Great Wolf Lodge

For my belated birthday present, we three had one last hurrah before digging into the school year.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City.  It's ridiculously expensive (*ahem* tourist trap *ahem*) on the weekends, so we went on a Sunday night-Monday for half the cost.

Because Sunday night is an off-peak night, we got a free room upgrade to a kid-themed suite, where the kids' beds were in the "Wolf Den."

Yes, Coop's wearing a crown and a cape.  And for awhile, Alan was also wearing a crown and a pillowcase-cape.  Why not?

The Wolf Den had its own tv, which could've kept Coop entertained for hours.  But then I started to feel silly paying all that money so Coop could watch tv.  You can buy a lot of cable for the price of a Wolf Den at Great Wolf Lodge.

"So.... are you ready to go swimming?"

"No thanks.  I want Cartoon Network."

And then he started quoting commercials:  "Can we buy The Packet?  It's like a refrigerator you take with you and it keeps food cool up to ten hours.  A $70 value for only $19.95."

Ok.  That's it.  Time to get swimsuits on.  And boy, were we glad we did.  Check this out:

Coop ran right into this crazy thing. At every turn is something you can pull or shoot or turn to spray water somewhere. Two twisty slides (that are dark for a while -- in a tube, but still pretty fun).   And see at the very top of that contraption is a green giant bucket?  It slowly fills with water, and every few minutes, it dumps 1000 gallons of water all over. 

And then there are three really big tall crazy water slides that you ride through on rafts. They were pretty slip-slidey and twisty. Coop did great! But you have to climb a zillion stairs to get to the top. Carrying your raft. Oof. I was worn out!

And every time you go down a slide, the lifeguards have to confirm that you meet the height/weight requirements.  So every time, I had to say that "yes, my 40-pound son and I weigh less than 450 pounds.  Thankyouverymuch."

For dinner, we walked across the street to Famous Dave's BBQ.   And then for dessert, we walked over to the Russell Stover store.  From the clearance rack, we picked up two small Valentine's Day chocolate boxes (each with three little chocolates in them) and a chocolate coconut Easter nest with jelly bean eggs.   Total?   97cents.  And that's how you do cheap dessert, my friend.