Vacation! Great Wolf Lodge: Day 1

My Mother's Day present this year was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge! Perfect present. We had never been before and were very excited to go!

The lobby surprised me! It was so detailed and neat. One of my favorite details was the forest sounds piped into the lobby and main hallways. 

At check-in both boys were given a pair of Wolfs Ear headbands. Our little wolf cubs loved them!

Watching the airplanes fly low!

The water park was huge! I was so impressed with the wide-span of ages covered by the water park attractions and how every section was so well designed. We only spent time on about half of it but what we did spend time on was awesome!

When the indoor noises and sounds got to be a little too chaotic we went to the outside pool to swim.

The outdoor pool had a tower that would spray water when the wolf howled, basketball goals, a lilly pond leap path and another big water slide in addition to a large shallow end.

Ethan's "Red Soubaneer". Both boys were enthralled with watching the drops of red oil go down the ramps.

We spent the evening exploring the lower section. There were so many things to do down there but not nearly enough time to do them. We decided on a trip to the arcade.



Landon enjoyed the car (he preferred it sans tokens)

And Ethan liked the "bop a shark" and "bop an alien" games the most.

Later on Ethan and Landon watched a cartoon on the ipad while were getting ready for dinner. Netflix is so much easier than navigating cable tv!

Later the boys donned their pj's and wolf ears and we went to the lobby for their animatronic show and storytime.

Along the way the boys enjoyed seeing kids walk by with their magi-quest wands activating the game station effects.

We arrived in time to get a front row seat! Landon got a little too wiggly so he and Daddy walked around while Ethan snuggled with Mom and enjoyed the show.

Me and my Ethan.

Afterwards Garrett read some books off of our ipad and it was time for bed!

Vacation! Great Wolf Lodge: Day 2

Day 2 Ethan and I got up early and went to explore the lobby and get some coffee so Daddy and Landon could sleep.

Next we all went for a morning swim before checkout!

  

When Landon tired of the water, he made a game out of running from one drain hole cover to the next. (Similarly we noticed that he had a game of running from one "owl" to the next on the forest themed room hallway carpet).

It was so much fun. It really was a fantastic family vacation and a wonderful present!

We were so amazed when we walked out of the lodge and realized that we had only been in there for 24 hours. It felt like we were emerging from another world and as if we had taken a much longer vacation. Even though vacations with small children are usually not restful we felt rested and ready for our week! Ethan has mentioned many many times since we left that "Mommy and Daddy are the best!" and that he had so much fun!

Landon: 20 Months!

Landon,

At 20 months you:

• Weigh 29 lbs
• Wear size 4/5 diapers. We still have tantrums over diaper changes but you are starting to slow down for them so I'm thinking it may be time to go back to using cloth diapers.
• You still wear 24 month sleepers and size 18-24 month clothing. You also wear size 5 shoes.
• Sleep: You do not want to go to sleep! You get so angry when we put you in your crib and try to get away after we have finished reading a book or two since you know what is coming your way. You don't even wait for me to finish with the reading/singing routine before you try to make your escape. Lately we've been getting both you and your brother down for bed around the same time at 9 pm or so which is late for both of you! You wake up between 7 am and 9 am and then have trouble going down for a nap at naptime. I start trying to start your nap at 12:30/1 pm but many tears are involved and sometimes you'll sit in your crib playing for up to an hour after the tears have stopped. Naptime roughly happens between 2-3/4pm.
• Food: You love cheese so much that you'll stand at the fridge and dance while waiting for a slice of cheese. You are starting to get picky about your veggies and even foods you like if you aren't feeling in the mood for them. You have started shaking your head no when I offer you new foods. I offer several times each sitting and you give me a consistent no. You are still a good eater though, this is just a change from your previous "will try anything" attitude.
• Words: You sing your alphabet up to QRSTUV now which is really cute. (Especially when you loudly sing it over and over at the store) When you see words in print it usually starts you singing the alphabet. You repeat so many things- I'm so tickled with how well you talk and you still surprise me all the time. You like to walk around the house singing "No, no, NO, No, no..." I think you might hear that word a lot. ;-)
• You love stickers and play doh. You especially love the play doh!
• You climb and run and want to do everything "FAST!" You run through the house and yard yelling "Fast! Fast! Fast!"
• You are my outside loving child and you love running, exploring and getting dirty. 
• You love your Elephant lovey more than ever and even call it "Elephant".
• When you are angry you stick your hand down your throat and gag yourself. Not cool, child! I hope this habit is short lived.

You have a quick temper these days. Granted its legitimate like when things aren't working right, something is stuck or you aren't getting your way. ;-)

Note the car in each hand. You love cars and carry them around the house. Thankfully no particular cars yet, so any car will do! You have stared making cars follow "roads". Not just toy roads, but window sills, the slats on the blinds, furniture lines, etc.

Oh Landon, in these very long days, how has the year been so short? We are 2/3rds of the way to your second birthday already and in my mind you should be that 7 month old baby just learning to sit up!

Just a rainy day at the Library

The boys and I like to go to the local library for storytime several times a month. Today it was rainy but we had already planned on going so we donned our rainboots and went out anyway.

I didn't set out to take pictures of our outing. Usually when we go Landon participates a little but likes to run in and out of the storytime room and around the library. It's tough keeping up with him and picking out books and doing storytime but Ethan enjoys it and the boys love checking out books so we do it anyway. During one of Landon's run in and out laps I decided to grab my phone and document his antics since this is the norm these days and worth documenting. It sure is handy to have a phone camera!

Whew! Now its time for lunch and then nap for Landon and reading practice and arts/craft time for Ethan. Then Ethan plays on his own and I then I work on our dinner so that it's easier to get it re-heated and ready for when Garrett gets home! (I can't cook with Landon awake these days!) 

Landon: 19 Months!

Landon,

At 19 months you:

• Weigh 27-28 lbs
• Wear size 4 diapers and do not like to slow down for diaper changes. 
• You wear 24 month sleepers and size 18-24 month clothing. You also wear size 5 shoes.
• Sleep: You go down easily at bedtime and sleep from 7:30 at night to 7:30 in the morning and take a nap from 12:30 to 3 pm if its a day when you are going to nap. You've started skipping your nap once or twice a week. On those days you might spend 2 hours in your crib playing and still not sleep. It's not always an easy afternoon though, often it means lots of extra books, rocking, and going in and out of your room trying to get you to take a nap., 
• Food: Your favorite food at the moment is acorn squash. You scrape every last piece off your plate and will eat it before any other food. Oranges are a close second.
• Words: You keep getting better and better at talking and amaze me all the time with the things you have learned and picked up on. You have started to string your words together into phrases and I have heard you use 4-6 word phrases. Some favorite new phrases are: "I'm stuck" (We hear it all the time when you are buckled into something), "I sorry", and "Uh oh, I made a mess". You also say things like "Cheese yum, cheese all gone! More?" to communicate with me. You've gone from saying "Moon, the moon I see" when pointing to the moon to saying "Moon. I see the moon" so we are noticing that you are getting better with speaking correctly.
• You have 12 teeth and you love to brush them! You will run to get your teeth brushed.
• You have started to really get into coloring and stickers. You already liked the chalk board but now whenever the craft table is out (which tends to be most days of the week) you matter of factly climb onto a chair. If you brother is doing art, you want to as well but also you ask to do it when he is not. You like to point to the sticker you'd like from the sheet of stickers and I can tell that you are concentrating hard as you try to place it as carefully as possible on your paper. You can fill most of a page with stickers. 
• You love youtube. Now that you have discovered on-demand animal, color, and nursery rhyme videos you have been a little bit of a pest. However, when we do watch them you are pretty cute with your dancing and chiming in with the sounds.
• You will climb anything. ANYTHING. We spend a lot of time out of the house because its just too exhausting to spend a whole day at home.
• You have been honing your problem solving skills. You love being outside and ask to go outside all day long. I wasn't humoring you at the moment so you climbed into a chair and unlocked the sliding door. Another day you wanted to reach the cat but he was out of reach so you went and got the grabber so you could reach him.  
• Sometimes your interactions with your brother surprise me with how grown up they seem. You and your brother were at the craft table and you were shoving the table into your brother to make him squeal. Ethan turns to me and complains, "Mom, Landon's hurting me! He's not being nice!" Then Landon, you surprised me by turning to me and loudly stating "I'm nice!".
• You've picked up some other not so cute tricks like taking big drinks of milk and water and then spitting them down the front of your shirt for fun until you are soaked. For one reason or another you rarely end the day in the same outfit that you started off wearing.
• You like to spin around to make yourself dizzy and do all other types of rough play.
• You've got your own angry pout and its cute. I have yet to get a picture of it.

I love the way your eyes light up when I ask you to brush your teeth or when I sing a nursery rhyme that you recognize. I especially love the sweet smiles that you give me when I sing "You Are My Sunshine". 

You are eager to try new words. You don't have any hesitation or fear of getting it wrong. You will try to say any word that we try to teach you. Most times you get it right. You are a language sponge. You know all your colors and will pick them out when we ask you where they are. You also know your animal sounds and can identify those animals in real life (that surprised me!) You can sing the alphabet song to the letter g and then sing the tune to the rest of it. You know a lot of letters already and I'm loosing count with which letters and numbers you know with the rate that you are picking it up.

Your comprehension amazes me. You run around wild and crazy in the morning trying to avoid a diaper change but if I sing you the getting ready song from Daniel Tiger with the steps to getting ready and the activity that we are doing then you will run from step to step eager to help me get you ready. You are impatient though...when you are done with your steps you want to go NOW. :-)

Landon, you are changing faster than I can make these blog notes. It seems you are surprising me with new things every day. You are such an independent little guy and eager to do things on your own. You enjoy making your own decisions. You want to pick out your own clothes already. Your big brother doesn't even have a wardrobe opinion but you do! You are your own little person and I take so much delight in discovering your own little quirks and preferences. You already seem so big to me! It's hard to believe that you are still only halfway to your second birthday.