Great Wolf Lodge

At the last minute last week we decided to try to go out of town for the weekend. We weren't sure where to go, but the Outer Banks and Great Wolf Lodge were possibilities. We didn't figure we could get a decent place at the beach, so we looked into the Lodge, talked Grant, Sherry and Olivia into going with us, and made the reservations. We didn't get much of a deal, because of the holiday and it being last minute, but we think it was definitely worth the money! We had a great time. We got a room with 2 queen beds and a small sitting area that had a wall to separate the 2 areas. Sherry made a little fort to separate the pack-n-plays so the kids couldn't see each other:

Here's Olivia playing Peek-a-boo in the curtains (a favorite activity):

The girls hanging out (Gracie is helping Olivia with her shoe):

Hiding behind the curtain was another favorite activity:

Whoa.

We arrived around dinnertime on Saturday, and just kind of hung around in the room then went to eat at the buffet. It was pricey, but the food was good. The service sucked, however. By the end of dinner we had 2 nap-deprived kiddos, and I headed upstairs to put G to be first. The others were soon to follow and Gracie was already asleep. She sleeps like a log, so we got Olivia to bed pretty easily, too. The rest of us stayed up to play Spades until all hours. We only had once incident where G woke up hollering and I thought for SURE she'd never go back to sleep, but she did pretty quickly. She must've been worn out.

The next day we got breakfast at the buffet (we had pre-paid for it, and they ended up giving us 2 days of breakfast accidentally- score!), and Olivia took her morning nap while Randy, G and I hit the arcade. They had a great little arcade and even Gracie enjoyed the little ride-on cars and hitting buttons on some of the games to win tickets.

Once Olivia was up it was time to hit the waterpark. We got the girls suited up with life jackets and they totally enjoyed the water! They had a little toddler area with a couple of slides and sprayers in about a foot or 2 of water. Olivia LOVED the waterslides, and Gracie did at first, then got a little spooked about sitting down at the top. I have a video, but the computer is taking forever to upload, so I'll try again soon. Sherry and I took turns switching off with the Dads to go ride the big rides. The Howling Tornado was great! We also took the girls into the Lazy River and on the big fort.

We ended up with hungry girls about mid-afternoon, so we changed and did a late lunch at a little place next to the Lodge called "Jungle Jim's". The girls took a nice nap then we suited back up for the waterpark again. This time we took the girls on one of the big rides! A family raft ride down a huge tube. We didn't realize that they turned the lights off at night, so it was pretty dark in there. I think they liked it, though.

We finally headed back to the room, stopping for pizza on the way (which took FOREVER!!). We had a nice junk-food dinner and put both girls down to sleep at the same time- and they actually went right to sleep!!! Another evening of Spades (the guys are now even with us girls) ensued.

Monday morning Sherry and I had appointments for a pedicure at the spa, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The guys took the girls for breakfast and then we packed and hit the arcade one more time. Gracie won 25 tickets herself! We ended up with a bunch of tickets and got G a little GWL stuffed wolf as a souveneir, then we finally headed home.

It was a great trip- I would highly recommend the place for families with kids of all ages, and I'm sure we'll go back in a couple years when the girls can do more stuff. They had a great time together, too (you can't beat running up and down the halls, riding on luggage trolleys and the elevator!). Keep an eye for an update to Sherry's blog for more pics.