Great Wolf Lodge

Ever since we moved to the Carolinas I have wanted to go to The Great Wolf Lodge... I hadn't even heard about it before then, but the television advertisements were definitely captivating :)
 
We wanted to wait until Atticus was old enough to really enjoy it and hoped that we could time it when they were running one of their "specials"... Tada!

WE'RE HERE!!

There are several of these across the country but the one closest to us is right outside Charlotte, so not a far drive at all....  The place was amazing and had such a fun family atmosphere!!! 

The lodge had all sorts of animals on display, including these beautiful wolves on the enormous stone fireplace in the grand lobby.

We even got to be up close with the wolves!!!

Aaron and Atticus enjoyed all the animals throughout the lodge!
 

Look closely...you can see our wolf ears - everybody's got to have a pair, ya know!!

Our room had a "wolf den" theme....Atticus LOVED it and thought sleeping in a bunk bed was the coolest!  His room even had it's own window and tv!

Snuggle time with Whiskers and Lamby :)

He said he loved sleeping with the wolves, and they weren't too noisy at night :)

The lodge's biggest claim to fame is the indoor waterpark...82 degree water temperature and 84 degree air temperature - so it's always "perfect" weather!! Atticus had his bathing suit on and ready go in no time!

Safety First!!  Atticus had to get measured to see which slides he could ride - he was 40 inches!

We all had pink armbands that got us in and out of the waterpark, they were also built in room keys which was pretty cool.  Atticus also wore a red band to indicate which slides he could ride.

It was SO cool - This is Ft. McKenzie from the side...

This is Ft. McKenzie from the front....

See that HUGE water bucket on top??  It would fill and then dump down the red roof onto all the braves folks waiting underneath.... Attics LOVED the water dumping on him, just not on his face, that's where Dad came in handy :)

They also had a really cool toddler zone which is where Atticus spent most of his time - He kept saying, "it's just my size!"

It didn't take him long to figure this place out...

His favorites were the water-squirting jet skis and the slides!

Watch out, he's got a good aim!!! And no matter how many times he squirted me, he laughed hysterically each time :) 

He got brave and went down the water slides backwards :)

I think you'd agree, this is a happy face on a happy boy!!!

He also spent a lot of time playing with the splash pad area, he would try to plug the holes with his fingers to make the water shoot higher in the other spouts!!!

Here is Atticus going down one of the slides:


There was also a wave pool - I'm not crazy about waves (they make me dizzy) so Aaron and Atticus played together on tubes in the wave pool.

Two peas in a pod, these boys of mine!

Making memories!!

I'm not sure who had more fun...The big kid or the little kid :)

There were two pools, one outdoor (which also had all sorts of bells, whistles, waterfalls, and such) and another indoor pool that was heated....it also had an obstacle course that Aaron attempted :) 

Here is Atticus crossing the obstacle course:

 

The indoor pool had huge floating lily pads to play on as well as a floating dragon-snake thing that Atticus thought was awesome and loved sitting on and then sliding off in the water a bazillion times.

The rain forest area had life size trees squirting water at you from all angles and dumping down on you from above as well.

Everywhere you looked there was water coming at you from somewhere....Aaron and Atticus particularly enjoyed pointing the water tubes in my general direction...hmmmm.

 Atticus rode the slides in the toddler area but was also big enough to ride another set of slides, but once we climbed the stair and got to the top, he changed his mind....

Aaron on the other hand was ready and willing to fly down the twisty slides (I hate that I didn't have my camera setting right on this action shot, but oh well, you get the idea).

Our friend Sarah watched Atticus for a short bit so Aaron and I could ride some of the BIG rides (they were AWESOME!!!!) It's been so long since I've been to a waterpark, so this brought back all kinds of great memories of Aaron and I together as teenagers at Adventure Island!!!  Other than that, I pretty much hung out in the toddler area with Atticus and was the family photographer :)

Atticus with his buddies Charles and William - they had a blast together!

We spent ALL DAY at the water park = NO NAP!  When we got back to the room, this little boy was so worn out that he would have skipped dinner had I let him.  He hung out in his "wolf den" and watched a show while we got ready for dinner.... tired eyes!

We ate dinner at the Loose Moose in the lodge, it was surprisingly tasty and they had a wide variety of vegan and vegetarian options which worked out well for our family!

The Lodge has five restaurants on site as well as some other eateries like Dunkin Donuts, Fudge & Ice Cream Shop, and Pizza Hut.  They also have a kids day spa (ha!), a bowling alley, a huge arcade (which we caved and let Atticus play a few games), a Build a Bear workshop (mostly wolves to choose from) and an onsite Magic Quest interactive game to play throughout the entire Lodge.

The final score of this game was 6-2 (Atticus' advantage)

 

Each night before bed there is a story time in the grand lobby and the Lodge characters make an appearance...Atticus could barley keep his eyes open through dinner but he perked up for this!

Story time - so cute - told by one of the members of the "Cub Club" .... an area of the lodge that is open all day for crafts, stories, face painting and more!!  We had front row seats on the floor :)

Atticus got to meet Wylie and Violet after the story :)

 Family picture!!!!

It was finally time for our "pack" to head back to the "den" and go to sleep...by this time we were all exhausted!!

After a good night sleep, we got to wake up and do it all over again!!!

But to see this little face so full of smiles and laughs, I'd do it a hundred thousand times!!

 Super fun family vacation!  Look forward to another time!!

Before we left, Atticus had his face painted at the Cub Club...he choose a ladybug :)

While we were in Charlotte we look the opportunity to hook up with some of our long time friends from our Vanderbilt days - they live in the Charlotte area now so it worked out great!  We met them at IKEA (heaven on Earth) and had a casual dinner in the bistro together. 

Atticus and Isaac testing out all the furniture for us!! I think they approve :)

I found Atticus in this egg chair...he was "hiding" from me....Isaac and Atticus took turns spinning each other around in it.  Little boys!

Me and Linnea  - we will definitely be making another trip back to IKEA when we can spend more time there!!

One last hug before we head home!

And it didn't take long for this tired little boy to fall asleep all the way home!