HOOOOWL!

Wolves, waterslides and a room with bunk beds and a TV - what's not for a kid to love?

At about noon on Friday we picked up Ian and set off "on an adventure, for a surprise". About 3.5 hours later, we arrived at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg - and I thought the kids' eyes were going to fall out of their sockets when they saw the place. We'd arrived about half an hour before our room would be ready (4pm) but that's OK - GWL allows you to use the waterpark from 1pm on the day of arrival! We left our suitcases in the car and booked for the slides. Once we were changed, we took the kids to get measured (what slides they can go on is height-dependent - Ian could go on all but one with adult supervision, and Megan could go on all but two, ditto) and grab some towels. Please note: seating appears to be ample, but that is deceptive given how many people there are at the park. If you see an empty table (or even a pair of vacant chairs next to a trash can) - GRAB IT. RIGHT NOW.

There are several areas of the park. Right as you walk in you see a massive wooden structure with two slides, many rope-net areas for climbing, a number of spray apparatii and small buckets for drenching unwary (or just unlucky) travellers below, and a ginormous bucket on top of the whole thing. That mama dumps its load every 15 minutes or so and as mentioned, it's a HUGE thing so there is a LOT of water coming down (scared the crap out of poor Megan when we were waiting for a slide though). Over to the right is a toddler area with small slides, and just past that is a wave pool (that was a big hit with my kids). To the back are the bigger, faster slides and the family raft slides, and on the left is a lazy river and a "games" area - think lily pads and water basketball.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE WATERPARK:
- Doors open at 9am, and close at 9pm. You can begin playing at 1pm the day you arrive, and you can continue playing until close the day you check out. Check out is 11am.
- Let me reiterate. Grab a table or chairs ASAP. If you want a table, I'd advise getting to the doors before they open at 9am. We were there about 9:30 and were SOL, thus the chairs-by-the-trash-can scenario mentioned earlier.
- Lifejackets are provided, but seem to get sparse as the day goes on. You are allowed to bring and wear your own, however.
- There is a snackbar in the waterpark, but it, like most of the food options onsite, is very expensive. I'd advise packing food (or heading to the Super WalMart down the street for some) and eating in the room (the rooms have microwaves and mini-fridges) or there are several food options just offsite (Sonic, IHOP, CFA, Burger King).
- Saturday arrival is INSANE. We were leaving about 1:30 and the line to check in was past the doors. By contrast, we arrived Friday at 3:30 and waited behind one person.
- Locker rentals are available for $10 per day.

We ate offsite, so I can't speak to the quality of the restaurants. There is a Great Clock Tower show twice daily (at 10am and 8pm) which is popular with the littler kids, and for the older kids, GWL offers MagiQuest (think running around with wands, swooshing various items around the hotel and lots of excited screaming - wands run $13-25, with game activation coming in at $13). There is an arcade, various gift shops and snack shops (Pizza Hut and robot ice cream were the ones we heard about the most), in addition to a snake show on Saturday as we were leaving (VIPER).

We got a KidKamp suite, which the kids LOVED with a passion. Ian slept on the top bunk, Megan got the bottom and both went crazy for their very own in-room TV. The adults got a full bed, with a full-size pullout sofa as well.

Overall impression: very positive. It's (not surprisingly) supervision-intensive with smaller kids - think 7 and under - but the lifeguards are plentiful and vigilant, everyone is polite and helpful, and everyone will likely have a Great Wolf Time! :)

Everything Shatters

How's THAT for a dramatic title?

No, it's not an angst-filled teenage love song, or a poem scrawled on the back of the shop building behind the school. What I'm talking about is...tile floors.

Yes, they look awesome. Yes, they're super easy to clean. But boy can you not drop one single breakable thing, or else - yep, it shatters. And with little kids (and a mother who's been described as klutzy on more than one occasion)? Things break a lot. A lot a lot.

A Twilight glass was the first casualty of the new floors. Then the ferret ceramic pepper shaker. And most recently, as of five minutes ago? The Precious Moments angel my inlaws gave Megan for her birthday eight days ago. Thankfully the angel didn't shatter so much as break into several large pieces, so it's an easy fix with some Super Glue.

Perhaps it's time to invest in some rugs.

In Which The Plague Descends

You know how, when you're relatively sure it's going to be a bad winter for illness (because with kids in school, it's always - but *always* a bad winter for illness), you're always on your toes, walking on eggshells, waiting for it to happen? Analyzing every cough, every sniffle, every listless eye? And then, when nothing happens, you give a deep sigh of relief before mentally high fiving the universe and shrieking "We made it! WE MADE IT! HALLELUJAHS, HALLELUJAHS!"?

Yeah. Not so much.

I have a drainage sore throat and a double ear infection, all of which started right after Megan's party with friends for her birthday. All of which continued through a weekend of birthday festivities featuring two birthday parties for friends (including one at Chuck E Cheese!). All of which, despite a trip to the doctor, a day of rest and a cycle of meds, is still hanging around.

M has strep. I is under the weather. J is congested and feels yucky.

That high five was a tad premature, methinks.