First Family Vacation!

We took our first family vacation this past few days! We went to the Dells and stayed at The Great Wolf Lodge. It was awsome and I had such a great time. I was really unsure of how the car ride would go (1 1/2 hours) and how Cassie would be sleeping in an unfamilier place and not in her own bed. The car ride was not a problem, she slept for a short period of time and sleeping in a pack'n play at a hotel didn't phase her. She was so tired each night she passed right out. The hotel was beautiful. They have this thing called Snowland going on. The lobby was decked out in Christmas Trees and white lights and three times a day they would make it snow in the lobby....real snow!!
The lobby

Cass in front of the Great Clock Tower in the lobby


Monday
Monday morning we left around 1:00. We had to pull over once because Cassie had to go pee. She napped for maybe 45 min and we arrived at the Dells. Our first stop was at an indoor amusment park called Knuckelheads. They had a huge 4 story climbing thing for kids...basically a hamster maze meant for kids. It was pretty awsome and we all played in it. We got to our hotel around 3:30, changed into our suits and hit the water park.

Our room



Having a snack and watching cartoons while we un-pack


We swam in the wave pool, went down some kiddie slides and floated down the lazy river. We stayed in the water for about 1 1/2 hours, Cass was pretty cold and shivering so we decided to head up to our room. We got showered and had dinner at a place inside the hotel.


We were not thrilled with the food but Cassie got a cute pair of Wolf Ears to wear.


At 8:00 we got Cass in her pjs and headed to the lobby for story time and to sing some Christmas songs. After the book was read Rowdy the Reindeer came out to visit all the kids. Cassie lovvvvved him. He is all she could talk about on Tuesday. She kept waving to him and blowing him kisses. By the time we got up to our room it was 8:30, I laid Cassie down and she was out like a light.
Hugging the Wolf

Daddy and Cassie

Mommy and Cassie

Hugging Penquin - he got multiple hugs a day!

Waiting for storytime!!

All the kids were in pjs in the lobby - cute!!





Tuesday


Cass slept till 7:20, we got up and watched some cartoons and then headed down to breakfast at Camp Critter. Again...not impressed with the food. At 9:00 we went to the lobby for the Polar Wolf Walk. This is where all the kids walk around and learn about the North Pole and cold weather animals.

At Wolf Walk - do you see Cassie?


After this we went swimming again.

At the wave pool

Mommy and Cass at the wave pool


Sitting out the waves with Daddy


Around noon we got some lunch and ate in the waterpark. Cass got a smuckers P&J...it was actually very good

but her favorite thing was the french fries dipped in ketchup and a nice big mess for Mommy. At the wave pool they do 5 min with no waves and then the sound of wolves howling will start which signals the waves are coming. Cassie loved this and would howl along with it.

At the toddler pool




After lunch we showered and walked around the hotel for awhile, I then put Cass down for a nap at 1:30. Matt had surprised me with a appointment for a massage and pedi. It was SO nice. I LOVE massages!!! Beyond relaxing. The pedi was pretty nice also. Thank you Matt!!!! I was in the spa for about 2 hours. I got back to our room at 4 and little Cass was still sleeping!! We had to wake her up. Once up we visited the aracade room.



and then went to Cub Club which is a craft room for kids. She colored for a while and then we went to Knuckleheads again. After crawling around, and going down slides there we went to MooseJaws for dinner. Their pizza was super good...yum! We had to get back to the hotel because we HAD to go to storytime again. Like I said, all Cass could talk about all day was the reindeer. She would tell us how she was going to say "Hi Reindeer" when she would see him and blow him kisses. The look on her face when he came out was priceless. True to her word she jumped to her feet and waved both hands yelling "Hi Reindeer!!".

Rowdy the Reindeer


After storytime we waited in line to meet him. Our turn came,she chickened out and ran the other way. We got her into bed at 8:45 and I followed soon after!!

Wednesday
Cass woke up at 6:30 this morning. Her and I laid in bed and watched 1 hour of cartoons. We ate some breakfast in the lobby and hit the water park one last time. We swam for about an hour. Cassie went down her first true water slide. We put her in a life jacket, Matt walked her up and I stayed at the bottom to catch her so she wouldn't go flying into the water. She flew down that thing like a rocket. I don't know what she thought about it but she told us she didn't want to go again. I was still impressed that she didn't cry on it and went down!! We hit up her favorite before we left...The Lazy River. She sat on my lap in the tube and we just floated. Nice. We checked out of the hotel at 11 and went to the outdoor mall. We bought her some new jeans from Carters and another Christmas present. They had a Disney store outlet!! We bought her a stuffed Nemo! Then we went to Monks for lunch where Cassie ate her favorite chicken nuggets and fries then headed home. We got back shortly
after 3:00.

It was so much fun, I loved our little trip and we hope to do this every year!