Great Wolf Lodge

On our way home from Texarkana, we decided to stay a few days at the much heralded Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, Tx.

It has an indoor and outdoor waterpark, an arcade, video game/computer room, spa, restaurants and all sorts of activities for children of all ages.

This place is nirvana for toddlers through the tween years.

And like crack for 13 year old boys. More on that later...

Every evening at 8 o'clock, all the young children gather at the Great Clock for storytime. It really is a cute sight to see 50 little toddlers and the like huddled round in their pajamas listening to the Clock Song.

We arrived late on Monday so we didn't really get to enjoy the waterpark the first day. We ate and then went down for the Clock Show and storytime.

Livi wasn't intimidated at all. She walked right up to the group and sat down to watch the show. You can see her at the bottom right of the above picture.

She loved it! She was entranced by the singing racoon and owl. And the trees sang too - that was kinda weird.

All went well until the Great Wolf Lodge mascot Wiley showed up. And we all know how large costumed characters go over in my family (the Blanco Panther, Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny). As soon as Livi saw that wolf she jumped up and ran for my arms.

Too bad I was the one taking the pictures because it was a pretty funny sight.

Here are my little girls chillaxin' in the room after storytime.

The next day we went to eat lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe.

Robbie entertained himself at the aquariums while Livi was busy making friends at the

elephant.

Up next - swimming!

Great Wolf Lodge Part II

So we finally make it to the pool!

While Molly June looks on...

Livi starts to get a little nervous. It can get loud in the indoor part of the waterpark. Especially when the wave pool starts - all the kids squeal and scream and run to get in the best position for jumping waves.

But once she got in the water, there was no stoping her!

She played,

and played,

and played,

and played some more.

Molly June slept a lot...

while Livi played some more.

Well, I mentioned how the Great Wolf Lodge is a heaven for 13 year old boys. Here is what Robbie did the entire time -

Basically he showed up all the other 13 year old boys who couldn't get across the lilypad/lumberjack floats. I swear my boy is part goat. We haven't found anything he can't climb.

He also liked to show off his 'walk on water' ability.

Not really, but its a cool shot.

He rode the slides.

And basically spent every waking hour in the water park, or the arcade, or the video game / teenager gallery.

Did I mention there was a middle school cheerleading competition being held at the Great Wolf Lodge the same time we were there?

Yep, several dozen 11-14 year old blonde cheerleaders roamed the halls filling my ears with "We're gonna rock it, yeah, with spirit, yeah!"

Coincidence that Robbie didn't spend much time in the room?

I think not.

Molly June didn't care. As long as her Mommy or Daddy held her and fed her and gave her a little attention, she was cool with it.

Goodbye Great Wolf Lodge.

Maybe we can convince Daddy to bring us back next year.

Sweetness and Sleeplessness

Pure sweetness... even sideways. I have no idea why this picture won't straighten out, but Molly June is cute in any position.

Touchdown!

That's an important move for her to learn - September will be here before you know it.

We've been practicing ;)

Such a happy baby. She loves to smile and coo. And eat. Then more smiling and cooing. Then more eating.

Notice we haven't used the word 'sleep' in here yet.

SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!

She loves her brother

She really does.

Bluebonnets!

Our Easter weekend tradition...

pictures in the bluebonnets.



All my beautiful children.

We are so blessed.

That is one scary rabbit!

We are all set to hunt Easter Eggs and candy!

Everyone is smiling and ready to go at the start line... buckets in hand (or in the case of Morgan - on our heads), grandmothers giving directions and the men trying not to look amused in the back.

Then, this walks around the corner.

We immediately go into 'Help me, Daddy!' mode.

Notice Jeff trying to not laugh out loud.
He wasn't trying too hard...




That is one scary rabbit.

She thinks so too.

Can't say that I blame her. And who could argue with a cute little fact like that?

Don't you just want to squeeze those little cheeks?

At least Molly June wasn't scared...

Well, not too much. ;)

She might be in therapy one day with flashbacks of an evil rabbit with a large yellow bow-tie.

Molly June Akin

Help us welcome Miss Molly June Akin. Born March 9th, at 1:14 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

She came out of me squirming away! Everyone says that while she was being cleaned up and officially weighed and charted, that her little arms and legs couldn't stop moving!





I guess she was tired of being all cramped up inside Mommy! :)

When she made her debut, I agreed with everyone that she looked a lot like Livi.