Adventures in the Forest

We spent three days and two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Charlotte/Concord this week and had a blast. This was meant to be a big finale to Brian's R&R, because I thought he would be leaving Friday, but he is leaving Sunday, so it wasn't the end of R&R, but worth the get-away anyway.
After recovering from Sam's party and visitors it was nice to get away and just have fun. And it worked out really well because I had been before, so I knew just what we would want to do and what we should skip. We bought Sam a pass that introduced him to several of the features of the hotel without having to pay for lots of stuff he didn't have the patience for or might not like. It worked out really well, because there were several things to keep him busy when we weren't at the water park or when one of us needed a break.

I reserved us a room that gave Sam his own little alcove with bunk beds and its own TV and made up to look like a woodland hideaway.

I took him a play room set up where he played with kids his own age and I colored a T-shirt for him. Brian took him to the video game room. He also got a stuffed dragon, which he got to pick out, stuff and name.

And then of course there was the water park, which was a blast but which I took no pictures so I could have fun, too and my camera wouldn't get wet or stolen. We ended up going on a racing slide together as well as others. The racing slide was the first thing we went on, and by the time Brian and I carried three sleds up three flights of steps, we were scared. Meanwhile, Sam just wanted to "go fast." The slide was set up as four individual tubes, so Sam was going to have to be alone. Considering our own fear, we weren't sure he was going to be okay by the end of ride. As we flew down these tubes scared out of our minds (at one point I thought I was going to take flight and go over the railing) we're both thought about Sam all by himself. We get down to the end, and Sam is already there with a huge grin on his face. "I want to go again!" And we did, many times. We also went down one where one of us could go with him in a two-person tube. It was so much fun.
Meanwhile we were also playing this interactive role-playing game called Magi-Quest. You get instructions from a wizard and work to find runes that help you in adventures that include battling a dragon on a 7-foot-high screen. Everything is detailed and made to feel magical and Brian and I had as much fun playing it as Sam did. So much, in fact, that we kept playing until we had beat the game, even after we had already checked out of the hotel! I think we walked/ran miles through that hotel over the course of 48 hours. My shins still hurt.



At one point Brian swore he could walk as fast as we could run, and I dared him to a contest. It was hysterical as Sam and I jogged next to Brian, who was simply walking fast down the hotel hallway. It was like racing Superman. Another highlight was figuring out how to beat the dragon, which no one could do until I got a hold of the wand and kicked the dragon's tail. =) Brian is still bitter.

Obviously, we had a really good time and it was fun, as well as exhausting. Our last night there Sam decided to lose his mind and basically never went to sleep. Hours and hours of him being awake, crying, moaning, whining, and me tending to him, did not make for a last happy day. Hence, our disheveled and exhausted looking family photo. =)
Brian leaves on Sunday, my birthday. Pray these last few weeks go by safely for him and quickly for me!