How to Pack to Save Money and Have Fun at Great Wolf Lodge!

Next week we will be heading back to the The Great Wolf Lodge to join many other local home school families and to celebrate my husband's 43rd birthday!

I never thought we would be Great Wolf Lodge enthusiasts, but we are. The indoor water park has something for everyone, the staff is friendly and very helpful, it's a clean hotel, and the lifeguards are some of the best I've ever seen! They often have discounts offered on Groupon, and always offered for military and emergency response families, as part of their Howling Heros deal.

January 2016 - Family of 6!

It all started with a trip last November. Daddy scored a great deal and off we went. I scoured the web for tips and tricks on how to save money while staying at GWL. The ideas I gathered greatly helped me pack and prepare for our overnight stay.

After one trip, the kids were hooked (including the biggest kid of all - Daddy!). We returned to the Lodge in January to celebrate my daughter's 7th birthday. Only this time we were a little wiser and had a newborn with us. My husband's parents and brother, along with his family, joined us as well! It was a blast!!!

As a mom of four little ones and a mom with specific dietary needs (Trim Healthy Mama diet specifically), I thought my experience and tips may help others as well. So, here's a run down of things to pack and/or prepare for as you plan a trip to Great Wolf Lodge. 


BE IN THE KNOW:
 - Great Wolf Lodge (at least the one in Grapevine, TX) has the corner on the food market. They boast of their 7 different restaurants to choose from, but when it comes down to it the food isn't as good as home-cooked meal and is very spendy. So.... pack a cooler of food! Pretend that you are camping... in a hotel! There is a microwave and a mini fridge in every hotel room. This makes life easy when storing food from home and warming up a meal or a snack.

- You CAN take a few snacks into the water park, but not bags of take out food from your favorite local restaurant. I usually pack water bottles and snacks in our backpack so we are less tempted to purchase an over-priced snack or drink from the food stand in the park.

- In the past we have ordered pizza and salad from the pizza shop in the Lodge and eaten it for dinner at least one night during our stay. When we return next week, we plan to order from Little Ceaser's down the street and pick it up for a pizza party with friend in our hotel room. Again, saving money and a bit of heartburn, as the GWL pizza is pricey and greasy!

Pizza and giggles for dinner at the water park!

- There are various other "expereinces" offered at the Lodge. We stay away from MagiQuest and ShadowQuest but have enjoyed the Howly Wood XD Theater (a movie theater with short shows that you can enjoy in 3-D in chairs that shake and move), The Scoops Salon (an over-priced, heavy-scented place for girls to have their nails painted) and the Northern Lights Arcade (see below).

- On our first visit we purchased a refillable game card to add money to to play the arcade games. The games are much more enjoyable for the kids and Dad than our local Chuck-E-Cheese. Some games give tickets and at the end of our stay the kids have enjoyed choosing a stuffed animal or other toy from the prizes offered. This isn't necessary to enjoy GWL, but the arcade games offer a break from the warm air and chlorine in the middle of the day.

Daddy hit the ticket jackpot!


THINGS WE PACK:
For the water park:
 - goggles for the kids (they are in heavily chlorinated water all day and the goggles help protect their eyes)
- Swimsuit covers and beach towels. Even though towels are provided at the water park, we take our towels to wrap our wet children in as they walk back to our room.
- Flip flops or water shoes. All of our kids prefer to swim without water shoes on, but Daddy likes having them on. At least have a pair of flip flops near by when you need to walk to the restroom or head back to your hotel room.
- A bag with water bottles, snacks (nuts, fruit, granola bars, etc), diapers, wipes, and sunscreen and sunglasses if headed to the outdoor pool.
- The Lodge provides great life vests and arm floaties. They fit our kids better than our own floaties did.

 Snack time at the water park.

For the hotel room:
- A 12-cup coffee pot, sweetener and creamer of choice. This saves my sanity and pocket book! Even though there is a small coffee pot in the hotel room and a Starbucks down the hall, I prefer a good, cheap cup of coffee each morning to get my gears turning. A regular-sized coffee pot and even a mug from home makes my day begin well, especially if we stay two nights. I have also used it to brew hot water to make hot chocolate for the kids for a special breakfast treat.

- A small fan. This provides white noise for night time sleep as well as nap time. Being in a hotel with other guests guarantees that there will be some noise to deal with. A fan makes it easier to rest.

- Favorite movies, coloring books and picture books. Sometimes kids need to rest. That time for our family is in the evening before bed or even mid morning. A short show to watch on our laptop, or a book to read together helps out a lot!

- Food your family likes and that is easy to warm up in a microwave. We have ordered pizza for dinner before and have even gone out to eat at a local restaurant. The following ideas are for when you want to eat in.

• Breakfast items we have enjoyed - microwavable breakfast croissant sandwiches, homemade quiche, Jimmy Dean sausage and pancake on a stick (much like a corn dog), homemade pancakes, and cold cereal. Don't forget the syrup and milk!
• Lunch - sandwich fixings, fresh fruit, chips, drinks, and salad in a jar for mom.
• Dinner - microwavable Angus Burgers (from Costco), hot dogs, homemade lasagna and cut veggies with ranch.
• Snacks - nuts, granola bars, fruit snacks, fresh fruit, pretzels, yogurt, microwave popcorn, oatmeal in a jar, etc.
• Non-food items - paper plates, bowls, paper towels, cutlery, a sharp knife or two, extra cups for hot beverages, water bottles (lots of them), coffee pot filters, stir sticks, condiments (for burgers, sandwiches, pancakes, etc).

 Breakfast time!

IDEAS TO MAKE YOUR STAY MORE ENJOYABLE:
- You are allowed to arrive to play at the water park as early as 1pm on the day of your overnight stay. Packing a small bag with your suits, flip flops and goggles that is separate from your larger bags is wise. Then you can leave larger luggage in the car, as check-in is at 4pm, and go enjoy the water park. This will also help when it's time to load up your belongs and check-out by 11am, but you want to stay and play at the park. Guests are free to stay at the Lodge to play until the water park closes at 9pm. Just pack a change of clothes in your small bag and you are ready to have fun, then head home!

- If someone in your family is celebrating a birthday, tell the front desk when you check in. That person will receive a special wrist band that will allow them to get free ice cream throughout their stay (about one scoop per hour we were told). They also receive special birthday hat wolf ears! You can also bring your own decorations from home to place on your hotel door and in your room. This has made my kids feel so special, and also helps us find our hotel door easier  :o)

Our birthday kids in front of our hotel doors.

- The nightly show at the Great Clock Tower is enjoyable for little ones. Although, after seeing the 8pm show once, our kids weren't interested in seeing it again at our next stay. The bed time story that is read following the show changes up each stay. At the end of the story there is a chance to take a picture with the character who helped read the story. That's always fun!

 November 2015 with Oliver and January 2016 with Violet

- Take advantage of the FREE Shutterfly photo book coupon (you just pay around $8 to $10 for shipping/taxes). In each hotel room is a card with a promo code on it for a free photo book. We have made one with photos from each visit and now my kids each have a book of birthday memories to enjoy!

- Be ready to make the most of the water park. As a mom of four kids, ages 7 and under, I can run on little sleep. But taking a rest with the baby in the afternoon is sometimes needed. I would say, be ready to be in a noisy (yes lots of rushing water is noisy) and heavily chlorine-scented environment for most of the day. But if you need to step out and take a break, do it and don't feel bad! Enjoy the time with your family and make great memories.

Momma with her baby boys... Nov. 2015 and Jan. 2016

I hope some of these tips and ideas help you enjoy your stay at Great Wolf Lodge even better! We are looking forward to our trip next week, although our kids don't know about it yet. We can't wait to surprise them!

God bless and have fun,

Turning Four and Having Fun! {A Race Car Birthday Party}

This past Saturday our firstborn son turned four! We braved Chuck-E-Cheese's on a Saturday (we're crazy, I know) and we had a great time with our family and friends!

I LOVE celebrating my children on their birthdays! We usually celebrate at home, but this year my son requested going to CEC and playing games. His favorite part is winning tickets and buying prizes at the end of his visit. He played his little heart out - jumping up and down and making noise as he gave each game his all. What a boy!

 Jo and Daddy playing games together!

When one of my kid's birthday is near, we talk about what theme or colors they would like their party to be. Once they give me a theme, I get to let my creativity soar. I really enjoy saving money, using scrapbook paper in various ways, and making a colorful party. It's a blast to personalize each party and make sweet memories with our children. A few themes that we have come up with in the past are: Ladybug, Royal Princess, Minnie Mouse, Construction Site, Flower Garden, Barnyard, Charlotte's Web, and Zoo Animals (at the zoo).

Party memories from years past

Opening our home is fun, but not having to clean (before and after the party), make food to serve and decorate everything this time around was SO nice.

Taking our own decorations and cake to CEC was a great way to save money. We even took a bunch of coupons with us and all our guests got to use them to purchase food items and extra tokens (after the ones we doled out were spent). Everything that I decorated with at CEC fit into one bag! We arrived 30 minutes before the appointed party time and snagged 4 tables in a central location.

I cut my tablecloths down to size, placed the cake, rice crispy pops, bubble favors, balloons and plates out to add to the race car theme and we were ready to PARTY!

Clean up was a cinch as well. I picked up the extra goodies and then threw away used plates and the disposable table cloths. What a breeze!

Here are a few more pictures of the party. What a wonderful (and very noisy) way to celebrate our son and have fun together!

 "We're going crazy and you are coming with us!"

 

Grandpa was in his element :)

 Let the sugar high begin!

 

This was J's first taste of a rice crispy treat.

He couldn't wait to try his "granola bar"... ha!

 We keep them caged for everyone's safety (jk)

 After looking and looking online for cakes with the #4 and race cars,

I decided to try my hand at it. I was pleased with the outcome, and it tasted pretty good too!

 Cake and ice cream time!

 Keeping the sugar coming!

 So excited to receive $4 from Grammy and Grandpa.

And what does he want to buy with his birthday money??? A new "big, fluffy pillow"!

 Cars, cars and more cars! Lovin' it all!

 Oh, and planes  :)

(Even though I stuck to the race car theme, Jo had been talking about his "cars and planes" birthday party over the past couple weeks. I did buy him a new Dusty the plane shirt to wear at his party. And when he opened this gift, it was freea HIT!)

 Ready to count up those tickets and buy some prizes!

  My girl and her prize lolly pop. Oh my!

 We are so thankful for both sets of grandparents who live near us and pour so much into our children's lives. Despite busy schedules and working night shifts, they all came to the party to celebrate with us!

 Mimi and Pops with Jo. Such great blessings in our lives!

Praise God for His goodness to us. Josiah is a precious gift! He is kind-hearted, loving, and thoughtful.  He is healthy and growing bigger each day (he will prove it by having you look at the size of his feet :). We thank the Lord for his life!

 Four years have passed so quickly!

"We wait and watch with great expectation to see all that the Lord has in store for you, son. You are a joy and a delight to our hearts and we know that you bless your Father God's heart too."

Have a blessed week dear friends,

I'm linked up with a group of wonderful bloggers over at:

"Winter Birds" Tea Party

After so much fun at our last winter tea party (2 years ago), I decided we must have our sweet librarians over again for another party!

         

December 2011                                  Today - February 22, 2014

Our little girl is growing up too quickly!

I love a good tea party - just a couple friends, some food, and a warm cup of tea.

Lately I've enjoyed looking out my kitchen window each morning and seeing a variety of birds snacking on the seed bell that my generous mother hung on a tree branch in our front yard. These birds come in all sorts of colors and are fun to watch. I think my favorite are the red cardinals.

All these birds got me in the mood for a Winter Birds Tea Party! And, yet again, my sweet mother-in-law let me borrow some tea cups, a tea pot and best of all some beautiful birds to decorate with!

We enjoyed a wonderful morning with warm weather! The high today is 75 and the windows are open! That's a Texas winter for ya.

We sent our sweet brother off to visit Mimi and Pops (armed with a sword to defend the princess). His need to run and play outdoors is HUGE! So he went over to "help" them build a deck for their pool and have his own little tea party with his grandparents. Of course we packed some yummy snickerdoodles in his backpack, along with his power tools  :o)

 

Next, we set the table for six! I always enjoy making name cards and other decorations for the current party's theme with card stock, scrapbook paper and any art tidbits that I have on hand. This time each name card had a bird on it. 

(Yes, I'm from Portland!)

 

On the menu today was: chicken salad croissant sandwiches, butterfly pbj's, banana muffins, grapes, veggies and ranch dip, meat and cheese,  mini snickerdoodles, banana pudding, homemade lemonade, iced coffee, and two types of tea - Chai Green Tea and Mint Medley.

See the sweet cardinal in the middle of the table? Lovely winter bird!

 My mother is a great hostess and a tea-giver-extraordinaire! She prepared our tea in pots today and helped in so many ways.

 

Our dear "Story time Lady", Cessy, and her sweet girls joined us. We missed having our children's librarian with us too, but we thought of her throughout our party. Our friends were very pleasant to visit with and we learned more about each of them! 

It's a great party when the food and company are enjoyable.

 

Here is my first attempt at banana pudding... and of course 

I forgot to include the bananas!

After eating our brunch, we all enjoyed a memory game.

I place many objects that began with the letter "B" on a cookie sheet and each team had one minute to look at the tray and then, by memory, write down what they saw. The mommy/grandma team won!

What fun memories we made today. We missed you so much, sweet Becca, 

and hope to try to party with you again soon!

Here is one last "bird" thought to leave you with...

" ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?... ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-26, 34

Blessings from this blessed lady,

 

A "Stache" Baby Shower

After experiencing my first miscarriage a little over a year ago, I'm excited to be so very pregnant and to feel my sweet baby move and wiggle - day and night! God is so good to restore what has been lost in our lives.

I didn't expect such a lovely shower for baby #3. We have what we need for another baby - boy or girl. But I have the very sweetest, most thoughtful friends and they wouldn't let the opportunity pass to celebrate this little gift from God.

Here's what they did to honor me and our soon-coming baby boy...

We celebrated with such tasty snacks, homemade decorations, and fun props. It was a blast!

My friend Valerie made the decorations by hand for her son's second birthday and got to use them to make my shower so very lovely! If you want to see more of her handiwork, stop by her Etsy shop - Creative Avenue 7. She makes the sweetest onsies for boys and girls, as well as beautiful hair things and necklaces for girls.

The beautiful hostesses - Val & Deanna

We played a few funs games...

Enjoyed a sweet photo booth...

And to top it all off, my daughter was dressed up with every sticky mustache available by our neighbor's daughters. We laughed till we cried!

This is how it all started.

 

Then she "drank my coffee" and grew hair on her chest  :o)

 

The end product... a hairy, silly girl!

 

We are blessed in so many ways... most of all our dear friends and family who care for us. God is so good! It was such a joy to have my mom and my mother-in-law at the shower. This was a first at any baby shower of mine!

Only 4 1/2 weeks left until this baby arrives... the nesting has begun!

Have a blessed week,