Great Wolf Lodge Weekend

We decided to take a weekend trip with the kids to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg.  They have a huge indoor water park and lots of activities for the kids to do.  The nice thing is, a two night stay gets you into their water park for 3 days starting on the day you check in at 1, and lasting until the park closes on the day you check out.  We did have a slight scare when we arrived as they did not have a reservation for Honza.  After a tense 5 minutes they discovered they had us under Honva.  Our room wasn't suppose to be ready until 4 on check-in day but was ready at 1, so we were able to get settled in before heading to the water park. 

The water park had a fort of sorts with a bucket that held thousands of gallons of water.  Every 5 minutes the bucket overflows and dumps it's contents on anyone below.  This area also had some smaller water slides.  Check this out:

There was a nice little toddler/baby area too with even smaller slides and water that got no deeper than a foot.  Breanne and David both enjoyed this area as well.  David is not afraid of water at all and did several face plants into the water without any hesitation.  Good thing Lauren and I were right by his side at all times.

Breanne's favorite areas were probably the wave pool, the lazy river (which Breanne actually runs through), and the outdoor pool.  She did go on the big slides she was allowed to go on, but she really preferred just jumping around in the water.  I kept telling her, "We don't have water slides back home, but we have pools".  This didn't seem to matter though, and all that really matters is that she had a good time.  I personally loved going down the two big slides on the double tube with Breanne.  She couldn't sit in the middle (she would just fall through), but if I put my feet up next to her, she would hold on to them.  She did an amazing job though as those slides got moving pretty fast.

Another nice feature at the Great Wolf Lodge, was a fantasy role playing game called MagiQuest.  We purchased a wand and a game book and were given 9 quests and 3 tasks.  Your wand is battery powered and shoots a ray of some sort into a special place on interactive pieces located throughout the hotel.  It was pretty neat to see Breanne point her wand at a treasure chest and watch it open.

You have found 100 gold coins!

Each quest gives you a rune you can use on your 3 tasks.  To get a rune, you must collect certain objects and give them to certain people.  While the first quest took Breanne and I close to one and half hours, we eventually got each quest down to about 20 to 25 minutes.  By the end of our second day, we were down to one more quest and hopefully on to the dragon!  This is no small feat, as some quests are time sensitive (try running to the other side of the hotel in 30 seconds or you fail with a 4 year old).  However, once we (I mean she) attained the title of "Master Magi" we took a look at the dragon and Breanne was no longer interested.  Well, I showed that dragon who was boss.  No, just kidding.  It was a ton of fun to do with Breanne and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  Maybe next time, we'll slay the dragon.

Monday morning we got to the water park at about 10:00.  By 10:30, our son who constantly fought us on being stopped, helped, or blocked all weekend, was asking to be held.  He actually rode on top of Lauren and I on the lazy river for 20-30 minutes on two separate occasions.  At about 11:45, I looked at Breanne and noticed she just didn't look peppy anymore.  When I asked her if she was ready to go home, she quickly said yes.  Our kids were pooped.  We saddled up and headed on home.  This picture was taken on the way down, but it mirrors the one on the way home.

Also worth noting is that David is a ladies man.  Hanging at the outside pool, a little girl kept watch on him for awhile.  Eventually, she walked up.  After some chatter this was the result.

We had a great weekend and look forward to going back sometime, but first we need a little rest! :)

Golfing at Mosquito Plantation

This is Where Chubbs Lost His Hand!

From what I've heard, South Carolina has more golf courses per land than any other state, so while we are visiting Dan and Holly, Dan and I had to get at least one round in.  We played a course called Redbank Plantation, but as you can see by my post title, I think it should be renamed.  This is not to say that the course was bad (on the contrary), it is just to say that it has it's fill of mosquitoes.  The course cost $24 with cart and was a par 70.  It was very forgiving (I know I played at least one shot from a neighboring fairway), which is probably why I broke 90 for the second time this summer by shooting an 87.  Here is a list of other things I learned while golfing in SC:

1. Bug repellent is considered to be necessary golf gear.  Carry it in your bag at all times.
2. Pace of play is strictly enforced, not by the marshalls but by mosquitoes.  Address your ball and swing or suffer the consequences.
3. This golf course has hybrid mosquitoes.  They were huge and the bites itch worse the next day than they do on the day they happen.
4. A new hazard has been added called close to the swamp or long grass.  You guessed it, this is where the mosquitoes wait.
5. You can skip a ball across a lake.  No, I can't take credit for it.  Dan skipped the ball across the lake just off the tee at 18.  While I have witnessed and done this myself, it is always super cool to see over and over again.  
6. Alligators are on the course.  Can't say I saw one, but I did get this cool picture taken above. 

Thanks, Dan, for playing.  I'd play Mosquito Plantation again in a heart beat!

Magnolia Plantation

Day two of our South Carolina trip took us to one of the oldest plantations in South Carolina, Magnolia Plantation http://www.magnolia plantation.com/

It was gorgeous...and hot...very hot...but very pretty. We spend the first bit of time walking around the vast gardens. I've read in books about the gardens on southern plantations and estates but I've never witnessed any and to say that it was a big garden is an understatement. It took us at least and hour and a half to walk through and we didn't even start at the beginning. It was neat to see the tags on the different sections, one in particular that read "circa 1685" and wonder about the people that wandered these gardens back then.

Black Eyed Susan's, Maryland never leaves us.  :)

A White Ibis, they were all over the plantation

These nasty things were everywhere.  Golden Silk spiders, or Banana spiders as they are more commonly called had giant webs spun all over the place.  They are called Golden Silk Spiders because their webs are actually a yellow/golden color.  The ones we saw had bodies that were anywhere from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long.  Huge...gross..and everywhere.

Golden Silk Spider (a.k.a. Banana Spider)

From there we went on a swamp walk, also on plantation grounds.  Saw a couple alligators, more spiders, some turtles...typical swamp stuff I guess.

A few more pics from today:

Red Faced David, did I mention it was hot?

Pot Bellied Tree, Pot Bellied Brandon

Breanne found an owl feather at the little animal section they had.  They called it a petting zoo but there wasn't anything that you can actually pet.  She said to me, "There are lots of people who like to wear owl feathers in their hair, I'm one of them, I've just never had an owl feather before."

South Carolina Beach Day 1

Hello all,

We made to Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina yesterday to vacation and spend time with our friends Dan and Holly.  Today we made our way to the beach (Isle of Palms) which is only a very short drive from Dan and Holly's!  Last years trip to the beach was a little difficult as David was only 2 months old so Lauren and I took turns holding David while the other spent most of their time running down Breanne.  So we were a little interested to see how things were a year later. 

Despite the short trip to the beach, David decided to take a nap in the car.  It was a 5 minute power nap that ended as soon as we arrived on the beach, but we did get this picture:

This would be the end of his napping though, as David loved everything about the beach.  He played in the sand, he played in the water, he ate the sand, and he drank the water.  Despite showing signs of being he tired, he just kept on trucking the entire time.  He loves playing with the sand toys and splashing in the water.  It is so much fun watching him explore the beach. 

Breanne has also made some changes in how she is at the beach.  Lauren has been working real hard with her on her swimming and you can definitely tell.  In years past, I had to drag her out kicking and screaming to get her to out in the surf with me.  I have not spent this much time in the water since I was 13 and spending every moment I could out there.  Isle of Palm's beach is perfect for kids in that it is very shallow.  Even where the waves get bigger I could set Bre down and she could stand to give myself a break between waves.  She is very confident in her swimming and no longer afraid of the water. 

While we spent a little time building castles, it was hard to keep her away from the waves too long.  She also enjoyed playing with two squeaky frogs that she would fill up with water and squirt us with.  Of course, as she did this, she informed us that the frogs were peeing on us.  :)  Oh, to be four.

Having been at the beach for 3 hours, the kiddos began to tire.  Bre runs around so much she gets raw marks on her legs and has a hard time walking.  Today was no different.  David was fussy so we cleaned him off only to find an explosive diaper in the process.  It was time to go. 

David stayed awake for about a minute on our way home (another power nap) so when we first arrived back, we cleaned everyone else off before him.  After being taken out of his seat, we got this short video, showing how tired he was.

Currently, the kids are upstairs trying to nap (although believe it or not I can hear David still talking).  I have a feeling we may not hear for them for a couple of hours (or we might see them in 5 minutes).