2017 GWL

fall break | great wolf lodge

We had grand plans for Fall Break. We booked a trip to Mexico and couldn’t wait to go. Unfortunately with the new studio and new employees we just couldn’t get away for the week. Luckily we were able to move our tickets and the hotel rooms for later next year. We were bummed not to go, but made the most of our time here together. 
We quickly booked a room at Great Wolf Lodge and spent two days in Colorado Springs. The girls love the pool and we splurged and got the PAW pass for them to explore more games and activities around the hotel. We had a great time and the girls were pretty happy with the adventure. 


happy birthday gwyneth | great wolf lodge

Gwyneth really wanted to celebrate her birthday at Great Wolf Lodge so off we went! 
Thanks to a 50% coupon we were able to stay for a couple nights for a slightly reasonable price. It’s all a bit overpriced but the coupon does help. 
I think this may be the girls’ happy place. They love to swim and just love everything about this place. We stayed 3 night which wasn’t enough for them. I think two is probably good for me and 1 is probably good for B. Ha! 
Let’s get in the pool!
And off they went. Sunday night they shut it down. They were so happy to swim, swim, swim. 
Silly sisters!
Monday we were right back at it. Bright and early. We were at the water park when it opened at 9 am. Took breaks for meals but didn’t leave until 8 pm that evening Now, that is a day of swimming!
This is one of my favorites shots of Gwyneth!
 Annabelle snapped it of her dancing underwater. Fabulous!
And just like that our baby is NINE!! Love that bed head.
Gwyneth ran the show for the day and she wanted to start the day with a big breakfast. Absolutely no surprise there. 
Next stop mini-golf. Miss Annabelle was pretty pleased with her hole-in-one!
And then the ropes course. G didn’t have tennis shoes but that didn’t stop her. of course she climbed in ruby slippers. That’s how this girl rolls. 
And then bowling!
Gwyneth’s buddy Ruby was there for the night as well. They have been friends since kindergarten and share the same birthday. What a fun birthday coincidence to be there at the same time. 
We hit the waterpark after lunch and spent a few hours. Unfortunately B had to head home and get some work done, but we had a great time all together. 
After dinner the girls talked me into playing Magiquest. I didn’t know much about it, but the girls were eager to check it out. They got a wand and got right down to it. I still don’t know much about it but it involves finding clues through the resort and it kept them entertained for hours. 
While they were exploring and waving those magic wands, I sat and read an entire book and had a glass of wine. I can’t complain, but I wish B would have been there to enjoy that glass of wine with me. 
Our last day we hit the water park one last time. Lots of water slides and time in the wave pool. We definitely made the most of our opportunity. 
We finished off the trip with pedicures and ice cream. Gwyneth’s dream. She loves the scoops spa and it was the perfect ending to a fabulous birthday trip!
Happiest birthday to our fierce, funny, loving, smart, beautiful baby. We love this girl so, so much!
These girls have ticklish feet. She reminds me so much of my sister, Stacy in these pictures. 

happy easter from great wolf lodge

The girls had a three day weekend from school. We took advantage of the day off to head down to Colorado Springs. We spent two nights at Great Wolf Lodge including Easter which a night at hotel and swimming has been a great family tradition for us. 
I get asked a lot “is Great Wolf Lodge worth it?”. Well, it depends. Its crowded, overpriced and the food is absolutely horrible BUT our girls love it and we have a wonderful time together as a family. So for us, it’s worth it. It’s great. You just have to know what you are getting yourself into. 
Day One

After a morning of catering, we loaded up the car and headed down south. It’s not a bad drive at all and we made it in time for lunch. We were still a bit early and our room wasn’t quite ready so we played a round of mini golf. 

The girls did a scavenger hunt that took them all over the resort and they each won a little prize.

We finally got checked in to our room, swimsuits on and hit the water park. 

We spent the rest of the day in the wave pool, screaming our way down the water slides, and even convinced B to just eat pizza at the resort. The pizza isn’t terrible. We blame B for being the food snob picky eater in the family but none of like the other food options so we were happy to go out for the rest of our meals.

I didn’t take many pictures that first day because I was happily swimming with my little ladies. I did get a few shots of them in our room. They loved having the bunk room all to themselves.

We had a beautiful view from our patio. Great view of the Rockies and the Air Force stadium.

Day 2

Happy Easter! The bunny found us again. The girls left him a note asking him not to hide eggs because they didn’t want to waste any time searching when they could be at the pool. Annabelle received a new basketball and Gwyneth received a new robe which made them both very happy.

Some chocolate favorites from the candy shop

Off we went to the water park. We were one of the first there which was nice because the hotel was sold out for the evening and quite crowded.

We had a very full day of swimming! 

We left the resort for lunch (Cheddars – which is not good, but cheap and we could actually get a soup and salad). We also left again for dinner and ate at the Colorado Mountain Brewery. I would highly recommend this.

Have I mentioned that our kids don’t like to order off the kids menu anymore? They are not huge fans of mac and cheese and chicken tenders. This has become a bit expensive when we go out but it’s always worth it to watch them try new things. Annabelle ordered penned the Penne Bolognese with bison. She loved it!

We bowled a game (I won, just in case any one is keeping score. I have to gloat because I’m fairly certain that has never happened before). 
And then it was back in the water. The Meyers shut the place down!
These girls were not quite ready for bed. 
So we enjoyed some ice cream

And sat in the lobby and watched the dance party (they didn’t want to partake…they were worried we would embarrass them. We would), and made silly faces. It was a very full and fun day!

Day 3

We were up, packed and off to the pool bright and early. There are only 3 elevators so it can take some time to get down to the lobby. Add several bags of luggage and it could take 30 – 40 minutes. B was awesome, as usual, and offered to load up the car while I took the girls to swim. We spent hours at the water park again. I would definitely say these ladies got their money’s worth. 
A fun little surprise – we ran into a few friends that we didn’t know would be there that weekend. 
 We cleaned up, grabbed some pizza and got ready to head home….
 but not before surprising the girls with a trip to the Scoops salon. 

 Gwyneth had been dropping not-so-subtle hints about visiting the spa. They each got a manicure and pedicure and were deliciously spoiled! Gwyneth choice chocolate lotion for her hand massage and made us hungry the whole drive home.

 How cute and very, very pink!

It was a fun-filled weekend and even though we were just 1 1/2 hours away from home we really felt like we got to get away from it all!