Great Wolf Lodge

Since Thanksgiving fell so late this year, we decided to hit Great Wolf a week early.  Not only that, we went on a Wednesday and Thursday and pulled the kids out of school.  Best idea yet!  The place was completely deserted and we got a free room upgrade with a loft and a second bathroom!  The water park had maybe 50 people in it at it fullest, and the kids never had to wait in line.  They were able to go over and over again, which really took a toll on our legs having to go up those stairs for the big slides!  We saw a real progression of skills on the wave rider, since they actually could just get right back on.  Cameron, Gavin and Jeremy were all able to get up on their knees, and Gavin spent hours just doing that.  Seriously, hours!  Cameron still loves the tornado, especially once it got dark outside, and we even got Gavin to try it.  He was petrified, but we coaxed him to ride it 3 times total.  Mason loved the big green slide that 4 people could ride together, and we were bummed that it broke our second day there.  We also visited the Yankee Candle Village which is a hidden gem!  I had heard about Santa being there but it was so much more!  They had a clock tower that put on a little show and a ceiling with the constellations on it where it snowed on us!  Lots of cute little shops that I look forward to coming back to another time when everyone isn't starving and wanting to get to dinner.  Jeremy and I were reminiscing all the past times we've visited and remembered that the first time I was pregnant with Mason- crazy!  I'm so glad it has been such an awaited tradition for the boys.  This year we went by ourselves and although it is great to go with friends or family, having the kids play with each other only was priceless and I think they created some lasting bonds.  

Eight is Great!

Someone had a pretty big birthday in our house on Saturday.  Eight is a big deal on out house because that's how old you have to be to get baptized.  And although we are waiting until spring for Gavin's baptism, eight is great, nonetheless.  After having the big party earlier in the week, birthday day actually was pretty quiet.  Cameron and Mason gifted Gavs a day free of chores and completed them for him.  After gifts in the morning, we had the preselected cinnamon rolls and sausage with chocolate milk.  We had our family pictures scheduled that morning and although that can be a contentious day for us, we mostly managed to stay cheery through the process, for Gavin's sake of course.  Much of his day was spent with new toys and games but for dinner we went to Q'doba,, a Mexican place that I don't love but for whatever reason the kids do.  We then all watched Monsters University (super cute!) and had the requested cookies and cream ice cream cake, easy for me!  All in all I think he had a great, eight day, and we sure appreci-eight this sweet boy!

Hearty Party

Every year the kids know they can have a birthday party with their friends and get fewer gifts from us or just have a family celebration and get more gifts.  This year Cameron and Gavin decided to have a combined party and we rented one of those big video game trailers that come to your house.  I think they thought it was the coolest thing ever.  There were 4 TV's inside and two outside so even though we had about 20 boys here, everyone could play at once.  I've never had so many kids running around and it was a bit hairy at first when we were trying to get them all to eat their pizza and ice cream sundaes, but once they were settled into their video games they all settled down and it was quite enjoyable.  I am so glad that Cameron agreed to this even though his birthday isn't until the end of next month, because now we don't have to worry about his party being so close to the holidays.  And both boys got more gifts than they could've dreamed of, it was a fun, fun, day!