Great Wolf Lodge

On Thursday we told our kids there was a two-hour delay. We had a leisurely breakfast and around 9 we gathered the kids and asked, "how about instead of going to school today, we go to...Great Wolf Lodge?!?!?!" They were thrilled! They jumped up and down and squealed and raced to get their car bags packed. We threw our suitcases in the van and headed off (discussing on the way the difference between a lie and a surprise).

We had lunch at Chick-Fil-A and checked in. Our room was ready, so we quickly dropped off our bags, changed and went to the water park. The other surprise for the kids was that several of our neighbors were joining us. Jack was thrilled when he saw Kolten, who lives across the street from us. He is only in PreK, but he and Jack love to have lightsaber battles and rough-house. Unfortunately, none of their school-aged friends joined us (one family was supposed to, but their son got stitches a few days before departure and was told he couldn't get them wet for 10 days). They enjoyed playing with the other kids. We rode all the slides and even took Luke on the family water raft. Unfortunately, he did not like it. He actually grew more timid as our time there went on. He loves the slides attached to the giant kid structure, but hated the water bucket dropping on him. They also have a water feature that lets people drop a trough of water on you on your way to the slides. I don't know why people thought it was funny to scare a 2-year old, but they did. So, Luke eventually decided it wasn't worth the risk and gave up all slides except the ones in the baby pool.

The birthday kids

All the kids!

Back to Thursday, for dinner we went to Cracker Barrel, which was good. Then, we stopped at Walmart to pick up food for Friday's breakfast and lunch. When we returned to GWL, we met up with our friends and did the trick-or-treat trail (really short, but good candy), and looked for all the hidden peeps. Then, we saw the clock tower show in the lobby, followed by the bedtime story. Luke took one look at the clock tower and decided he wasn't interested, so Thomas put him to bed and I stayed with the older three. Finally, it was time for bed.

With a few of our friends.

Friday, we went back to the water park in the morning. Then, we decided to visit the Virginia Air and Space Museum. It was really cool. It had lots of interactive exhibits that were fun for all of us, including an AirTran DC-9 that you could climb around in and attempt to "fly". The kids loved the children's area, where they could design and build a rocket, see video of the sun, dress-up in astronaut suits and experience lots of other exhibits. We had a great time. In fact, they were working on a new exhibit that had lots of fun looking "games" and the kids all want to go back when it opens.

Flying the DC-9

Kara drew out her plan on paper and then executed this design.

Cutouts!

We drove to the Yankee Candle Flagship store, a must-visit place anytime we go to Williamsburg. Then, it was Olive Garden for dinner and back to GWL for some more pool time. We put the kids to bed around 8:30. Thomas stayed with the kids and I went and relaxed in the hottub with one of my friends until the park closed, then we met up with our other friends and chatted for an hour or so. It was really nice.

Santa was hanging out in the Christmas area at Yankee Candle. The kids had to write down if they were naughty, nice or in-between. J & K put "nice" and A wrote her name in the "in-between" column.

Saturday, we went to the waterpark in the morning and then headed to Jack's favorite place--Yorktown. First, we had lunch at one of our favorite places--The Carrot Tree. Although, it no longer has the historic atmosphere since it switched locations, it now has an outdoor eating area that makes it easy to take the kids. Luckily, they were having a children's festival in the town area, so the kids got to make crafts while we waited for our food. We walked around the festival a bit more after lunch and everyone had a good time.

It was a beautiful day!

Then, it was off to the battlefield. We watched the orientation film (one of the better ones we've seen, so we enjoy watching it when we visit) and then looked around the visitor's center and gift shop. It was getting late, so we decided to forgo walking the battlefield. We were there on October 16th and the famous storming of the redoubts took place on the evening of October 15th, so it was fun to see everything how it would have looked when we won that very important battle (thanks France!).

This picture represents from our car forward. In just this one half of one row, 14 different states were represented! We love it when others love history:)

I will conclude with one last picture of a sweet, sleeping Jack: