I thought I'd post about our 'mini' vacation at Great Wolf Lodge earlier this week.  We had a great time and we were all sad for it to end.

We drove in separate cars as Lance had to come home early to go to work on Tuesday.  Our reservations were for Sunday and Monday nights and I didn't want to cut the trip short for the girls, so the three of us stayed until check-out on Tuesday.  Lilli stated that it just wasn't the same without papa.  :)

If you've never been to a GWL or similar, I highly recommend it.  There is so much to do, it's fun for children and adults, age doesn't matter.  If you shop for your reservations online, you can usually find a pretty good deal.  I found our room for $150 per night.  That really isn't bad when a standard hotel (a reasonably clean one anyway) is near $100 anyway. 

Anyway, there is the entire indoor waterpark that is great for all ages (kiddy area for young ones, pools, water slides, climbing and play area, lazy river and hot tubs...not to mention an outdoor pool and miniature golf.

When you are tired of swimming, there is a game called MagiQuest.  It costs extra, so be prepared for the extra $$ if you plan to play (I definitely suggest playing).  You buy a magic wand and pay to have it activated while you are there (you save your wand for the next trip and then just pay to have it activated again).  Then you go on a quest with your wand and find all these hidden clues that are along the hallways.  You zap these items with your magic wand and they light up or treasure chests open, or or or...Then you can go on adventures and fight goblins and dragons with your wand.  It really is a lot of fun.  I believe the wand is about $20? (we bought ours last time) and then it's $10 for activation.

Now on top of all that, there is the Cub Club.  They have crafts for the kids to do throughout the day.  Some are free and some cost a little $$, depending on what they are.  We didn't even make it to the Cub Club this time, we were so busy with swimming and MagiQuest.

At 8 and 9PM they have story time in the lobby.  They have a large display of animals and the animals 'come alive' and sing and talk.  Then somebody reads a story to all the kids in the lobby.

At 9AM they have a kid's 'critter walk' around the lobby and talk about all the different animals on display.

I always pay extra ($15 per night) to have warm cookies and cold milk delivered to our door at bedtime.  This is pretty pricey, but it is truly a highlight of our trip.  Their mascot (in costume) brings the bedtime snack and the girls just LOVE it.

Lilli really wasn't into the slides this time.  She was much more excited to play in the pool and practice swimming, and I'm happy to announce she has almost mastered the doggy paddle.  :)  She loves to go under water with her goggles on, and she loves to jump into the pool.

Lauren loved it all.  There is no fear in that child and we are really going to have to watch her around water.  She saw Lilli jumping into the pool so she had to do it too.  She would just step right into the pool, go under water (I was holding her hand and she had a life jacket on), and she'd come up smiling and laughing and saying, 'more, more'.  I cannot believe her.

We had bought her a wand last time we were there (so I could use it since she was only 4 months old...ha).  Anyway, we didn't activate hers this time, but she opened several treasure chests as we were passing by them in the hall.  At first Lilli and I thought Lilli was doing it, but then we realized that Lauren was waving her wand around (copying Lilli) and actually doing it herself.  LOL

It was actually 'Christmas in July' while we were there, so it snowed in the lobby in the evenings after story time.  It was very cute and the girls loved it.  We also had cookies and chocolate milk w/ marshmallows in the lobby in the early afternoons.

The drive is a long one though.  It takes us about 5 hours to get there with our stops.  Probably just over 4 if we drove without stopping.  We usually take back roads into Baldwin and then up to Traverse City.  I took 31 home as I didn't want to take a chance on getting lost, I really don't know those back roads as well as Lance.  It's about 220 miles for us (one way).

I have heard that there is an indoor waterpark in Indiana and I think we'll look into that.  Gas prices are just so expensive to drive such a long ways.  We do only go once a year, so we may still do it anyway, we'll just have to see.  It is a nice 'mini' vacation and Lilli really looks forward to it each time.

We had a great time, but were bummed that Lance had to leave early.  Hopefully he can stay the entire time next time :)

Here are a couple of pictures of Chloe at her new home in New Mexico.  I know what you're thinking.  Where in New Mexico is it that green?  They are lucky to have their farm in the Rio Grande Valley where the water from the river can be used for irrigation.  It's a beautiful homestead and I know Chloe is in "fresh grass heaven".

Here she is with her new herd.  The lady who purchased her owns a Hereford cow and calf, a Holstein/Jersey steer, a Mini-Jersey bull, a Jersey heifer, and now Chloe. I'm guessing Chloe and the heifer will be the family milk cows.  I'm glad we were able to sell to these people.  They are into sustainable farming like ourselves, and want to hand milk.  It's not easy to find a cow that's used to hand milking, so I'm glad we were able to provide one to them.  I think she'll be very happy there.

The bovine next to Chloe here is not a calf, it is a Mini-Jersey bull.  Never heard of a Mini-Jersey?  I have known about them for a while.  I don't know how they're miniturized, but it probably includes something like that shrinking ray from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids".  The owner was hoping that this bull would be able to breed Chloe.  Hmmm.  I'm not seeing it.  Can bulls be trained to use step ladders?  Actually, the owner mentioned that a neigbor of her's has an Angus bull, so Chloe will probably get to be friends with him.

Doesn't it look in this picture that Chloe's giving him the "I don't think so pal", look?  Ha!  She is a big girl.

Here’s a fun freebie download, it’s a set of six different panhol potholders.

Free Potholder Patterns...TipNut