The Past 2 Months - Part 2 - The Great Wolf Lodge

This past Spring Break, my mom and I decided to take the kids to an amazing place - The Great Wolf Lodge. Both of my sisters were able to meet us there for the long weekend, which was wonderful since I hadn't seen them since Christmas. We started our morning with a yummy breakfast at Le Peep's. Of course our trip had to begin with a little drama. As you can see in this picture, Abigail's eye is a little affected. Isaiah had just stuck his finger right in her right eye.



Then, we drove and checked in at the Great Wolf Lodge! I would highly recommend taking any and all aged children to visit! They have 12 locations throughout the United States.

They have lots of different kinds of room, that are of varying amounts of money. We stayed in a "Kid's Cabin" room. Here's my very happy Abigail & Isaiah together on the top bunk of their kid's cabin part of the room.

The main attraction of the lodge is the very large indoor waterpark. The entrance to the park is included in your room rate.

Abigail probably went down this slide 100 times while we were there!

This is part of the younger kids area, which has 3 slides. The water is only chest high for Isaiah, so pretty safe for all ages. They provide life jackets for the kids, which is great!

The other areas of the waterpark include a lazy river, wave pool, basketball pool area, a 4 story water fort with 2 body slides, and 5 really fun big slides. You have to be 42" to ride any of the big slides so Colby went with me and my sisters many times. All of them go outside the building, but are always enclosed. It was especially fun at night when it was dark outside! The waterpark is open 9-9, so you can come and go as you want! They also have an outdoor pool with a few slides that's open a portion of the day.

This was inside the Kid's Cabin. I love this picture of my precious sisters, Lisa & Laura and my precious kids! The bracelet you see on Colby's wrist is what everyone gets when you check in. It allows you access to the waterpark and the adult's bracelets get you into your hotel room and you can charge at any of the restaurants or stores, very handy!

The rest of the room had a regular bed & pullout couch, so we call fit! This is a typical morning in our family - everyone piling into one bed to snuggle!

Another activity there was MagiQuest. You first make an investment in this wand... quite an expense, but lots of fun. You get a booklet that gives you clues for different quests. It sends you all around the 8 floors of the hotel looking for these clues. Then, you wave the wand and sometimes the pictures talk to you or like the chest below opens and gives you gold points.Here's the lobby of the hotel from up a story. In the evenings they have storytime here and the creatures come out and sing for you.

My kid's "silly faces."

I really didn't mean for this post to be an advertisement for The Great Wolf Lodge, but I really can't say enough about it!

One more post to go & I'll be up to date with my pictures!!!

The Last 2 months of pictures!?!

Alright - finally I'm going to be able to blog & upload pictures. I'm having challenges with my new camera syncing to my computer. I can't locate the pictures when trying to upload them to blogger. I still can't find them properly, but figured out a way to get to them for now!!

So, we shall begin in February. We went to storytime at the paint it yourself shop. They were reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. I love his books & Isaiah's room is decorated with Hungry Caterpillar blankets, sheets, etc. So, mom and I took Abigail & Isaiah. Thankfully it went awesome! The last time we took Isaiah there it was not such a great experience. This time he was very into it.
This is the finished product, as you can see Isaiah has quite a bit of the green paint on his face.
There were 2 holes on the bottom of the caterpillar that he was very intent on getting as much paint as possible inside.

Before they paint, the owner reads a few stories to them. I was a little nervous about them being on the front row, but they did wonderful listening. We were also joined by one of Isaiah's friend's. It was lots of fun & we now have 2 more caterpillars for Isaiah's room!

Valentine's weekend we went to the ranch along with two of Dan's brother's and a couple of their kids. Abigail and I were the only girls among the eight other guys - makes for an interesting Valentine's Day...

Isaiah being held by cousin, Sam, who he adores.Abigail being held by cousin, Ross.

I took Abigail & Isaiah to Colby's Kindergarten Valentine's Day party.

Colby & his best friend, Zalen.

We bought some new living room furniture in March and the kids have decided their "dad's" recliner is the best place to sit and watch cartoons - all together.

Abigail is becoming quite the artist. We were visiting my grandparents one afternoon & she started drawing with chalk. We had to stay until the drawing was complete. The picture doesn't really do the finished product justice. She drew our whole family - the five of us as snowmen in varying sizes as well as our two dogs!

Abigail has a fundraiser and singing program at her preschool. Here she is with her friend, Taylor.

Abigail with Daddy after the show.

Colby and Gannie waiting for the show.

Abigail is for sure turning into quite a different person that Colby. She is not shy to perform for sure! She got up on stage with her class and sang and did all of the motions with gusto. I was so proud of her!

Growing Up

Somehow life has been very busy & I haven't blogged lately, but this week deserves an entry.

All 3 of my children have used something to help them go to sleep. Colby sucked his right 2 fingers and played with his ear using his left hand. He thankfully stopped around his 4th birthday without too much fuss. Abigail began sucking her left 2 fingers at a very young age too and rubbing her top lip with her right thumb. She stopped with a little bit of challenge this past October after her 4th birthday.

Isaiah was the only one who liked pacifiers and has been sleeping with it and his silky blanket since he was young. Well, when I was picking him up from Mother's Day Out yesterday afternoon one of the teachers asked me if he was used to having a pacifier at nap time because she just found it in his bag... I know, great mom - when he was moved to this classroom the first of January it was a surprise to me, so somehow I never talked to them about how he was used to sleeping with his passy & blanket. So, they said he only used his blanket to go to sleep and really didn't have any problems! Oh, my goodness.

So, I decided that it's time to work on taking the pacifier away from him.... Well, this is a bit sad for me because it's one more step in him becoming more like a big boy and less my baby. But, it will be great for him to learn to go to sleep without it!

So, we talked about it yesterday some with him and after dinner I had him kiss his passies goodbye and throw them away in the garage trash. He said "me no need passy, I big boy!" (Made me a little sad inside...)

It took him almost 2 hours to fall asleep, but he finally did it! He just talked in his bed and didn't cry thankfully! He slept like usual until about 7:45am with no problem!

Well, that's not the whole story..... after lunch today trying to put him down for his nap was quite challenging! After rocking him and singing our usual songs quite a few time I finally just had to leave him in his bed - screaming. He screamed for about 45 minutes - very sad! But, finally he was able to calm down & he's now sleeping peacefully. Of course it's time to go get Colby from school, but my precious mom is coming over to stay here so he can sleep a bit longer!

Oh, the milestones - some so exciting and fun, but others sad as they are growing up!

Isaiah's Candles

For those who were at Isaiah's party - this is probably what you remember from it! For those who weren't there - you're going to love this video!

Siblings

We had our picture made by Davy Knapp this Christmas & here are my siblings - John, Lisa & Laura - and my mom. When I was posting this, I thought it might be fun to compare some past family pictures.

This was at our great-grandparents house - I know, I'm looking good with my Cabbage Patch Kids, chewing gum!
This was Christmas 1982 when I was 4, my brother 2 and our sisters only 6 weeks old. Pretty precious.

Quite a blast from the past pulling out these pictures. It really was wonderful growing up with my precious, amazing siblings. Love you all.

Christmas in Colorado with the Koettings

After Christmas with my family, we loaded up the car & began our trek to Winter Park, CO. We drove to Raton Christmas evening & had a lovely stay there. Isaiah did so well sleeping in a pull-out couch bed all by himself! Then, we drove the rest of the way to Snow Mountain Ranch, which is 12 miles past Winter Park. The drive was a bit challenging as I have now confirmed that Abigail gets motion sickness in the car. Thankfully she didn't get sick, but was very nauseous & let us know it by wining, crying and at times screaming. Needless to say, we were glad to arrive! Almost all of Dan's family celebrated Christmas there together! We didn't brave the nordic skiing, but the kids did partake in the sledding and ice skating. Otherwise, we did mostly indoor activities, including the arts & craft place, roller skating, and the indoor pool. It was a nice vacation with the family.

We returned to Amarillo via the Castle Rock Outlet Mall a few days before the 1st. I finally got all of the Christmas decorations down and in the garage last night!

It's hard to believe we were in Italy last year for Christmas and New Year's - it's fun to be out of town, but hopefully it will work out next year to just stay home!

Colby started school again today, which was a bit depressing for me. I don't really know why, but he was amazing during the break - so helpful and kind. He also became very lovey-dovey, always wanting to sit in your lap and be held. A different side of Colby that hasn't come out in a while, but it was really nice!

Abigail & Isaiah go back to preschool and mother's day out tomorrow while I get to go back to work. So, here goes another crazy semester!

Merry Christmas

After Isaiah's birthday, we began celebrating Christmas with family. First, we went to my grandparent's house, Mum & Pappy's to have Christmas with them and my dad & fam. Of course, we enjoyed some wonderful cooking, including Mum's world famous mashed potatoes that are quite challenging to duplicate! (I love you Aunt Teresa)

Then, we began festivities with my mom playing the money game. We have been playing the money game for as long as I can remember. I think my grandmother began the tradition long ago! Different amounts of money are put in cans that in turn you get to shake, steal & finally end up with the one you get to open. I remember as a child wanting the ones that were loud and heavy. But, in my wise old age I now go for the quieter ones with the bills inside! This year Isaiah even joined in the fun & wanted to shake every single can. In the end my mom and aunt were the ones who ended up with the most money - and they're the ones who filled the cans! It was lots of fun!

Christmas day we gathered for present opening and aquired many precious items. The afternoon ended with the last 2 pictures below - my mom encouraged Abigail & Isaiah to pretend to be Mary & Baby Jesus. They took turns being each of them! I really can't believe that my 2 year old was playing make believe - yes, he had his gun in his hand, but he was really trying!!