Great Wolf Lodge, Washington

 My sister lives in Oregon and we wanted to see her this summer. We thought of three options cabin in Mcall Idaho, beach house on Oregon beach, or Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound Washington. We have loved both lodges we have stayed at and are happy to try an other lodge we can so when Sam and Jared said they wanted to try the lodge we were excited! We scheduled our rooms back in February and got a killer deal. The drive from here to the hotel was about 13.5 hours. We looked into flying, but it was too pricey so we decided to drive it. Stopping to stay at hotels prolongs it, takes more vacation time, and makes it more expensive. So we woke up and left at 4AM. We learned a lot from our trip to San Diego in the Spring. No getting treats and drinks at gas stations. We had snacks and treats and activities in the car so when we had to stop to use the bathroom or get gas, we went right in and out instead of taking 20 min to find treats and buy them. We made amazing time and actually took the 13.5 hours each way! It was a lot of fun to talk about so many things, sing to music, read to the kids, play would you rather, eat snacks and listen to the kids watch shows and color. The drive up that way is beautiful! 

We arrived at the lodge around 4 pm with the time change. We got all checked in and found our room which was on the first floor! We had a sliding door and a fireplace which the kids thought was super fancy. My parents and Sam, Jared, and Kaity's suite was just a few doors down. We went to get some food at the Buckets restaurant then put on our swimsuits and checked out the waterpark. 

After swimming we got in jammies and did our scripture. The room was super comfy!

The kids love having the bunkbed room.  They got to watch TV in their beds one night.

The next morning we got up and went to the buffet breakfast. The food was so good! The kids picked the funniest breakfast including soft serve ice cream, pizza, and macaroni and cheese. Sean loved the roasted zucchini and peppers and I loved the french toast sticks and steel cut oats. 

We got in our swim suits and went to the pool. I didn't get many pics of the pool this time because I left my phone in the room. It always makes me nervous to have it in the waterproof necklace thing and after what happened with my phone in May I didn't really want to risk it! 

After swimming we did magi questing throughout the lodge. This lodge had fun little booklets with instructions written in simple riddles to complete the quests. I loved it and we all agreed the magi quest was better there than at any other lodge! 

They also had a sweets counter with all kinds of goodies and ice cream. Lizzie got a cake pop, Alana and Brett got cheesecake on a stick, and Sean and I got an ice cream cone. 

There was a super intense outdoor ropes course that Sean, Alana, Brett, and Kaity did. I helped Lizzie on the mini one. You could get unlimited passes for the course too which we did so they could go back and climb whenever they wanted. 

Lizzie got super into questing and wanted Sean to help her beat the red dragon!

Later that night Lizzie started to feel a bit sick. The kids and I snuggled up in the queen bed with Sean close by on the couch and watched kids baking challenge on the laptop. Lizzie fell asleep. She got a fever and a bit of a sore throat and headache. We gave her motrin and she was still able to have fun the next day. 

The next day we had the breakfast buffet again and then went to do the mining and arcade with Kaity. Brett and Alana pretended that they were granny and gramps with canes (their wands)  

After mining and the arcade, we watched the creepy animatronic show and then did more ropes course. 

And more questing:

That night Peter drove up from Vancouver to visit. We had a super nice visit then we ate at the dinner buffet. 

We did glow in the dark mini golf with Peter before he had to leave and then did more questing! Alana got   a magi robe and joined in the nightly dance, bubble party. 

The last morning we woke up, had breakfast, went swimming, did more questing, ate more ice cream, had a birthday party in my parents room for Brett Kaity and Jared. Brett came down with a fever in the late afternoon and he was wiped out the rest of the day. We finished our shopping, I ran to the store to grab some snacks for the drive home, and we said goodbye to Sam, Jared and Kaity. 

I did get a few pics of the swimming area when I took the kids swimming and just watched one evening. 

Grandma sent her credit card with Aunt Sam and all the girls to build a bear =) 

The pet hotel called me on Saturday to let me know that Oreo was having some bloody diareah and they had sent him to the vet. The vet called and said he had stress colitis and that he would be ok but needed some medicines. I approved them and heard back later that he was back at the hotel and doing better. We were extra motivated to get up early and get on the road so we could get back to him that night before the pet hotel closed. We got up at 3:30 and left the hotel at 4. The kids did great on the drive again and we made amazing time! Brett was feeling quite a bit better but still had a sore throat. Lizzie was feeling completely better, but about halfway through the drive she started noticing little dots on her hands. Monday morning Brett had broken out in a ton of spots too. Alana was sick the day before we left and had two spots so they all for sure had hand/foot/mouth disease. Hopefully we didn't share too many germs on our trip since there is so much chlorine in the water. I am still glad we went and Dr. Peterson says he feels like the ways its transferred is more in classrooms and playdates where kids are touching each other. We have been in quarantine all week to help not spread any germs to our neighbors and friends. What a fun trip it was even though we had some sickness. My niece Kaity was also feeling under the weather with a cough/cold (not covid), and my mom had a fibromyalgia attack while there.  But I'm still glad we were all able to get together and play!