Great Wolf Lodge

We made the trek to Centralia (excuse me, Grand Mound) this weekend to brave the Great Wolf Lodge. We met friends who had been before. It gave us some courage that if they could do it then we could get through too. The day started with heavy bickering and some yelling and screaming from the 7 year old who is officially too old for that.

But we persevered, packed up the car, the bickering subsided and we headed north. We hit a Burger King north of Vancouver for lunch. There was a brief fight over who could eat more chicken tenders. I had a whopper jr. with cheese. I figure the joy of being in a bathing suit in the middle of winter would only be enhanced by a whopper jr. with cheese.

Sadly my daughter can't find her DS (have you seen it? Pink? White game case?). So my son had to share with her. That lead directly to a new "violation" system. Poor kids - nothing like two lawyer parents to come up with complicated and taxing rules. Violations would be given for hitting, yelling (which includes screaming - yes, that was a question posed), or talking negatively about your sibling. Violations would carry a 10 minute water park penalty where the violator has to sit on a chair and watch as all the other children frolic in the park. Two violations were given. Then a pardon system was created. The pardons were earned. However, there were double-damages possible if violations were re-given after the pardon (you catch my drift, right?). The highlight of the violation game was when Henry hit Sophie and then said in the saddest voice you can imagine, "Violation. I just got a violation" before either of us had even noticed anything happened (he was given a reduction in the penalty due to self-reporting).

We arrive, check-in, get our suits on (seriously, am I really THAT pale?) and hit the water park. GWL can be summed up in a single phrase: Vegas for Kids. That's all it is. And like Vegas, a short stay is best. But all of that said, we had a blast. The water rides are really something and the kids had so much fun. We avoided a lot of the Vegas vibe by skipping the arcade and gaming areas. Why go there anyhow when you've got a wolf cave in your room?

Emily, you guys should give it a try. But I will warn you that there were a lot of people. But with a lot of people come the joys of watching them. And their tattoos and their european speedos and their loose tops as they come shooting out of the water tube....