Great Wolf Lodge

 Remember at Thanksgiving when I said we wouldn't be driving anywhere for a long time...unless the family was getting together again? Well Brittany and Tiffany decided that they were going to get together at a Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs and my strong fear of missing out kicked in. Tanner decided to come along and we made a trip of it. 

We decided to surprise the kids and I'm now convinced thats the best way to do a trip. I don't get all the questions weeks leading up to the trip and they didn't have any kind of expectations. We almost let it slip a few times. But the kids were pretty surprised. 

The drive down wasn't too bad but our first hotel stay was pretty miserable. Vivi did not sleep much at all. But it isn't a vacation if we aren't exhausted right? 

Chet claimed he didn't sleep at all on the drive so I had to show him this picture...

Hugging a gross bear at a gas station...

We immediately headed to the pool when we arrived at the lodge. 

When Cameron and Tiffany showed up, Cameron immediately went right up to Eliza and said her name in his unique way. She looked at him, jumped up, and ran away. She warmed back up to him eventually. I'm glad we have her trained well on how to handle suspicious strangers. 

Levi did not know what to think about Vivi. She was all over him the whole time, trying to take everything away from him. He has at least twenty pounds on her but he never fought back. 

Tiff's kids did not want to take a picture with this character so my kids were trying to show how cool it was. They weren't buying it though. 

The kids "panned for gold", did a ropes course, climbed a rock wall, played miniature golf and bowled. Great Wolf Lodge is the perfect place for our age of kids. They had so much fun. We only lost a few kids and none of them seemed too worried about it. No lasting trauma.  

The water park was a blast too. The older three were always on the move going down all the different slides and even had me go on them. It made me feel like a kid again. 

The next day I wasn't feeling too well so I hung out with the babies and relaxed. 

There was a dance party one night that Mariah, Benson, and Owen were most excited about. 

On our last morning there we decided to go to Garden of the Gods. The kids had a lot of fun climbing all over the rocks and looking for "rattlers". I loved the beautiful red rocks. 

We went back to the lodge so the kids could go on the ropes course one more time and then said goodbye to the cousins and headed out.

I love these sisters of mine, wish the other two could have been there. We talked as much as we could but it didn't feel like enough and it was way too short. 

Saying goodbye

I'm so grateful for time spent with family and can't wait for the next time we can be together.