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Friday, March 16, 2012

Dear Spring Break, I don't want you to end.

We took the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte, NC, this week for a little Spring Break getaway.

I will be the first to tell you that I am not a fan of vacations.  I always think of the money and what I would rather do with it at home.  I think about the things I should be doing.  I usually suffer from some type of boredom.  Being in a hotel room with my family with no escape for days on end kind of frightens me.  (That's my only child syndrome.  I like to be alone.  I like quiet.  Too much togetherness is often just too much for me.)

Vacations tend to stress me out.

They did even when I was a child.

But this week?  No joke.  The. BEST. week. ever.  Seriously.

Here's my list of why I loved this vacation...

1.  It was inside.  I'm not sure if you know this or not, but we are VERY fair skinned people.  Think Powder.  We burn.  Easily.  Eyelids.  Tops of ears.  Toes.  There was no burning on this vacation.

2.  Because it was inside, I did not have to lather sunscreen on my children every two hours. (A feeble attempt at protection from the burning.)

3.  It is March.  Not your typical Spring Break time, and therefore, not at all crowded.  I do hate crowds.

4.  There was water.  There was not sand.

5.   I spent my time in shorts, t-shirts, bathing suits, and I was not cold once.  They kept the park at a balmy 78 - 80 degrees.

6.  Quinn having a meltdown?  We could just walk back to our room...on the same floor as the water park.

7.  Did we have to pack everyone up to go to the water?  Nope.  Our room key was chipped into our plastic band bracelets.  They had towels at the park...they even have life vests there in a variety of sizes.  We literally put on our suits, cover ups, flip flops and walked the length of a football field and were there.  No packing of snacks, towels, toys, etc.  Just go.  Perfect.

8.  All children were equally entertained.  Not such an easy feat for 2 ten year olds and a three year old.

9.  We were NOT out in the middle of nowhere.  Even though I felt like it was a little cheesy to be getting off at a mall exit, it worked out beautifully to be able to eat at places that we liked to eat at.

10.  Our hotel room was twice the size of the economy room that we had at Disney.  Huge, really.  Two queen size beds and a pull out couch...and we had the cheap room.


Originally we were going to drive up Tuesday morning and drive home Wednesday night...spending one night in the hotel room.  Then we decided to drive up at dinner time on Monday, leave on Wednesday...but when they slipped the bill under the door Wednesday morning with an offer we couldn't refuse for another night's stay...well, we all agreed that it would be nice to stay one more night...drive home on Thursday.

All of our kids love the water and so it really wasn't a huge surprise how addicted they were to the water slides.  I was surprised though by how much Quinn loved the intermediate slides.  Like, he would ride them 20 times in a row.  He wore me out just watching him walk up the stairs to ride again.


I don't know when my baby became such a big boy.  He had absolutely no fear.  None.

I, on the other hand, rode the orange one Monday night when we got there...I scraped my elbow and I'm quite sure that I may have dislocated my hip.  So then I decided to just ride the one where you sit in an innertube.  Less chance for injury that way.

Look at this splash thing!  The kids would lay on the floor under it (even Quinn!) while it all dumped out on top of them!


On Tuesday we spent a few hours at the waterpark in the morning and then drove over to the Dave and Buster's {this place is right next to a Mills Outlet Mall} for lunch and some bowling.


Quinn won.  I'm not really sure what that says about the rest of us, but I'm sure that it says something.

We came back to the room, had some quiet time and a snack, then to the arcade, back to the water park, then dinner and story time in the lobby.  Can you find all of the wolves?


On Wednesday we started our day at the water park again and then played a little miniature golf (where Q got a hole in one) before heading back over to the mall for lunch {and Quinn spent some time at the Build-A-Bear}.  Then rest time, and back to the water park.



I may have lost a little bit of my mind at the Lodge...I let the girls get the streaks of color put in their hair.  Secretly, I may be a little be jealous.  ;)


This is the first family vacation that we have had all five of us and well, I think we'll do it again.  Of course, only if we're coming back to the Lodge.  :)

2 comments:

molly said...

Your adversity to vacations cracks me up, but I'm so glad to hear that you finally found one that everyone enjoyed, including you! It sounds like it was perfect. You totally should have gotten one of those color streaks in your hair. Something to think about for next year.

Angie said...

If I didn't have to go back to work on Monday...I would have been all over the color streaks! :)