7 QT on the Last Friday in June

1)

We went to Great Wolf Lodge for a 24 hour getaway and it was so much fun!  Phil loves surprising the kids, and so they knew we were going on a Very Fun Trip, but they had no clue where.  

2)

That big funnel shaped thing above, the Howlin' Tornado, looks like this inside:

And it's about 80% awesome and 20% scary. 

The place was so nice and clean and spread out so that it didn't feel too busy, except that some of the rides had long lines in the afternoon.  They had a ride called the Wolf Tail that was a water slide but you start out in an enclosed space and then the floor drops out from under you, and you fall down/slide down the water slide and end up sliding into a little pool of water 8 seconds later.

The model is all calm and happy here....

And then, "WHAT WAS I THINKING???"

 Yeah that ride was 20% awesome and 80% scary.  I stood up out of the water at the end, clutching my heart, yelling at Phil that he lied (he told me it wasn't scary) and my hands were shaking for a few minutes.  Total adrenaline rush.  

3)

We were only there for one night, but played for 2 days, and took a break from all the water fun to climb some ropes:

Phil and I couldn't do the ropes course because we were wearing flip flops (d'oh!) but the kids thought it was great.  

Side note: how do you instill fear into fearless kids? Even Maggie, at 6 years old, went on every ride!

4)

On the way home, we researched an ice cream place that I went to a few times as a kid, and found one that was really close to the water park.  They have delicious homemade ice cream and serve HUGE portions.  We got kiddie sizes for everyone!

Declan was so very good the whole trip, barely making a peep.  We were able to switch off between the three adults (Phil, myself, and our adopted daughter/babysitter) so that someone was with Declan, someone was with Xander, and someone was playing with the big kids (who were allowed to roam freely).

Best 24 hour getaway we've had.  Maybe Great Wolf will hire me as an annual reviewer and we can make this a tradition.

5)

The neverending swimming lessons are underway.  When my kids complain about having to take lessons, I remind them it's their job to swim well enough to save their land-loving mother.

Declan @ 12 weeks, though he prefers 11 weeks, 7 days.

Eamon

Andrew

Maggie

John-Paul (just trust me)

6)

Haley, the cutie patootie from the Great Wolf Lodge pictures above, has nicknamed Alexander "Wrecking Ball" for his affinity to get into and destroy everything.  Well, on Wednesday evening, as he was getting into the bath tub, he slipped and split his chin open.  There was blood everywhere, Andrew who was getting out of the tub when it happened, started freaking out, Maggie started bawling, Xander was screaming.  It was chaos.  What I discovered was that I am really calm and level headed in these emergency situations, and Phil is not so much.  In everyday things, I can freak out and he is the sane one, so we are complete opposites of each other.  As Maggie says "You guys are a good team.  Team Phil and Colleen."  So I bandaged Xander up as best I could while Phil got him dressed and headed out to the urgent care clinic.  They were able to fix him up without stitches as Xander reported,"I got glued back together."

Wrecking Ball, indeed.

7)

In earth-shattering news, my 76 year old mother sent me this Wednesday night:

Have a great last Friday of June everybody!