Come What May and Love it: Great Wolf Lodge

1.20.2020

Great Wolf Lodge

This year for Christmas James and I decided to do something we have wanted to do for many years, but haven't followed through with until now. We didn't get the kids Christmas presents. Instead, we let Santa give them one bigger gift and then they picked out one $20 or less gift for one of their siblings. All James and I did was fill their stockings. Stocking stuffers were a little more exciting this year than previous years, which was honestly more fun. I knew whatever I was getting was small enough and inexpensive enough that it wouldn't be adding stress. We asked grandparents to send money to go towards a trip instead of a tangible gift. It was the best idea and we all are so grateful!

We went to Great Wolf Lodge for our Christmas trip! For anyone who doesn't know, it's a hotel with an indoor waterpark and family fun activities like story time, crafts, mini golf, candlepin bowling, arcades, wizard wand quests and this one even had an indoor ropes course and climbing wall! You don't even have to leave the hotel the whole trip. It is our favorite vacation destination, but it gets pricey the more kiddos you have, so it's getting a little more difficult to go. We got adjoining rooms (even though our kids are young enough that we could have easily fit in one room, Great Wolf Lodge doesn't allow it since you have to report every person staying with you in order to gain water park access). The kids thought it was sooo cool to have their own hotel room. There were bunk beds, a day bed, three full size beds and two sofa beds!

We played in the water park all afternoon, got dinner, met Santa, went to storytime and then Brynlee, Brielle and Koda and I went back to the room to get ready for bed while James took Ezra, Makai and Deklan around the hotel on the Wizarding Wand Quest. It was awesome! Then James woke up early, found a highly rated breakfast place nearby and served us with an incredible and delicious breakfast room service. We packed our stuff, loaded it in the car and went back to the waterpark for the rest of the day. We even bumped into some friends of ours from Texas who had moved to Idaho who were down on vacation as their Christmas present as well! So cool!

We all can't wait to go back! The waterslides kept the boys busy all day and Brynlee and Brielle were happy just floating around the lazy river and playing in the wave pool. Koda even took a dip in between naps. We're so grateful to grandparents that helped us make these memories with our kids!

To make Christmas day exciting, we took the kids to see Frozen 2 as a Christmas surprise which was also a blast! It was a great experience all around. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics inside the waterpark. I was a little preoccupied and rarely had a free hand. Turns out Brielle is a little daredevil and literally walked into water up to her chin without a worry, so I had to be on the move the whole time. No real surprise there if you know Brie!