Great Wolfe Lodge

This is the boy who fell asleep only one time ever before bedtime.  What could possibly make him sleep like this?

And this boy too???  How did we do it you ask?

Great Wolfe Lodge!  One Wednesday deep in the dark part of winter Don and I knew we needed to get out of our house.  we have wanted to go to Great Wolfe Lodge forever so we figured this was the perfect time.  We booked a room for the following night and the look on the boys faces when they learned where they were going was priceless.

We scurried around buying our supplies and getting ready to leave the next day.  While we did this Jackie decided to do some recreational chair jumping in his brother's room.  Unfortunately this resulted in a quick side trip to the ER.  That poor kid scraped most of the skin off his nose and it was swollen!  Luckily the ER doc assured us the chlorinated water would not affect his nose.  Thank goodness because we could cancel the room and the whole point of going there is for the huge indoor water park!  Disaster averted.

The hotel was totally amazing.  We spent our time going from the water slides to the gift shop where Jack built a teddy bear complete with karate suit and where Ben bought a huge cup full of candy (which would later give him a very sore belly).  In the evening we hit the arcade in the basement.

The arcade was perfect for them and for 40 bucks worth of tokens they each got to choose some army men to take back to the room with them.  It was a great trip and we all had a blast.  The water park was impressive, big enough that you had a hard time finding each other if you got split up (or if you left your glasses in the room-I wandered for a good 20 minutes at one point).

Ben set up his 'room' in the sitting area complete with cup o candy and movies on the laptop.  He actually ended up staying up after all of us went to sleep.  He was feeling pretty grown up that evening!

It was a great trip and we will be back next year.  It is a great way to get out of those winter blues!

AC (Anatomically Correct)

And here is a lovely photo of Jackie working away on his Sponge Bob sandcastle.  We were hanging out with a new little friend and his parents.  Chit chatting in the ocean.  We stopped to watch the kids put the finishing touches on their work.  A seemingly lovely moment until you listen in to the conversation occurring right after this photo was taken....

Jack: "I am making a penis on Sponge Bob!"
Mom: "No thank you Jack"
Jack: "Hehehehehehehe I am MAKING a PENIS for Sponge Bob!"
Mom: "NO Thank you Jack!"
Jack: "Hehehehehehe"
Mom: "Take it off NOW Jack!"

Daddy Adventures, The Sandcastle Edition

After spending a few days in Cuba we seemed to hit our stride, find our groove, or like old cows follow the same path each day-completely content to do so.  Our path was usually the beach in the morning followed by some pool time in the afternoon.  Not a bad way to live I gotta say.

Daddy loves to dig in the sand just as much (maybe even possibly sometimes more) as Benny and Jackie so each day involved some sort of building.  Think we garnered a bit of a reputation on the beach because people would pass and ask what we were building that day or comment on how big the castle had grown from the day before!

Fish In A Bag

While away we got to do some snorkeling on a coral reef.  Totally awesome.  Benny loved it while Jack spent some time on the boat with the captain feeding the fish with chunks of bread lifted from the buffet.

The absolute highlight of this day wasn't necessarily the snorkeling but what occurred after the snorkeling was done.  I was still in the water when I heard the excited shrieks of two very happy boys!  What should I see but two boys who had caught a fish with a zip loc bag.  What the hecka I say.  A joint effort, Jack put the chunk of bread in the bag and Benny held the bag under water until an unsuspecting fishy swam in and was captured long enough to catch this perfect photo.

Good work boys!

Our guide was kind enough to take some underwater shots and send them home with us.  Thank you Michael!

The reef was beautiful of course.

Where The Heck Have We Been?

Ahh, let the Cuba chronicles begin.  Our first BIG vacation as a family was two weeks in Cuba with two amazing boys who are total pros when it comes to travel.

Our trip to the zoo...

We went to the Bowmanville Zoo with a friend of mine and her son. We had the BEST time. It took us only about 30 minutes to cover the zoo by foot so at first we wondered just how good this trip was going to be AND if it was worth the two hour car ride to get there but we were pleasantly surprised with all this zoo had to offer. There was a show to see, a trolley ride through lion and wolf areas, splash pad, huge blow up slide, and a park.

All the boys really liked the petting zoo area. 25 cents got you a handful of corn to feed the baby pygmy goats. Ben was especially taken with them. He spent so much time following them around and whispering sweet nothings in their ears. All love that boy is. Jack found a way to make his corn last forever...he picked up every kernel ever dropped by the other kids at the zoo. He is like me-I wouldn't dare burn a decorative candle until I was in my mid twenties. Obsessed with making things last I guess.

The show was amazing and one of the highlights of the day. All three boys watched with rapt attention and little Jack was so cute clapping like the most polite little gentleman. We also got a kick out of the ostrich that followed us in the tour trolley trying to nip Ben's head!

A good day was had by all which is saying a lot because it was 30 degrees that day so we could have easily ended up with two cranky moms and some unhappy boys but that did not happen at all.