The Great Wolf Lodge

Our unexpected vacation was incredible. We got back yesterday from our weekend at The Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC and we all want to go right back again!

It was pretty impressive to drive up to the lodge. As soon as the kids saw the lodge they started cheering!

The lobby of the lodge was so fun to be in!

When we got to our room we were thrilled! There was a little wolf on our bed wearing some goggles...

A plate filled with yummy cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries (complete with wolf paw prints on them). In the fridge was water and milk.
There were four little wolves waiting for us as well--they are so cute and the kids absolutely adore them.
Carter and his wolf looking out the window of the "kids room"--the kids LOVED that they had their own area with their own tv.
The kids area had cute little murals painted on the walls--to make it look like you were looking out a cabin window :)

Looking down from the top bunk bed

I loved the soaps and shampoos that they gave you--the pink one is kids body wash (smelled like bubble gum) and the shampoo was honestly the best hotel shampoo I have ever had.
My one picture of the waterpark--and this isn't even a fourth of what there was. It was amazing. The area you see in front is really shallow and designed for little kids. All my kids loved playing in it. Caroline said the wave pool (in the back) was her favorite part.
Caroline, Matt and I went on every waterslide. Carter went on 5 of them (impressive since he has never even wanted to go on any type of waterslide before) And even Alex went on 2 of the big ones outside of the kiddie area (a parent would go down first and then the lifeguard would send the younger child down).

Fort MacKenzie was so fun. There was a bucket that would dump down a thousand gallons of water every few minutes (Caroline would get over there and lay on her tummy so she would have the full force of the water on top of her), This was also the area with the two slides that Alex could go down (the yellow and green tops you see in the picture).

photo from the Great Wolf Lodge Website

Howlin Tornado was the single scariest waterslide I have ever been on--and I went twice, Matt went once and refused to go with Caroline again. Caroline could not get enough. The first time I went and the only time Matt went was at night...the ride was pitch black until you suddenly found yourself here

photo from the Great Wolf Lodge Website

The picture doesn't even do it justice--you feel like you are about to flip over and you are completely disoriented. The second time I went was day time and there were small holes in the tubes at the top to let in a little bit of light--but it wasn't much better!

I was so impressed with the lifeguards here. I have been to a lot of pools and seen a lot of lifeguards, but I have never seen lifeguards so serious about their job. (Ok...I spent a lot of time watching the lifeguards while hanging out with Aaron and Alex in the kiddie pool and while waiting for the older kids to do things). They were never standing still--they had a path that they would go on and follow back. They looked in areas that kids might get trapped and the only time I saw them talking to each other is when they were switching positions. I am paranoid about things happening to my kids, but I felt more secure here than I ever have at any pool.

Saturday we took the kids to the sweet shop and let them pick out a treat--it was very yummy and Alex loved this bear.
The kids also loved doing the Magic Quest game.
Their favorite thing was to wake up "the snoring tree"--any (and every) time we walked by--and since he was on the way to our room, they did it a lot!

He would say "Why you be waking me? I was dreaming I was a mighty hardwood tree." The kids would laugh and laugh over that.

Their next favorite was this book (also on the way to our room)

"I'm a book full of stories and pictures and a peanut butter sandwich that some kid smashed between my pages" (she had several sayings).

Not to forget this Jewel....

"Yadda Yaddah Yaddah....goodbye"

Watching the clocktower show was another favorite

After the clocktower show they had story time and then Wolfie came out to meet the kids.

We also spent time at the arcade (again the kids wanted to stay forever) and I used their exercise room (really spacious and great equipment).

It was so fun. We couldn't get enough of the waterpark, but there were so many other things to do that we couldn't get enough time to do everything.

You might remember my post about us choosing our family vacation this year, and how obsessed the kids are with Disney World....well, I knew The Great Wolf Lodge was pretty incredible when Caroline told me "I would be ok with skipping Disney World one time and coming here instead".