Things to Do - 12 in 12, August 2014 (Great Wolf Lodge Edition)

If the kids behaved and played nicely this summer, I promised I'd take them to Great Wolf Lodge. The problem is that whenever I log on to reserve a room and am confronted by the extraordinary difference between weekday and weekend rates, I end up planning for the cheaper option, thus leaving poor Dan out (or lucky Dan, depending on how you view GWL).

Luckily, my in-laws were babysitting their other grandchildren the same week we planned to go. So I talked with Dan's mom and we decided to make it a family thing because cousins equal happiness.

Photographing the August 12 in 12, made me realize how fluid your concept of time becomes when spending all day in an indoor waterpark. Hours just seem to meander along . . .



7:30 am - The kids wake up at 7 (WTF?), but I manage to stay in bed a little longer. When I finally walk into the living room, this is what I see.



8:30 am (after breakfast in the room) - Ready to attack the water park. Unfortunately, we still have 30 minutes before it opens. (By the way, GWL, we love the free wolf ears - thank you!)



9:05 am - And so it begins . . .



10:30 am - Still going . . .



11:30 am (after lunch in the room) - Our first MaqiQuest experience. The cost of the wands makes me want to cry. I try to channel my inner "happy" wolf.



12:30 pm - The older kids divide into two teams, whereas T and I work together. It's up to me to figure out how the game works because all T wants to do is wave his "magic" wand at everything he sees (which, honestly, is sort of adorable). I quickly learn that MagiQuest is an exercise in walking in circles (up and down, back and forth from floor to floor), luckily I'm wearing my fitbit so this is fine with me.



1:30 pm - Return to the room for some "down" time. As you can tell, they're exhausted (oh wait, it's me that's exhausted).



2:30 pm - Waterpark round 2. P and her cousin decide to buck the system and walk through the lazy river, while hugging (of course?).



3:30 pm - More MagiQuest with T. I'm really getting the hang of it now. F and her cousin, on the other hand, are ranked #4 and trying desperately to climb into one of the top 3 spaces, so we don't see them much before dinner.



5:00 pm - Return to the room for more downtime. The kids are actually tired (woo-hoo! we did it!), everyone realizes that walking in circles is exhausting (our room is also about 0.25 miles from the waterpark/lobby, so that is a trek in itself). I try to read on the balcony while watching the rain (so so glad we picked the dreariest summer day to spend in a gigantic indoor cave).



7:00 pm - Buffet dinner, which tastes wonderful after a day of playing (is this the right word? not sure of the appropriate verb.)



8:30 pm - The kids zone out to TV show before bedtime, while I drink wine with my in-laws, who are toasting and celebrating the fact that they will never return to GWL. (Honestly, I couldn't thank them more for this trip, the kids were in heaven and it really helped to have extra adults to supervise all the ins and outs.)

Final fitbit steps = 18,344; 7.21 miles. And I never left the building. I'd guess most of the kids walked twice that. Turns out GWL is one crazy workout.

Now click on over to Not-So-SAHM and Where the Watermelons Grow to see how they spent August 12.