Hallowe'en Day

This morning, when Holly got up, she came to our room and asked me, "Mommy, is today Hallowe'en?". After I said, "yes, it is", she said, "Happy Hallowe'en Mommy!".


Miss Maddy, Holly's ballet teacher told us they could wear their costumes to class today - and she dressed up, too!















More photos of our reno in progress - Holly is standing in what will be our "great room" - aka the family room.

Tinkerbell at school

Today, everyone in the whole school could wear their Hallowe'en costumes if they wanted. I missed seeing the kids because I had to work, but I heard there were 2 Tinkerbells in the JK class, a witch (Cassie) and a princess (Ms. Nadia, the teacher). They got to parade their costumes for the whole school at 1pm, when the parents could have gone to watch... maybe next year.

Reno update - walls!

We arrived home last night to see we had the start of some walls in our family room! Very exciting!

Great Wolf Lodge - Day 2

We hung out at the water park with our friends this morning before heading home (with a brief shopping trip thrown in!).



















Andrew, Sean, Paul & Holly just as the big bucket dumped on them - a little too quick with the trigger finger!














Claire holding onto Andrew's legs in the wave pool, with Chi behind her and Sean in the background. . .














We spotted a couple of little mermaids in the pool!














Underwater snapshots - the kids wanted to see themselves when they saw I had an underwater camera. . .














Holly & Daddy body surfing in the waves.



















The 1000 gallon water bucket at the top of Fort Mackenzie.














Water dumping in action! Watch the guy comes to get wet. . .


Claire and Holly in the "hot" tub - not really hot at all! We had a great time here, we'll definitely be back again!

Great Wolf Lodge - Day 1

Today we went to Great Wolf Lodge (www.greatwolf.com). It's a super fun family hotel with a huge water park built right inside! There are 10 of them in the US, and just one in Canada (in Niagara Falls). This one (Grand Mound)is just south of Seattle, about 3.5 hours' drive from home for us. A friend had told me about it and we've been wanting to come for a while now. Our plans to come in July fell through and since Holly & I didn't make it to Hawaii this year, we thought we'd take an overnight family trip and check it out. There are a number of different sections to the water park. . . the shallow kiddie section with small fort, and slides. . .



















The larger fort (Fort Mackenzie) - with a 1000 gallon water bucket on top that continuously fills up and dumps out every few minutes (you can see it in mid-dump here). . .














In Fort Mackenzie. . .



















In the wave pool - this section was great - the deep end is only 5 ft, so I could stand. The waves come after you hear the wolves howl - first they are gentle rolling waves, which last for a few minutes. After a break, the next set of waves are stronger and rougher. . .



















Paul under the giant bucket - getting 1000 gallons of water dumped on him. . .



















This part of the park (called Big Foot Pass) had a water basketball "court" and some floating lily pads and animals to sit on. . .















Stepping on a water spray - can you tell she's having fun?!. . .




















At the top of the big stairway, we are about to ride on the River Canyon Run - a 6-storey high water slide, which you ride on a circular raft that holds up to 5 people. We got Holly on it once (after about 10 minutes of coaxing from me) - and then she refused to go down it again. . .














Back to the little kids' section (slides more Holly's speed). . .



















Also in the toddler section - little watercraft with sprayers you can aim - and they even had water spraying out the back - very realistic!















After spending some time in the waterpark (we got there too early to get into our room), we stopped at the Bear Paw Cafe for some popcorn, which Holly could smell on our way in.



















We finally got into our room - one of the Kid Kamp Suites with a "tent" in the middle of the room and bunk beds for 2 children to share (and their own tv, too!). The walls have pretend windows painted on them with outside scenery and other paintings of things you'd find in a tent, like a lantern and pair of binoculars.





















Because it's the week before Hallowe'en, guests were encouraged to bring costumes and let their kids go trick or treating in the hotel. We got a map and 4 places to find and get treats from.



















I'd mentioned the lodge to some friends of ours and they decided to come down for 2 nights - a complete coincidence that we booked one of the nights on the same date! We met up with Claire and Sean to go trick or treating.



















This is the Clock Tower, where the scene comes alive for a 10 minute show several times a day - an animatronic show, like you'd see in Disneyland or some other theme park. After the show at 8pm, there is also Story Time, where the kids are encouraged to come in the pj's to hear a bed-time story and meet Wiley the Wolf.

Bowling Party

Today was Jaden's birthday party - first we went bowling . . . it was Holly's first time and she had a blast! They had bumpers out for the kids and ball ramps so they could just push their balls down the lane.


















Here is a video of Holly bowling:


Jaden, the birthday boy . . .














Jaden and his family (Janet, Tallulah, Tommy) and one of his little friends.