Great Wolf Lodge, PA

It’s taken a couple of days to recuperate after our whirlwind trip to Great Wolf Lodge, but things are now starting to return to normal.

I’ll start off by saying that Great Wolf was amazing. We had a great time and the kids loved it. There was so much to do that once we got there and unloaded the van, we didn’t step outside again until we were loading up to go home. For real.

Our drive there was a whole different story. We hit traffic right inside of Delaware and it was backed up for miles. We ended up pulling over at a rest stop just to get a break from Dakota’s crying and the place was PACKED because so many other people had the same idea. We made the most of it though, buying snacks and drinks to keep the kids happy, and letting them run off some steam. Once we thought everyone was good to go, and we were all buckled back in the car, Harper announced that he had to pee. Again. Luckily we hadn’t pulled out of the lot, so I ran him back in before we headed out.

Traffic finally eased up a bit, but once we hit the Pennsylvania border, there was more traffic. It was just mind boggling and Tony and I were just ready to get the hell out of the car and scream. Dakota hadn’t had a nap the morning we left so we figured she’d take a decent nap on the drive up, but man were we wrong. She cried and cried and cried. We were about 20 minutes out when she finally fell asleep, but by then our nerves were pretty shot.

Once we got to the lodge, things started looking up. It’s funny how the minute we’re out of the car and Dakota stops screaming, things just seem so much better.

We hadn’t told Landon where we were going, so he was completely surprised when we got there. We thought he’d probably know what it was once he saw the sign, but he said he’d never seen it advertised on TV! I couldn’t believe it since I NEVER watch commercials and it was one I’d seen. He was just tickled when we went inside and he saw all the cool stuff there was to do.

Our room was pretty cool because it had a separate area for the kids complete with bunk beds. Harper took the bottom and Landon grabbed the top and Dakota had a port-a-crib in there as well (although she wasn’t quite as happy with her bed as the boys were). I didn’t get great pictures in the room but you can go here if you’d like to see how the rooms look. We stayed in a KidKamp suite.

After we unloaded the van and sorted out our stuff, we went to find some dinner and check the place out. We had dinner at the Loose Moose, a buffet style restaurant within the facility. The food was very good and there was a little something for everyone. The restaurant was designed to look like it was in a camping/wooded area, and many of the tables sat beneath tents.

As soon as everyone finished their dinner, we grabbed our bathing suits and hit the water park. There was a nice section for the younger kids and lots of big slides for the older crowd. Landon was eager to ride every slide and managed to do just that with the exception of one. Harper isn’t the biggest fan of water, but you’d never have known that after watching him play in that water park! He doesn’t like to get his face wet, but he learned pretty quickly that water in the face was just a fact when you’re at a water park. Landon was able to convince him to go down the slides in the kiddie area and after just one time he was hooked. I don’t know how many times he rode those slides, but it kept him busy for a very long time.

Before the slide, see Harpers look of concern as Landon tries to convince him to go for it.

After the slide, see Harpers look of sheer joy!

When Landon wasn’t being the most awesome brother around (helping his little brother conquer his sliding fear) he was either on the big slides or riding the waves in the wave pool. He completely wore himself out jumping the waves and just had the best time doing so!

Landon having a blast!

Harper and Dakota both enjoyed the wave pool as well. They found things that they could do, like jump over the waves and push around inner tubes.

Harper doing his thing.

Dakota tubing.

I didn’t get tons of photos in the water park mostly because I was busy helping with the two littles, but also because camera’s plus water aren’t such a good mix. But, here are a couple others worth sharing.

More tomorrow…