe
Christopher decorating his dinosaur dessert while Grandpa discusses which part he's going to eat
Digging for fossils in the Paleozone
Christopher and Triceratops
The boys in the lobby, waiting for story time
Christopher and Wiley the Wolf (Will watched from afar)
Playing mini-golf
Here's a day-by-day breakdown of the festivities, not because you care, but because I'll need this to look back on when I scrapbook this seven years from now. (If all you want are photos, scroll down now.)
Day One: Arrived at Great Wolf Lodge. The boys went crazy over our room and the little room-within-the-room that looked like a tent and had bunk beds just for them. We sounded like a Great Wolf Lodge commercial when Christopher exclaimed, "Great Wolf Lodge is a GREAT place!" And that was even before we'd seen the waterpark, which is where we headed next. It had 3 huge water slides that you ride on an inner tube and two that Christopher rode by himself, just sliding down. There were multiple pools with various features and plenty of places to play! Christopher loved riding all the slides (although he didn't ride the scariest one until the last day), and Will enjoyed splashing around in the pools and fountains. Christopher was so excited that when Noel and I went to bed at 10:45 p.m., Christopher was still wide awake, watching the clock and waiting for morning. We have no idea when he went to sleep that night!
Day Two: After breakfast on the patio outside our room (Fruit Loops!), we headed back to the waterpark. A couple of hours later, we dragged Christopher away from the water slides for lunch at the nearby T-Rex Cafe. This place was incredible. You felt like you were eating among the dinosaurs, complete with sound effects and a "meteor shower" every 30 minutes. There was a huge aquarium right behind our booth, complete with sharks. After lunch and decorating dinosaur-shaped rice krispie treats for dessert, the boys went to play in the Paleozone, uncovering dinosaur fossils and learning more about dinosaurs. Just walking around the two-story restaurant seeing all the dinosaurs was a lot of fun! Later that day, the boys went to get ice cream with Grandpa and went to the lobby for evening story time while Noel and I went out on a date. Christopher said the highlight was meeting Wiley the Wolf after story time.
Day Three: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to Cabela's to look at everything an outdoorsman could ever need. Then we ate lunch at Ted's Montana Grill (love that place!) and went back to the water park. We hit the outdoor part of the water park for the first time, and Will fell in love with the little frog slide. We went back to story time that evening and Christopher was excited to see Wiley again!
Day Four: Noel and Grandpa took the boys to play mini-golf for their first time. Will's strategy was, "I'll just move the ball closer to the hole." Then we visited the water park one final time, and Christopher discovered that he loved the Howling Wolf--the scary slide that is completely dark for most of the slide. Will enjoyed floating on Mommy and Daddy's laps on the lazy river, and Christopher enjoyed pushing me through the waterfall on the lazy river, over and over again. Then it was lunch at Culver's and time to head home. The boys can't wait to go back to Great Wolf Lodge! We highly recommend it!
The boys peeking out of their "Kid Camp"
Indoor water park
Christopher at the end of one of the water slides
Noel and Will on the lazy river
Will loved to climb on this snake
Noel and Christopher shooting out of the water slide
Will and his beloved frog slide
The boys in front of T-Rex Cafe
Eating at T-Rex Cafe
Christopher decorating his dinosaur dessert while Grandpa discusses which part he's going to eat
Digging for fossils in the Paleozone
Christopher and Triceratops
The boys in the lobby, waiting for story time
Christopher and Wiley the Wolf (Will watched from afar)
Playing mini-golf
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
A couple of videos
First of all, I finally captured Sarah Kate rolling over on video. She starts out on her tummy, then holds her head up high in the air. Then she leans her head to the side, her body follows, and she flips over. Usually she has a pretty shocked look on her face, but I think she's gotten used to it. And I'm 95% sure that today she rolled over from her back to her tummy. The poor third child, I can't remember for sure, but I think I put her on her back to play but found her on her tummy after helping Will with something. Here's the tummy to back roll:
A few weeks ago, Christopher's Sunday school teacher gave him a CD with the books of the Old Testament and New Testament set to music. The kids LOVE it and often request that we keep it on repeat in the car, over and over and over again. Here's the result:
(The New Testament is still a little shaky.)
And just look at my big girl holding up her head! She loves to play on her tummy and watch the rest of us wherever we go in the room. For some reason, this pose always looks like they are getting so old. Stop, time, stop. My baby's growing too fast!
A few weeks ago, Christopher's Sunday school teacher gave him a CD with the books of the Old Testament and New Testament set to music. The kids LOVE it and often request that we keep it on repeat in the car, over and over and over again. Here's the result:
(The New Testament is still a little shaky.)
And just look at my big girl holding up her head! She loves to play on her tummy and watch the rest of us wherever we go in the room. For some reason, this pose always looks like they are getting so old. Stop, time, stop. My baby's growing too fast!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
An Evening of Firsts
Last Tuesday was an evening of firsts. When we sat down to dinner, Christopher announced that he wanted to say the prayer. We bowed our heads, and he proceeded to pray the entire Lord's Prayer. The amazing thing is, we had NO idea that he knew the Lord's Prayer. We only say it occasionally at church, and Noel had said it with them at bedtime several months ago, but not recently. But Christopher found a book with the Lord's Prayer in it and decided to learn it. Now he prays it at every meal. The other day at lunch Will commented, "that prayer takes a long time to say!" (Will prefers more succinct prayers.)
Later that evening, Sarah Kate rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her tummy to her back in her crib. I told Christopher the next morning, and he was THRILLED. He's been telling all his friends about it and can't wait to see her roll over with his own eyes!
Will has been in a very thoughtful phase lately. He asks a lot of questions about what song lyrics and Bible verses mean, along with lots of questions about how things are spelled. (This morning at breakfast: "How do you spell cereal? How do you spell apple juice? How do you spell clock? How do you spell cup?") We have a CD of children's catechism questions (from Songs for Saplings), and one of them says: "Will God ever die? No, God lives forever." This is one of Will's favorites. But the other day as we were listening to it, he asked, "Who died?" I was confused until he finally said, "Who died on the cross? God or Jesus?" The Trinity is a difficult concept for a 3-year-old, but I'm glad he's paying attention and thinking about what he hears!
Christopher seems to have grasped the concept of days and weeks, but he doesn't get how long a year is. Anything that happened more than a couple of weeks ago happened "last year." Last night we were out with some friends, and they asked him when he turned 5. He thought for a minute and answered, "a few years ago!"
Later that evening, Sarah Kate rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her tummy to her back in her crib. I told Christopher the next morning, and he was THRILLED. He's been telling all his friends about it and can't wait to see her roll over with his own eyes!
Will has been in a very thoughtful phase lately. He asks a lot of questions about what song lyrics and Bible verses mean, along with lots of questions about how things are spelled. (This morning at breakfast: "How do you spell cereal? How do you spell apple juice? How do you spell clock? How do you spell cup?") We have a CD of children's catechism questions (from Songs for Saplings), and one of them says: "Will God ever die? No, God lives forever." This is one of Will's favorites. But the other day as we were listening to it, he asked, "Who died?" I was confused until he finally said, "Who died on the cross? God or Jesus?" The Trinity is a difficult concept for a 3-year-old, but I'm glad he's paying attention and thinking about what he hears!
Christopher seems to have grasped the concept of days and weeks, but he doesn't get how long a year is. Anything that happened more than a couple of weeks ago happened "last year." Last night we were out with some friends, and they asked him when he turned 5. He thought for a minute and answered, "a few years ago!"
Monday, August 3, 2009
Sarah Kate--3 months old
Our sweetheart is three months old! She is sleeping great and drooling everywhere (maybe there are some teeth in our near future?). She loves to try to get her whole fist in her mouth. She is hitting her toys, but it is hard to tell if it is intentional or not. She is laughing more and cooing all the time. Her brothers have started calling her "Warah Wate." (They are silly like that!)
Some recent photos for you to enjoy . . .
Some recent photos for you to enjoy . . .
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)