Great Wolf Lodge

We waited to tell them where we were going until we were almost there.  They wanted to know why we had the cooler with us.  "Because we have a lot of errands to do, and we're going to be gone a long time, and I don't want us to get hungry."


"Oh.  Well, why do we have all those suitcases?"


"In case it rains.  Then we have dry clothes and all the coats."


"Oh.  Well, why do we have to drive so long?"


"Oh, well... (think, think, think...) Every so often you have to drive your van to Olympia and get it registered.  We're going to do that today."  (Please forgive me for lying to my kids, Lord.)


...And then Daddy gave them the news.  We took all five by surprise!  And that was my favorite moment... until the other 1200 favorite moments that came after that.


We checked in and then came some of these:


"Oh, Daddy, it's a PALACE!  You bought us a palace for our trip!"


"Thank you, Daddy.  For showing me what a happy day feels like!"


"Oh Look! (Hands clasped over her mouth) There is a REAL bathtub! And a Fridge-R-rator!  (Squeal!)  And a microwave, OH! and a curtain... oh, these are palace curtains!"


"Oh, Thank you, GOD!"


"Guys?  We are really in a kingdom.  I think we really are!"


"Watch me!  I'm turning on the FIREPLACE!!!"


"LOOK!!! There are BEDS!  LOOK!  Real BEDS just for US!"


...and then there was 1 million trips up the stairs to fly down the "Howlin' Tornado", the wave pool, the Lilly pads, the fort, the kiddie pool, every single tube conquered, the basketball pool, climbing on the snake, complimentary towels (MOM!!! They let you use the towels!!! They are WARM!!!), wearing their brand new flip flops all around, a trip to fill the ice bucket, the testing of the room key ("What if a bad man comes?  Can a bad man get in our room?"), the testing of the room key on all of our neighbors' doors (just to make sure each key only worked for ONE room), a picnic around our coffee table, calling Nanny and Poppy to tell them every single part (times five!), seeing the Howlin' Tornado lit up at night,  family bible study on the big bed ("Hello Nanny?  We were just readin'... do you know the one about Shadrack, Sherack, and Abendeedago?  (Close enough - right?)  Well - they were thrown in that firey fire by the bad king, and Jesus was in there with 'em and do you know that when they came out not ONE HAIR was burned, and they didn't even smell like fire!"), practicing "smiling to your eyes" to new people, "please" and "thank you" and "may I's" all over the lodge without being prompted (!), my first kiss from my middle girl - offered to me on her own (one of my favorite parts!), silly songs sung, a bit of dreaming:  "I wish we could be yours" (me too, darlin'...), and 50 little sleeping toes tucked in - 40 of which got right to sleep... but it's hard to sleep right away when you are five and you are holding a glow in the dark wand... in a palace... :o)


We hopped in that pool right around 9am the next morning, and we didn't stop until 8:30pm.  We did, however, take a bit of an intermission around 2:30.  We had lunch in the Big Living Room, and then let the two jumping beans sleep on the big couches in front of us for hours, while our three big kids ran all over the lodge, solving the MagiQuest.  It was beautiful.  They shared the wand, they worked together, they ran hard and fast, and they came down after every quest was completed to give us an update. We wondered if our girl could handle it... so much patience, so much delayed gratification... and it turned out she led the way to "trying one more" over and over... in fact... they worked for over 4 hours together solving puzzles and sharing that wand together.


We sat in the living room by the fireplace and held down "homebase" and watched them running back and forth and up and down... I was proud of my kids... delighted to see them all working together and sharing and "putting their heads together" to figure it out, encouraging each other, and laughing.


When it was time to leave, they all piled in the van and thanked Daddy for saving and planning and surprising them.  And we promised to go again someday. . . and I thanked the Lord for this beautiful family He has given us for now. . . and for somehow creating something New and Good and Sweet in our family.


Thank you all for praying for our time together.  It was everything we had hoped it would be!