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August 19, 2010
Last gasp
Well, our last blast of summer was certainly memorable.
We went to a Great Wolf Lodge nearby in Grapevine. We thought it would be great for all three kids, since it looked like it had something for everyone. And it's all indoors, so no sweating like a horse, slathering ourselves in sunscreen and trying to escape the sun. On top of that, they have some indoor activities that aren't water related, so when we got all pruney there would be something to do besides sit in the room and watch tv.
Our first afternoon started out well. The water was a tad chilly, but the kids were getting a kick out of the whole place. Sure, the girls weren't interested in any but the smallest slides, and Owen freaked out going down one of the infant pool slides and never went down another before we left, but overall they just love being wet. After a couple hours, I had a bit of a headache from the humidity or the chemicals or just because I'm me. Rex took the girls out to find cheap snacks and dinner, and I took Owen to our room for a much needed nap. We spent the evening on a rather confusing high tech scavenger hunt (during which Jamie tripped or misjudged or something and went chin first into a giant window), took in some ice cream, the clock tower show and storytime, and headed to bed. The kids were out cold post haste.
This is where I would normally start complaining about how early the kids got us up, but the
fire alarms beat us to it. At 5:15, strobes started going off in the bedroom, with that annoying fire alarm sound and a recording asking us to escape through the nearest exit. We spent an hour outside, wondering what was going on, and nearly another hour waiting in the lobby restaurant waiting for the all clear to go back to our room. We never saw any evidence of fire, unless you count the long line of fire trucks and the fans on the first floor blowing out a smoke-machine-scented haze.
We spent a couple hours "resting," which is code for "Rex and I dozed while the kids watched PBS." Rex took our stuff out to the car while I checked out, and then we hit the water park again. We were comped breakfast for our "trouble," but since we had already eaten, we had an early lunch of breakfast all over again. Rex ran out to the van to get some cash for a tip, where he found out back window shattered, but still mostly intact. Sure, why not? Might as well get this months crap all over with in one day. I called our insurance, but our deductible is way more than the cost of a new window, so I locked our valuables in the floor storage and went back in for a few more hours at the water park (the girls actually rode the big slides, although Katie was the only one who really enjoyed them). We were about done anyway when Jamie had some kind of teary meltdown, so we headed out to the van to clear the largest part of the glass out of the window and head home.
I wouldn't exactly put this down as our best family vacation, but in spite of everything that happened, I wouldn't call it a bust, either. I think the kids had fun, the room was nice, the towels (in the room, anyway) were nice and fluffy, and the waterpark was fun, in good shape and had enough different activities to keep us all entertained.
Overall, a win.
Posted by me at August 19, 2010 10:24 PM