Great Wolf Lodge

I love surprises. When I plan them. Not when they are sprung on me.

A few weeks ago, we told the kids that we were taking them away overnight this weekend. Then we watched them as they agonized over what/where/how/why we were going. It was great. We've been dropping "hints" when they thought we weren't paying attention. Things like, "I sure hope it doesn't rain, Eric. The tent will be soaked." Or, "It's hard to say no to that overnight...the price they are offering for the kids' teeth is so good." I can almost hear the little wheels turning inside their heads as they struggle to decide whether to take these throw away comments seriously. Molly is pretty astute, I have to say.

She is a bit tricky, too. We have a camper van that we use a fair bit, so she asked what car we were taking. When Eric told her we were going in the car, not the van, she deduced that a hotel was in our future. She was proud of her Sherlock moment. Good deduction, Ms. Holmes...

The surprise was an overnight trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, Washington. It is a big indoor water park hotel. I got a decent deal on a 48 hour sale and we'd heard good things, so off we went.

It felt like an adventure. We had great road trip snacks along the way, a quick stop at the outlet mall, novel American fast food and then a great destination. The kids were beyond excited when they realized that they had two solid days of water slides and wave pool action ahead of them. We even took advantage of a local casino's buffet, just to complete the scene of indulgence (I was stuffed after that...coconut battered shrimp with old-school cocktail sauce was my Waterloo).

It was a great getaway. Finny conquered the Howling Tornado (Full Disclosure: I was terrified. That ride was Scary. That's right, capital "S" Scary. It was a big time ride and she and I went on it for the first time together and I wasn't sure that she'd make it. She is about 12 pounds soaking wet and the crazy drop made me believe for a split terrifying second that she was going to fly away...she rode it four more times, just to prove me wrong). Lukey inexplicably refused to ride anything except for the scariest slide available to his height, which he did twice. All the other little slides he said were "too twisty"...(?).

As a Valentine's treat for me, Eric let me have a 25 minute shopping spree at Trader Joe's, my happy place. 48 hours of happiness.