Getting the new year started

What better way to start the new year off but to wrap up the end of last year. Mommy B and I decided to take the kiddos up to Concord, NC and meet Grandma C at Great Wolf Lodge the day after Christmas. This allowed Grandma C to break up her long drive from Ohio and spend some quality time with her babies. For anyone who doesn’t know what GWL is, it’s basically a huge indoor water park/resort... complete with wave pool, slides, arcade, mini bowling alley, and restaurants.

One would think that when you’re taking two small kids to a place like that, how could things not be fun, right? Well, it was a mixed bag. I started getting sick the day we drove up, which I knew wouldn’t bode well for the remainder of our stay (a whole one night). When we first went into the pool area, Alli wasn’t really having it. The numerous “sprayers” on each of the toys somewhat frightened her which made her somewhat avoid things altogether. Aiden seemed to be enjoying himself, so that basically meant that Mommy B stayed in the pool with Aiden and I walked around the rest of the hotel with Alli. That night, they had fun going to “story time” and watching “snow” fall in the lobby with Grandma C. While the kiddos stayed up late in their pajamas, Mommy B and I hit the “grown-up slides” for some fun of our own. Even while battling my impending illness, we had a blast reliving our youth sans kids. We made our way back to our room just in time to help put the kids to sleep, which ended up backfiring as we suspected it might. Alli and I tried to share a pull-out couch in which we could feel almost every individual coil spring… and I felt every single kick of hers. Mommy B tried to get Aiden to fall asleep in the bunk beds with little luck, and she ending up sleeping in four different places throughout the night.

We arose the next morning red-eyed and dragging. I felt pretty terrible, but the kids seemed to be in pretty good spirits. I took the kids to get doughnuts for breakfast while Mommy B rested. I recall telling the lady behind the counter we needed half a dozen doughnuts, a sandwich for me and a coffee for Mommy B. When we got back to the room, Mommy B asked the kids how many doughnuts we got for them. Alli replied, "We got 6 doughnuts, mommy.” I’m not sure if she actually knows what “half a dozen” means or not, but she figured it out. She continues to surprise and impress us on a daily basis. We tried heading back to the pool and this time Alli finally got her sea legs and Aiden wanted held. So once again, Mommy B played in the pool while I walked the other around. Overall, I think the kids had a pretty good time – and Grandma C got us a gift certificate to go back again! I have a feeling that if we call our good friends who live right down the road and have them join with their kiddos (and I avoid getting sick), it’ll be an even better time.

Grandma C then followed us back to Charleston to stay until New Year’s. Also news to us while we had been gone, my brother was coming to town at the end of that week. He’s been deployed in the Navy for the last nine months, so I was looking forward to spending some quality time with him on New Year’s Eve and having the cousins see each other again. Since Mommy B and I had taken most of that week off, we spent lots of time with the kids while I battled a low grade fever and a cough. It was a lot of fun getting to see more family and taking some time off work to spend it with those who are most important.

Our plan for this year is to take a few more “smaller” trips to make more memories with the kiddos. Even though it won’t involve the kids, Mommy B and I are already signed up for the same Marine Corps Mud Run that I participated in back in October – only this one is in April. Along with a return trip to Great Wolf Lodge, we certainly have a few small things planned out so far… with more to come, I’m sure.