A GREAT Surprise!

For the last couple of weeks, I've been thinking about how I could make our last few days before David left for SC very special - especially for the boys. I wanted to take advantage of the few days off that David had before leaving to really create a special, fun memory for them that they would remember over the next few weeks or months that we are apart. So last week, I decided to SURPRISE everyone with a trip up to the Great Wolf Lodge. We got a good deal on the internet and coupled it with a coupon (thanks Jen!) and made a go of it. It's a hotel that has an indoor waterpark at it - so you pay for a night's stay at the hotel, and it includes waterpark passes for your family. And the rooms had a mini fridge and microwave, so I planned & packed all of our food to save money there (and BOY did that save us a FORTUNE!).

It was SO hard keeping the secret. The boys knew only that we were doing something special afterschool on Thursday. Even David knew nothing about it. It was very hard, but I really wanted to try and surprise him too. It's so contrary to my nature! So I packed everyone's bags secretly, and loaded the car while David and Josiah were at school. When we went to pick them up after school, I just kept on driving! About every 15 minutes, the boys would ask for another clue, until finally they guessed it about 5 minutes from the resort. It was SO fun to see their reactions! They were thrilled!

This picture cracks me up - if you click on it to make it bigger, you can see that the boys are "howling" like the wolves!

Time to unload the car!

After swimming for a few hours, we came back to our rooms so I could try to put Callie down. It was WAY past her nap, but I was hopeful. So the boys were playing Disney Uno in the bathroom. As you can see, Callie's nap didn't happen, and she found her way to David's lap. After dinner, we headed back down to swim and play for a few more hours before bedtime. Everyone was EXHAUSTED that night.

These boys had SO much fun!

One of the floors of the hotel had some magical scavenger hunt kind of thing. We walked around and looked at some of the things around the halls...

Josiah and I found a table with checkers - I didn't even know he knew how to play!