Morgan and I both did a very good job sleeping in our special Kids Klub bunk beds at Great Wolf Lodge. It was my very first time sleeping in a big boy bed all by myself, so it was a pretty special occasion. Mommy wanted to make sure it was a positive experience, so she pinned me in by lining 2 side tables up against the bed. Everything worked out great and we got a much needed good night’s sleep so that we could hit the park like fireballs again this morning.

Once we got up and moving, the first order of business was to pack up and send Daddy out to the car with all of our bags while Mommy, Morgan, and I made our way down to the lobby. We were still a bit early for the water park, so we killed some time by eating Krispy Kreme Donuts, playing in the motion-activated projector on the floor, and hitting the arcade for games and prizes. My favorite game was alien skee ball, where the green monster made fun of you as you tossed balls up towards his ugly mug. I think Morgan liked any game that would spit out gobs of tickets. Once we had spent all of our little yellow tokens, we took our winnings up to the counter to cash in for fabulous prizes. My share of the 236 tickets bought me a yellow bouncy ball and a blue beaded necklace. Morgan used her half for a hot pink Great Wolf Lodge yo-yo and a necklace to match mine.

With that time turned to good use, the water park was open and we made our way in. I was way more in to it today after my excellent sleeping, so I splashed and played in the kiddie pool and Mommy and I loved joining Morgan and Daddy in the wave pool (they swam out to the big waves while Mommy and I sat up on the shore and splashed at the water rolling up to the shallow end). Morgan and Daddy rode on some more big big water slides and circled around in the lazy river while I took an afternoon nap on Mommy. After that, we spent some time in the hot warm tub and had a lot of pretend play. I pretended I was a waiter and brought Daddy all sorts of treats. Each delivery ended with a big belly flop on to Daddy in the water! Morgan pretended she was a baby wolf going to school, and each day had a new assignment and thing to learn.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Great Wolf Lodge. We ended our trip by scarfing down a Campfire Sundae…a huge ice cream treat with waffle cone rolls for logs and pink cotton candy as the flame on top.

We had a great time on our mini-vacation and can’t wait to visit again!

Great Wolf Lodge – Day 2

Well, it’s that time again…road trip! Momma and Daddy have been planning a trip for the fam, and this fall it’s…drum roll please….CINCINNATI! Ask me to say it…Momma thinks it’s pretty cute. The day started with a quick fill-up, some breakfast at McDonald’s, and two hours in the car. Before we knew it, we had arrived at Union Terminal. This place was so cool because it had three museums all under one roof! We hit the Children’s Museum first where Una and I played in the water scape together and then headed to the three story tree house. We climbed up, over, through, under, around, down, and all those other prepositions that have anything to do with FUN! Una even did a little rock climbing. It was really neat. Momma said it reminded her of Jungala at Busch Gardens…only not 94 degrees in the blazin’ sun.

After that, we decided to split up to do some “age appropriate activities.” Momma and I went to the toddler area (kiddos under 4 only) while Dada and Una went to check out the super cool ball area and the construction site. I got to play in sand, build a farm with Legos, and play with this ball-on-a-track thing that I have no better way to describe. MOMMA NOTE: It was really fun getting to spend some one on one time with Mr. Man. I loved watching his intense expressions and seeing him celebrate his accomplishments. I was also very impressed with his attention span at any give activity. He is definitely going to be my silent thinker!

We hooked up about an hour later. Una and Dada wanted to show Momma and me the neat areas they’d been to, but after about ten minutes or so, it was time to get some grub. We hit the food court for some bread sticks and beverages. It was a quick pit stop because we had two more museums to hit!

Next was the Natural History Museum. It had some neat things like a bat cave, a walk-through glacier, really big ice age animal fossils (I told Momma they were all dogs…not cats), dinosaur bones, a section on recycling, and the human body. Altogether we spent a good hour and a half taking it all in.

Daddy wanted to hit the Cincinnati History Museum because he said there was a scale model of Cincinnati there. I didn’t think too much about it until I realized all the CHOO-CHOOS that were there! I was so excited that I ran off from Momma and Daddy (only about 4 seconds of panic by the parental unit that felt like 4 hours!!) and found myself a stool to stand on to see all those model choo-choos! I pointed out everyone of them, when they stopped, when they left, and where they were! It was choo-choo heaven! I could have stayed there forever! We did a quick spin through the WW2 sections, and then headed back to the Children’s Museum to finish out our last hour. We closed down the gift shop with five minutes to spare, and headed to our hotel that was four minutes away. And Mema, this was for you…we ate at Frisch’s Big Boy for dinner! Not bad for a first day of vacation!

Momma Note: Both kiddos were in bed by 8:00 and sleeping hard. Parker is in a regular bed and hasn’t moved a muscle. Tomorrow–Great Wolf Lodge! Sleep tight, everyone!

Cincinnati

Aunt Carrie gets props for finding today’s super duper activity…my first ever rock concert, Ralph’s World! We had a sign that it was going to be a rockin’ good time because, in true Lawson-car-trip style, we hooked up mid-trip on the road in professional stuntman precision like we were on The French Connection or something. We got there ahead of time to see if we could catch the roadies or opening act or something, but we decided to hang out by the (snack) bar and cruise for babes. Ralph came out to sign some autographs and take some pictures before the show, but we were all a little too shy to see him. When the doors opened, we took our seats and had waited for the show to start. Once the band took the stage, it didn’t take long for Riley, Taylor, and Morgan to bounce up out of their seats and boogie oogie woogie on the dance floor. I was a little more shy until I saw how the vibe of the joint was shaking out. Once I knew we had a good groove going, I hit the floor, too. The next hour and a half was filled with songs, stories, dancing, lights, and booty shakin’ music! We even got to go up on the stage and stand with the band while they played their last few songs!

Thanks very much to Riley and Taylor for hanging out with us so much this weekend! We had a great time and we’re looking forward to hanging out more next weekend!

Ralph’s World

Silly Daddy let us write all over his belly with markers one night. We’re still not sure what prompted him to do this, but we weren’t going to turn down the offer! We giggled and jumped the whole time we were scribbling on his tummy. Check out our artwork!

BellyDrawing