…but lived to tell the story.
I recently did my October recap but left out the recap of the entire last weekend because we ended up cramming an entire month’s worth of activities into one weekend. Despite all that we did do, we also still managed to have some down time and spend time together as a family.
Buckle up, friends…this was a FUN weekend!
I packed up my classroom as fast as I could on Thursday afternoon and we headed straight to GREAT WOLF LODGE!
We got a fun homeschool/group discount which meant we paid about 50% of the regular price AND we got to go with a whole group from our school!
This was quite the experience for us! We have a pretty good mix of introverts and extroverts in our family, so we were a bit nervous about how a night at an extremely overstimulating waterpark with a bunch of people that we know/kind of know from our school. We got into our room around 4pm and headed straight to the water park. OH MY! It was loud and fairly full and it took us a bit to get our bearings. We mostly just hung around the smaller kiddie stuff until we decided to go exploring. We found a lazy river and then Theo and Tera discovered the tube slides. I was super hesitant to send any of my kids anywhere, since none of them are swimmers, but Tera did her first water slide and was HOOKED. Even Kiah did a few!
We took a dinner break and Theo went and got some fast food to bring back to the hotel room. One of the worst parts of the experience is leaving the water park in wet swimsuits and going back to the room. We were SO COLD but also didn’t want to take off all our swimsuits because we knew we were going to go back after dinner! We did end up taking off the swimsuits and putting on warm clothes to eat, but then we had to put wet swimsuits back on! Now I know for next time we for sure need to bring two swimsuits each or some other plan that takes away from this wet/cold dinner time!
After dinner we headed back to the waterpark for a few hours until it closed. We went to the room, put on pajamas and watched a little TV before going to sleep. It was not a great night’s sleep ha. Since this is a very kid-friendly resort, there were SO MANY CHILDREN running up and down the halls until well after midnight. Our kids went to bed at like 9 so that is a long time for their to be endless noise. I was tempted to return the favor in the morning by letting my kids run up and down the hallways yelling at the top of their lungs. I didn’t. But I was tempted.
The waterpark didn’t open until 10, so we grabbed some Dunkin for breakfast and hung out in the lobby with some school friends. We packed up our room and loaded the car, then got ready for the waterpark. I honestly didn’t even take my phone into the waterpark, so I have very few pictures! I did snap this one from the lobby looking into the waterpark.
We played at the waterpark for about two hours and then decided to head out around noon. Overall, it was a blast and we were impressed with the upkeep and care of the facility. It was really fun to build the memories with our kids and to get to share it with some school friends was a highlight, too! We probably wouldn’t do it too often, but I could see us doing it again!
After Great Wolf Lodge, we split and I headed straight for Vintage Market Days while Theo took the kids to a super important union meeting for his job. I spent a few hours walking around and checking out all the vendors and taking some photos to help promote the event. It was such a fun event and I am always happy to spend a few hours just talking to vendors and drooling over their creativity and hard work!
Friday evening we just needed to crash! And that is exactly what we did. We had the “muffin meal” while zoning out in front of America’s Funniest Home Videos and then we snuggled and threw everyone in bed. The weekend was not yet over!
Saturday morning we spent some time doing house projects and getting schoolwork done with Tera. Right after lunch we met up with my parents and headed to Kiah’s birthday present: Monster Jam!
Well, that was also an experience. I’m not sure that any of us LOVED it, but we did have fun, and we will cherish the memories! It was VERY LOUD. And when the trucks were driving, it was awesome! But the show had a lot of intermission/down times that no one was doing anything as they were setting up for the next part of the show. Also, the dust and exhaust fumes were a lot and our little man did need his inhaler afterwards. So, just some things to keep in mind! The monster trucks DID do some amazing tricks and I literally had my jaw drop several times. Super impressive stunts!
I think it was the perfect birthday gift for a 5 year old!
Saturday evening was another downtime for us, and we needed it! The kids were starting to meltdown, and frankly so were Theo and I! We ate some dinner and then headed over to my parents house to watch a movie.
Sunday morning was church + reformation day.
We ate lunch at my parents house and then while Ezra napped we Facetimed Theo’s family and started working on Halloween costumes for the kids. We try to keep it really simple and not make a big deal out of it. We won’t spend more than $20 on all three costumes, so we typically rely on our dress up basket and art cupboard! Good thing Theo is really talented in the creativity department!
Our first trick or treat stop was Meemaw and Peepaws house, and then we canvassed the whole neighborhood. Honestly, I hate Halloween. I hate all the gross stuff and the death stuff and the creepy stuff. I hate that I have to feel conflicted about church or trick or treating. I am never sure what to do and every year I breathe a huge sigh of relief when it is over. But this year I had a blast dressing the kids up and walking around our neighborhood. We got to meet a lot of neighbors and the kids had so much fun. But, yes, I am still the Mom who makes my kids walk on the other side of the sidewalk away from the creepy stuff.
And that was a wrap on our weekend!!! Are you tired yet? Because I sure am! We hopped straight into our week and so far we are tired, but mostly thankful and so, so full with all the precious family time and memories that we built into this past weekend. But boy am I thankful for a mostly clear calendar this weekend!! 😉