First "official" family vacation

We have been talking forever about taking the boys on a family vacation.  It was difficult to think of a place that would accommodate all the boys at their various ages and attentions. We had heard from several people that have kids around the same age as ours that Great Wolf Lodge was really fun.  However it can be pricey as well.  We did a little research and we were able to get a pretty cheap rate if we went during the week and if we got in before their summer pricing began.  So we headed out to Kansas City on Father's Day to start our 3 day excursion.  We decided to bring our breakfasts and one of our lunches to help save some money which was great, but took a little extra time in packing.  We got a DVD player installed in the van a few months ago which was great because the two oldest sat in the back with headphones on and watched movies the entire way there.  Callan on the other hand was fine for the first hour and a half and despite me bring a bag of toys for him he felt as if his car seat was a torture device and we were the tortures.  He said "mommy, mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, daddy!!" followed by loud screams and cries.  I thought I might lose my mind and prayed to God that if he wanted us to have a good vacation to please make the noise stop.

ready for the trip

sorry these are blurry (or focused on the wrong thing), i had the wrong setting on my camera

Luckily once we were there, things settled down a  little.  We ate lunch at a Culver's followed by ice cream.  We checked into the Great Wolf Lodge at 1pm and went swimming at the water park.  We did have a quick detour.  I had heard rumors of bed bugs and did a thorough check of the room before we moved all the stuff in.  I spent hours agonizing over the possibility of bed bugs and was relieved (for the most part) when I saw no signs of them in the room.  We did keep our luggage off the bed and floor just to decrease the chances of bringing those things home.  I am happy to say that I think we came out unscathed.  The kids were super excited to start swimming so we went down right away and swam from 1:30 to 5 (with no naps! eek)  I take that back, at about 3:30 while Chad was taking Carter on the big slides I took Camden and Callan in the lazy river with me.  After a few times around they were both asleep and I got to laze around in warm water and relax while holding my babies.  (I am sorry I didn't get any pictures of the boys in the water park.  I kept thinking I would go down take a few pictures and then go back up and put the camera away.  But with 3 small kids and only one adult to watch over them it would have been difficult.) Here is what the big play structure looked like.

ready to swim

That evening we got cleaned up and went to the Legends Mall that was close to Great Wolf lodge.  We decided to go to the T-Rex Cafe.  It was the highlight of the trip for the kids.  They were amazed at the life size robotic T-Rex in the entry way and loved all the themed areas to eat.  All the dinosaurs moved and during dinner they would have "storms" that came through and the lights would flicker, and you would hear all the sounds. We sat in the ice area and were really close to the triceratops.  The food was pricey and not super great but worth going to.  Carter is still talking about it and even asked if we could get our own life size robotic T-Rex for our living room (for his birthday of course)  It was followed up with telling me that we could make our own rules up for our own T-Rex and we could climb on him "because we made the rules." We spent some time walking around the outdoor mall after dinner and the kids loved climbing all over and playing by the fountain.  

showing off the dinosaur shaped (processed) chicken nuggets

by the wolly mammoth (carter is making a roaring noise)

this thing was so big, and right in the entryway that it was hard to get a good picture.

a little dessert before bed

I don't think the kids got to bed until about 9 that night and it was hard to get them to settle down.  They did however decide to wake up at 6am so we got an early start to our day.  We ate breakfast in the hotel and then walked around (while Chad and I got Starbucks) and went swimming once the pool opened at 9. The water park really was great for our kids and by the second day Camden was going down the slides in the kid area and was having a great time.  Callan was also able to go down the kid slides and had a blast.  Carter rode all the slides except the one he had to be 4ft tall for.  He loved going on the raft rides with Chad and I and was more of a risk taker than I thought he would be.  Some of the slides were in the dark and he loved it.  

nothing says vacation like donuts and juice boxes

We came back to the room around 11:30 and had lunch and an attempt at a nap.  Callan fell asleep first and the older boys fell asleep after we turned off the movie on the lap top. This is how I know these kids are Chads.  If you turn on a movie it is almost a guarantee that I will fall asleep.  Carter and Camden are glued to the screen and will not sleep.  Chad is the exact same way.  After a little nap we went back to the water park and out for pizza and ice cream for dinner.  This dinner and dessert was slightly less pleasant since all the kids were tired and a bit crabby.  We headed back to the room and tried to get the kids settled down for bed.  I have to add too that they think jumping between the two queen beds was pretty fun too and probably  would have been fine if that was all they did. :)

do you think they were ready for bed? 

trying to quiet them down for the night

On Tuesday morning Callan woke up at 5:30am! So I picked him up and put him in bed with us and he fell back to sleep until 7:30.  I of course didn't sleep well since I was in a weird position and being pushed out of bed by Callan but the rest of the family got a little more sleep, and it was necessary!  We ate breakfast in the room again and then checked out to head towards the Deanna Rose Farmstead. Brian and Erin suggested we go here and we were glad we did.  You can't beat the free admission during the week and the kids got to see and feed a lot of animals.  It was a bit warm and the kids were a little crabby but it was nice break from the water park.  The boys got to feed chickens, and goats and the two oldest got to ride ponies.  The highlight for them was playing on the playground and being able to pet the baby goats. (We didn't pay to buy the bottles to feed the baby goats)

petting the baby goats.  Callan loved this!

my little butterfly

After the farmstead we caught some some chic-fil-a for lunch and then for my favorite part of the trip, a stop at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream store.  It was heavenly! Then we headed home.  The two oldest watched movies (and didn't take a nap) while Callan slept for maybe an hour and then fussed the rest of the way home. :(  The boys were in bed by 6:30 that night and they all slept really well.  It was a great first vacation and we might do it again next year!  (sorry for the million pictures)