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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

12/26/13 (Thursday)

We all had new toys to play with, but this morning we did laundry and packed so that in the afternoon we could get into the car and drive up to the Poconos to Great Wolf Lodge for the mini-vacation we'd planned to use the money Grandmom and Grandpop had given us for Christmas.

The lodge is a big and exciting family-oriented hotel complete with indoor water park, arcade, ice cream parlor, kids' spa, fun decorations, and a Starbucks in the lobby that we never actually got to but which I really enjoyed knowing was there. We checked in and got wristbands, which served to open the door to our room and also, in my case and Steve's, to charge things to our credit card so that we could leave our wallets in the room. Checking in was tough, because Owen knew we were there to have fun. "I want to have fun!" he kept telling us.

The room itself was a splurge, and it was worth it: we got a "kid cabin" suite, which meant that the kids slept in a bunk bed in an area walled off and decorated to look like a log cabin. It had a window, animals drawn on the walls, and its own tv. Besides our bed, the rest of the room had space enough for a couch, a coffee table for Owen to run around, and a gas fireplace! It may have been the biggest hotel room I've ever had.

While all of this was nice, the kids were eager to get to the water park. We suited up and headed out, happy to not have to worry about forgetting our room keys. The first stairwell in the hall had a sign that pointed us downstairs. We followed it, and wound our way past the arcade, past the stuffed-animal-stuffing station, past the glitter tattoos, to the big glass doors of our first indoor water park.

The place was huge. We didn't explore the whole thing the first night. We started with the first thing we saw, which was a huge kiddie pool, with water no deeper than about eighteen inches. There were slides for little kids, which Cara was too big for. There were stairs up to Fort Mackenzie, the "interactive tree house" that sprawled across the middle of the park. Up there were ramps and stairs and landings and lots of things that squirted water. Nearby, there was a big wave pool, where people bobbed around in giant inner tubes. There was an indoor "river" where people could ride gently around in tubes, but that was also where all of the big slides landed their riders!

Steve and I took turns with the kids, Owen staying, for the most part, in the first kiddie pool, and Cara venturing all over. She even took me on a couple of the big slides, where we sat in a double tube and rode down drops that were faster than I would have preferred! She was very happy. Staying with Owen was scary in its own way: he liked to go up into Fort Mackenzie and run around, and I found that I had to keep my eyes on him every moment. If I looked away, he'd be gone when I looked back. That happened a few times. I didn't hear screams, so I was pretty sure he hadn't fallen (I don't like heights), but it was hard not to panic until I'd caught him. Down in the water, he was happy just scooting around, sort of like he had when he was a baby. He also "swam" by basically walking himself around on his hands. He flung himself about in the water and was generally gleeful. He did get a scare, though. I looked down once and saw panic in his eyes and realized that his mouth and nose were under the water. I snatched him up, and he cried: "I don't know how to swim!" He apparently hadn't realized until then. He recovered fast.

After a couple of hours in the water park, we were ready for dinner.We hauled the kids back to the room to get dressed, and then we promised Owen more fun after dinner if he would just come with us. Dinner was a buffet, which meant that there was a lot of walking involved. This was bad, because distances seem longer if Owen is involved. It was good, because it meant that there were a lot of choices and we got ot pick out our own food. Cara was pretty sure they'd gotten the best chefs from around the world to work there. Owen noticed, partway through dinner, that we were not having fun.

Once we were done with dinner, the fun recommenced. We went downstairs to find the Magiquest store, but first we stopped so that Cara could get a glitter tattoo and Owen could make his own stuffed animal. (I'd added a package when I made the reservation, so we had pre-paid for a lot of things at a discount. It felt very nice to say "yes" to things!) The animals on the wall were all dressed, and Owen picked out a girl wolf in a pink dress. It was the first one he saw. We pointed out that it was a girl and there were lots of other ones. When the girl got it out, it had a pink bow on its head. She showed him the boy wolf, who had no bow. He liked that. He got to press the pedal to make the machine go to stuff his wolf. Then he got to pick out an outfit. The one he picked, which he insisted on, was an orange T-shirt, orange sneakers, and a denim skirt. It's a confused wolf. He seems to be calling her Winnie.

Exploring down the hallway, we found the Magiquest store. There, kids could select wands and elaborate toppers to use for the Magiquest game. We had prepaid for one game, so Cara got to pick a wand. She chose a blue topper with a dragon on it and a jewel that lit up. While we waited to get her game activated, Steve took Owen off to get Winnie dressed. They went to the arcade (we'd prepaid for points there, too!) while Cara and I embarked on our quest.

Magiquest is pretty cool. It's an electronic interactive game that takes place in four hallways of the hotel, where the kids' wands can activate treasure chests that open, pictures that talk, and jewels that light up. You start by talking to a wizard on a television screen in a tree, and he lets you select a quest. A booklet tells you roughly where to find the items you need, and once you've interacted with them with your wand, you can earn a "rune" and pick another quest. We ran around, upstairs and down, finding magical items until I was sure Steve would have Owen well on his way to bed and I felt guilty and we went back to the room.

Kids were doing Magiquest in their bare feet and pajamas, so I stayed with Owen to brush his teeth and read to him while Cara, all pajamaed, went back out with Steve. Owen was very happy. He had gotten some candy as a prize at the arcade, and he liked running around the hotel room. He had claimed, earlier, that he wanted to sleep on the top bunk, but fortunately he was quite willing to get tucked into the bottom one. He had his lion. He had Winnie. We had to take Winnie's clothes off, and he was somewhat concerned because she had no pajamas. Soon Cara and Steve got back, and we all got ourselves tucked in for bed.

12/27/13 (Friday)

We woke up fairly early on Friday. Owen and I went for a walk in our pajamas to explore. There were a lot of long hallways in the hotel, and Owen is very deeply invested in the idea that he is "in charge." He is "the leader." He liked leading us in the halls. We marched around the lodge for a while, impressing people with our Batman PJs. Back in the room, the kids got to watch some cable TV in their cabin while Steve and I got ready for the day and we waited for the restaurant to open.

Since we only stayed one night, we went back to the room and packed our things. Steve put the suitcase in the car while the kids and I, with changes of clothes in a backpack, went to the waterpark. We got there about 45 minutes after it opened, but it was already hard to find chairs and impossible to get a table to sit at! We had a great morning playing in the water. I got us lunch (and a pre-paid souvenir cup) at the snack bar and we ate in our seats. Cara and Steve went on even more big slides. Cara, in fact, ventured onto the really big one, which ran around sort of like a roller coaster up by the ceiling, on which big family groups rode in big rafts. We were surprised she had done it. She explained that some nice people had let her go with them. Owen, this morning, discovered a feature he really liked: there were two ropes dangling down within his reach in the kiddie pool, and he could give himself (or other people) a shower by pulling them.

I really liked Great Wolf. People were nice. It was crowded, but the guests all coexisted peacefully. The staff was present and helpful, but they weren't annoying about enforcing any petty rules. It was clean and well-maintained. It was ok to walk around barefoot in a swim suit or pajamas.

After lunch, poor Owen was tired. He wanted to go to his room. We had no room! I took him to the arcade, which was great. He got distracted by a fishing game and stood there reeling away while the demo screen went through its paces, and I got to try some silly games myself. I really, really liked the arcade. Owen and I also played Monopoly, which consisted of us sitting on a bench, Owen climbing off to spin the spinner that rolled the dice, Owen climbing back onto the bench while our piece moved, Owen climbing back off the bench, etc. We actually did very well!

Once Steve and Cara were done with the water park, we all got dressed. Cara and I had to go off for our Mommy-and-me pedicure, leaving poor Steve and poor tired Owen to get (pre-paid) ice cream and wait for us. When we had been beautified and found the boys, we split up again: we'd gotten another ice cream voucher. Owen and I went to the arcade to use up our final tickets and get a prize. I got to play games again, and Steve brought me ice cream! Cara and I snuck off to buy pajamas for Winnie for Owen's birthday, Owen and Steve picked out a prize, and we headed for the car, exhausted and happy.

12/28/13 (Saturday)

It was a really great trip, but it was nice to have a plain old day at home! Steve and I went out to rake the leaves that had still been on the ground a few weeks ago when it snowed on top of them. Soon Owen decided to come out and help. Fortunately, we were almost done. He "helped" with the leaves, but he was most helpful when I convinced him to pick up sticks in the back yard and throw them over the railing.

The Loefflers invited us to join them on their yearly nature walk in the gully, so we got to stay outside. It was a perfect day, about fifty degrees and sunny. We made our precarious descent from the lot across from their house (it's a lot less steep than our yard) and crossed the stream. As we walked downstream towards the river, there were places where we had to stop to figure out how to go forward. There were fallen trees to climb over or, in Owen's case, under. I remarked that it was lucky he was little enough to get under things. "Yeah," he said, "that's because I'm a big boy!"

We made it down the gully all the way to the Raritan! I'd never been quite that far before. I don't think Owen's ever been on such a long walk before. Walks are longer, actually, when Owen goes. He walked most of the time, which kept us at the back of the pack; the three bigger kids generally ran ahead. Owen held onto my fingers with both hands at some steep parts, and then for a while he kept on holding them. This slowed him even more than usual. We followed a path that took us to the back of Silver Lake and walked home on the road. Fortunately, Steve was up for carrying Owen after we'd turned on to Woerner; that easily cut five minutes off of the walk! The other kids were almost out of sight.

PJ and Casey came over for lunch and play time, and we had a wonderful stay-home Saturday.

12/29/13 (Sunday)

Today was a mightily lazy day. Evelyn and Cara eventually drove off to have a "lady day" with Aunt Claire. The buddy and I hung out at home. We were in our pajamas for most of the day, and watched a lot of TV. Owen had a nice long nap--eventually--and then we were picked up by the girls for a dinner out. We went to Houlihan's. The last time we were there, Owen was not very good at going to the potty. Fortunately, now he is very much better!

12/30/13 (Monday)

Owen went back to school today! He brought his new lunch box with him, which looks like R2-D2 and makes very appropriate sound effects when you push a button. This was a huge hit with all the kids and many of the teachers, who all took turns pushing the button. Ironically, Owen didn't actually eat any of the lunch inside of R2, because there was a pizza party today on account of its being someone's birthday.

Owen wore a new shirt today that a little pirate type logo in the corner and said "Captain" underneath. This seemed perfectly appropriate, since he has been rather obsessed with being the leader lately, and also because sometimes I like to call him "Captain O." He got in mind of pirates and decided that he had to get out his pirate sticker book. The sticker book has been done Owen-style, which means many of the pirates remain in their long underwear, while others have been given multiple layers of sticker clothing, several weapons, and seem to be wearing things that most pirates would not wear at all, like metal chests.

He really is very good at going to the potty now--I do hope I'm not jinxing it. We went through a backsliding phase and had to return to a sticker/prize system, but we have drifted away from that again, as he seems very dependable. I am still in the habit of asking him whether he has to go all the time, but he really does know for himself. He will say, "Mommy, let's go to the potty," and off they will go.

In another step towards maturity for us all, tonight we got rid of our second glider, the one that was in Owen's room from when he came home from the NICU. Now we have no more gliders, and we can get a new piece of furniture in his room, which can hopefully hold the heavy overflow of books!

12/31/13 (Tuesday)

We had a lovely morning because my parents came to visit. It's been a good while since they came to the house and the kids were thrilled to see them. We went out to lunch, where Owen was pretty crazy. After lunch Grandpop did a lot of Owen supervising. They played Owen's cooperative owl game together, and then had a nice long session on the iPad. Meanwhile the rest of us played a more grownup game and with some much needed support and assistance from Mom, we put away the great majority of our holiday decorations and our Christmas tree. It was so much easier to do with help.

For New Year's we did what has become our traditional thing and drove to Claire's house. This year she is in a new house, so it was excitingly different. Aunt Claire very generously gave up the top level of her house for the four of us to sleep in--the kids got sleep on the air mattress which she set up in the extra room up there. The extra room looked lovely, as well, with Christmassy decorations hanging from the ceiling and a pretty string of lights along one wall. They were very cozy. We parents got Claire's big bed, and Claire was down on her couch. Casie was also there with her boyfriend Jason.

We had a snack-filled evening. Owen had a lot of potato chips, some cookies, some goldfish crackers, and so on. Also--I don't know the genesis of this idea, but it so happens we have a castle-shaped cake pan, which we brought with us, and we made a cake (from a mix) in the pan and then had the kids decorate it. Well, that was the plan. Owen ended up kidnapping Claire for a good part of the process, and made her read lots of books to him. Afterwards, he did squeeze a whole lot of blobs of decorating icing out onto the cake, making for a very colorful and tasty mess on top.

Somehow or other we ended up watching a lot of Futurama. It was pretty late before Casie and Jason got there, but when they did they brought a Marvel super hero video game that was fun for all to watch. We managed to turn the game off for a few short minutes to watch a ball dropping somewhere or other.

Owen did go to sleep, well before the ball dropped. He actually fell asleep in the middle of a book.

1/1/14 (Wednesday) - Happy New Year!

Owen was the first one up who was not a cat. He was given the Nook and watched it quietly until the sun was further up in the sky and the rest of us were willing to be awake. Then we had a nice, lazy day, with lots of Marvel super heroes.

In the evening, we finally returned home to our own cats and had a nice regular playdate with the Loefflers, and tried to ease our way back into a normal bedtime routine. There was some tussling but not much more than usual! Tomorrow all of us go back to school, except Evie--which is only fair since she had to go into work on the 23rd.

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