Go // The Great Wolf Lodge

This year, because we're spending a lot of money on having a new baby, among other things (babies are priceless but the medical bills make them darn expensive!), we decided we would not take a family vacation this year - well - not a far-away vacation anyway. We decided to just do a little mid-winter get-away, and what more perfect time than smack dab on my THIRTY-FIFTH birthday!?!?

It didn't bother me turning 25 or 30 or 33 or even 34...but for some reason this year I felt turning 35 was making me rather "old". So what better way to combat feeling old than to go to a place that makes you feel young and fun (even though you're 20 weeks pregnant and have just reached official "advanced maternal" age)? We decided to get-away to the Great Wolf Lodge, just south of Olympia - so about a 80 minute drive from our home. 

You'd think we were going to Disneyland or something, the kids were just so excited to go to the lodge/hotel and indoor waterpark. Sawyer got to sleep on his own queen sized bed, which he was pretty stoked about, and Aspen loved curling up on the sofa with her animals/dolls/books. She is quite obsessed with a little story called "Baby Dear" and wants to read it a gazillion times a day.

After we got settled and hit the waterpark the first day, we had a mellow evening and I surprised the kids with new coloring books. They loooove to color and so they were really excited to have a Dinosaur book and Animal ABC book all fresh to color in.

Jacob and the lifeguards thought I was completely crazy to bring my big and expensive camera into the hot, humid, and very wet water park, but I just had to for a few minutes. I took a very few pictures and then ran and put it back in our room away from random squirting and spraying features. So here's what the water park looks like. There's a wave pool and then a play pool (3-4ft deep with lots of hoops and fun stuff), then there's the "big, scary" waterslide tubes (they actually run outside the building, you can see them through the window) and then there's the middle part with smaller slides and lots of spray features. There's the big bucket in the middle that dumps 1000 gallons of water every 5 or so minutes. You don't want to be standing under it! Finally, there is the kiddie area, which is where we spent the majority of our time (besides when we took turns to go down the "big" runs).

It was a balmy and warm 84 degrees. We were there for 3 days and that's pretty much all we did - play in the water, eat, took a nap just one day, played more in the water - oh, and went to the arcade for an hour or so the afternoon of my birthday to spice things up a bit. LOTS of water fun and it was just heaven to be warm and splashing around in the water - seriously, my heaven, my favorite thing in the world to do.

Okay, here I am: The Birthday Girl. 

35 years old.

20 weeks preggo.

Not looking super great, but having a GREAT time!

And look at that baby bump! There's baby Hazel getting bigger!

And there's her sister.

In her oh-la-la new sunglasses and swimsuit.

This was by far Sawyer's favorite part: the squirty spraying jet-skis for the kiddies. He discovered later that he really enjoyed the small slide as well, but this thing...we could hardly peel him away from it!

As always, I did research before we went. Here's what I learned from the research that panned out in the experience:

1) Do NOT go on a weekend if you can help it. From what others have said, it is just nuts. We went Monday-Wednesday and there were definitely still people around, but not too many. For example, there were NO lines, or maybe maybe just one person wait to go down the big waterslides. That was really nice!

2) Even though there's food there, you don't have to eat it. Again, word on the street was that the food is mediocre at best and pretty overprice (of course, it is a resort). We asked around and did some looking up on YELP and found a few local restaurants we really wanted to try out. Each room also comes equipt with a small refrigerator and microwave, so we brought along snacks and also stuff for lunch one day and breakfast another (yogurt, bagels & cream cheese, cheese sticks, fruit, and milk for Aspen the milk-lover, etc.)

Our favorite food spots:

La Tarasca (Authentic Mexican)

Country Cousin (Down Home Cookin' Great for Breakfast, super Family Friendly, they even have a tractor out front for kids to sit on and some hens and rooster in a henhouse nearby to visit)

Papa Pete's Pizzaria (Honestly delish pizza! We went twice! Our favorites were the plain old cheese pizza and the Gourmet Chicken - didn't love the atmosphere, so we called in our order and took out one night).

The Berry Fields Cafe. We went for lunch. From scratch and delicious. Large portions. And if you like antiques, it's housed next to an antique mall. 

3) Just get the basic room. You won't be spending enough time there to truly enjoy some of the higher-end aspects to the "themed" rooms. Really, all we did there was shower, change clothes, and sleep. Well, we did color a little and we ate the cupcakes we brought along from Whole Foods on my birthday, but otherwise, we were out exploring, eating, and mostly PLAYING.

4) The Magiquest game can be by-passed by toddlers. If you're kids are older (I'd say maybe 5 or 6 on up) or if they're really into Harry Potter, they will LOVE the scavenger game that takes you all over the lodge and let's you practice some "magic". Otherwise, toddlers will barely notice, or maybe peek in a room and see a fairy fluttering and that will bring smile enough. We thought it was kind of weird interesting to see some adults who were there on there own without kids who got very into the game.

5) There is a show and story time at 8-9pm, but not all kids will enjoy it, but some will likely love it. Our kids were kind of scared of the weird looking dolls that popped up out of trees etc. during the show. But your kids might love it. Wiley the Wolf also shows up to give hugs and for photo ops after story time. Sawyer was interested in Wiley but didn't want to hug a strange wolf )who can blame him?) and Aspen kept saying "I scared of big bad wolf!" so no photo ops for us. We went one night and opted for our own story time the next night. 

6) Leave a little room to breathe.  We had such a great time and were busy having fun, but the one full day we were there without checking in or out or traveling, we took the time to let the kids have their naps. We were going non-stop and it was pretty stimulating so it was nice. I needed a nap, too. And Jacob had the rare opportunity to read a book he checked out from the library. Relax, remember, it's a vacation even if it's not far away and if it's not a whole week long.

7) Don't over-stay your welcome. Not that you're not welcome, but we spent two nights and three days (you check out at 11am but can use the water park until 9pm the day you check out). We felt like it was the perfect amount of time. One day less would've felt a little short and one day more would've felt a little long. AND you can usually get a 20% off deal if you book more than one night, so take advantage :)

8) Bring your own beach towels. They have towels in your room and in the water park but you're not supposed to transport to and from with their towels...so bring your own unless you want to parade all wet from water park to room. 

9) Bring more than one swimming suit, if you have one. We each brought two. That way, you can let one dry out a little in-between sessions at the water park, unless you like the feeling of putting your wet suit back on.

10) Have FUN! We sure did! Sawyer didn't want to leave, and I would love to go back again sometime! It is a bit cheesy - aren't most themed parks? But it was all in good fun, and a great way to spend a birthday, if you ask me!

Bear feet, mid-winter

On Christmas Eve, the kids got to open a couple of gifts. One was pajamas and slippers, and the other were some Christmas stories (The Mitten for Sawyer, The Nutcracker for Aspen - we are slowly building our collection so we can read a book each night of December until Christmas). Anyway, we were all kind of sick and I didn't really feel like taking many pictures, at all, during Christmas. We got video of the kids on Christmas morning instead. 

Well, the past week we've kind of been "snowed in" a bit here in Seattle, so we've been staying warm and cozy and enjoying our snow days (and trying not to let cabin fever get us too badly). The kids were all cozy looking and we were playing around while making my bed one morning and so finally I caught them - bear feet, and all. Aspen likes to wear hers wherever we go. She wore them shopping the other day, much to her delight ;) I just love my little cuddle bugs!

I'm glad it's warmed up and now the snow is turning to slush (ick!) We're ready to trade in our bear-feet for some bare-feet! We are ready for flip-flops around here! I usually manage to wear them most all the year long - except when it gets snowy out there. One or two days of snow is enough for me. I'm sooo over winter already - bring on Spring - and soon!  

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a...

WONDER WOMAN!!!

aka
Baby Girl!

Okay, Okay. I've got to share this story. First of all, we have had a snowstorm going on in this city for the past two days (and while the rest of the country may laugh at us - really, to us, it is a bucket load of snow - all two inches we have!) Anyway, at the sight of a snowflake pretty much the whole city shuts down. You think I'm joking? Really! School is canceled the night before just if there is snow in the forecast, that's how it goes. Mostly because we are a city with a ton of hills and no equipment to deal with snow. We generally get about 2 snow days a year, so you think by now we would've learned (but I secretly think people like snow days, so why bother?) Anyway, I wasn't sure they'd go ahead with our ultrasound today. I called yesterday and the Doc's office was closed. I couldn't even leave a message. So I called the number that says "if this is an emergency or you think you're in labor..." just to talk to someone. (I told them first off it wasn't an emergency and I'm no where near being in labor). Anyway, I just wanted to know what to plan for. Later, someone called back and told me I could still do the ultrasound, just in a different location because the tech couldn't make it in and the Doc's office was closed. So, this morning we all got up early and put on our snow gear and prayed we could get out of our driveway and down the road about 2 miles to the clinic where they'd do the ultrasound. I half-way wished they canceled because I was worried the tech might not be a good mood having to come to work that early when everyone else most people are sledding down city streets enjoying the snow days. To my surprise, the clinic was staffed and we were the only ones who had showed up to an appointment so far. AND our tech was super cheerful and happy! Hooray!

I had come prepared. You see...Sawyer has been DEAD set that we are having a girl. He always says "It's a GIRL! Wonder Woman!" Now, I'm not even sure where he got the wonder woman part, as he's never really seen or heard of her (maybe at preschool?) but I thought it was pretty cute. However, as it got closer I started to get worried, since he was SO determined - so I started saying "Maybe it's a boy! Spiderman!" And he was always really upset when I did that, replying "NO! GIRL! WONDER WOMAN!" So, I ordered these little plush dolls - a Spider Man and a Wonder Woman. That way, I thought, if he was wrong, if a cute little Spider Man doll came flying at his face and told him he would have a brother, he might not be as upset. Or, if Wonder Woman came flying at him, he'd know right away he was right and be super excited about it. Aspen, on the other hand, has been pretty indifferent about whether we'd have a boy or a girl - I think she's just excited we'll have a baby. She gets giddy wherever we go and points at all the babies - "look! A Baby!" It's very sweet.

Backtracking...when I very first found out I was pregnant, I kept dreaming of a little girl named Hazel. I just could NOT get her out of my mind. Now, Hazel wasn't even on our list of names (even though I had heard it once and thought it was sweet). I thought maybe I was crazy but I told Jacob maybe we should add it to our list (of one other name). We only had one boy name, so that would be easy (oh, and if you didn't already know, I like to have a boy and a girl name picked out before we go to the ultrasound). Anyway...we finally did narrow it down to Hazel for a girl or Hudson for a boy - mostly because I felt like if it was a girl, for some reason that should be her name to be true to my little dream. That, or else I was crazy! I kept being drawn to girl things and thinking the baby was a girl. And one of my best friends always kind of just slipped and referred to the baby as "her". And then I got sick - and one night I was throwing up and sooo sick and I remember very vividly thinking "this has GOT to be another girl!" it was the same way I felt while pregnant with Aspen (and the pregnancy has been very much the same - with Sawyer I was tired but never sick). Anyway, then I started second guessing myself. It's got to a boy! And then I got out all the baby clothes and I got excited about either! Jacob thought it was a girl, Sawyer was SET on a girl, Aspen was on the fence and half the time would say boy but call it Hazel. Confusing! Anyway, to be contrary and to get myself excited if it was a boy - I started thinking it must be. But then, I was at the fabric store and I bought some yarn and started making....a headband! For a girl! I stopped myself. What? It could be a boy! Anyway, I think my instinct all along said girl but I was trying to be open to either! (And don't get me wrong, we would've been thrilled for a boy! And Sawyer would too given a little time!)

Okay, so that's that. The majority of people who guessed on our poll here and on Facebook said girl. All the little on-line quizzes I'd done for fun said girl. So, when the ultrasound tech (I told her about my plan with the dolls) kept saying "her heart" or "her little toes!" I kept thinking "please don't do this to my Sawyer and then say it's a boy!" The kids were able to come in with me and Jacob for the entire ultrasound. They lost interest half-way through and got out some stickers and coloring books to keep busy while she finished. She told me "I really think it's a girl but I am going to take a very close look" which she did several times and she said "yes, it's a sweet little girl - bring out wonder woman!" So, I got down and asked Sawyer what he thought. Wonder Woman came flying out from behind my back and told him and his sister that they would have a baby sister! Wonder Woman! Only most of us will call her:

Yep, Hazel. We are still working on a middle name, but it is so fun to know we have a sweet little Hazel coming our way! And it was so fun to see the joy on Sawyer's face! Wonder Woman! Hooray! We are all just tickled pink, and thrilled! I am happy Aspen will have a sister. Sawyer will be such a good big brother to his little sissies! I also have hope that maybe just maybe our caboose will be a boy and I won't get quite so sick while pregnant next time! Okay, I won't get ahead of myself there just yet :)  We are just so excited about our new baby and it's so fun we can now call her Hazel! Time to make a few headbands :)

5th Anniversary

It's hard to believe that today we celebrate our Fifth Wedding Anniversary. So much has happened in those years...yet much is still the same: we love and respect each other and we are moving forward in the same direction. Jacob is the best husband and father that I know, and I truly mean that. Thanks, babe, for asking me to be the one to share not only a life-long, but an eternal, adventure and journey with you. And thank you for closing your eyes, holding onto me tightly, and jumping in with both feet! (Not to mention, humoring me by participating in the above photo - it was a cold but sunny day in October and there were lots of other people on the beach that day, but it is the beach where we got engaged and I thought it would be fun to have a romantic picture of us there :) I hope your'e not turning red now, my handsome and oh-so-sweet-and-wonderful Jacob! You are the best and I love you to pieces! Happy Anniversary! 

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year!

The past few months have been kind of rough, but I am happy to report we had a fun end to our year...Aunt Tia came to visit! She stayed with us for over a week and then Grammie came for a couple of days to visit before whisking Tia off to Oregon for another little visit. Wonderful times - dancing around the living room, playing with new Christmas toys, watching The Land Before Time (over and again - it was her gift to the kids) swimming, ice-skating, the beach, Thai food, a rainy day at the Zoo, whew! Lots of fun! She even babysat one night so Jacob and I could have a date night out! (thanks, Tia! the kids just adore you!)

This is the first time the kids were old enough that they didn't confuse us (okay, Aspen confused us once, but that was it). They sure loved having Tia around - as did we. 

She took Sawyer ice-skating for the first time at the Seattle Center Winterfest. Aspen and I cheered them on from the sidelines since ice-skating with lots of crazy kids flying in every direction isn't the best idea for a preggo lady...and Aspen's feet are still too small for the skates. 

Sawyer was excited and a bit nervous, but he did great! They skated together for about half an hour before it was time to go fill our bellies with lunch in the Centerhouse.

Speaking of bellies, here is my quickly growing belly on the last day of the year (Discovery Park Beach, 16 weeks) If I look kind of awful, it's because I wasn't exactly feeling great - but I am feeling a little better so hooray for that!

We spent the morning at the beach - it seemed like the perfect way to enjoy the last day of the year. We've had wonderful "winter" weather this year, and we've been enjoying it. 

That evening, we drove down to Tacoma to ring in the New Year with our other sister, Kaitlin, and her family. We stuffed ourselves with pizza (they even had gluten free pizza for Tia at the place we went to!) and then we went to their home for some fondue and games. I was in charge of the fondue and, unfortunately, it flopped (ie accidentally scorched the cream) but luckily no one cared too much. Especially Aspen, who found their bowl of chocolates and went to town. The girl definitely has a sweet tooth! We played Apples to Apples and toasted our martinelli's- and rang in the New Year, New York time. It was perfect. It always makes me smile to see the kids running around with their cousins and so throughly enjoying each others company.

I guess the pics are rather sparse and random, but I didn't really take many the past few weeks. I did, however, catch Aspen one day with her new baby that Santa brought (after all my research and asking around, I turned in my recommendation and Santa left her a Bitty Baby). She just adores her baby. And the cradle that Grammie and Grandpa Kemp gave her. I asked her if she wanted to name her baby and threw out a few suggestions (ie. Betsy, Jane, etc.) but she said no to naming and was pretty clear she just wants to call her "baby"...for now :)  It's so sweet how much she loves this little doll. She adores how her eyes open and close and she loves putting her down "night night" and then "she wakes up!" It cracks me up when she peels off her clothes and retrieves the baby wipes from the closet - and "changes" her baby's diaper. Wow, she is sure good at caring for her baby! I have a feeling she will be a most excellent little helper with our new baby this summer.

She's ready to be a big sister! So cute!

I'm really excited for this New Year! I had anticipated that the latter part of this past year would likely be rough because of being pregnant (and it was) but we are just so thrilled getting ready to welcome our third little one! I feel like sometimes people either outright say I'm crazy or look at me like I'm crazy having 3 little ones so...little...or try to scare me by telling me it's just going to be chaos and craziness (which I'm sure there will be plenty) but I feel ready. Our first two are a year and a half apart - which honestly, we loved (but couldn't do three that close because I wanted to enjoy the first two without feeling like my mothering was merely triage!) but this one will be just under two and a half years from Aspen, which has given us lots of time, or so it feels like to me. The past few months I have taken measures to simplify our life and that has brought a certain calm. I hope to carry on with the simplicity and continue to enjoy each moment - both the crazy and the calm - with my wonderful hubs and three precious kiddos squished all together in my arms! Wish us luck!