Great Wolf Lodge

We have arrived. We have checked into our room. We are ready to play.

Tyler and Corynne were off the minute we escorted them into the park. They were ready to hit the big slides. Lauren and Dad went to the wave pool. Lyndsey and I set out to play in the baby wading pool.

They were building the outdoor water park when we visited GWL back in March 2008. This time is was open. With the temperature above 100 everyday, we really did not stay outside very long. The nice part of the outdoor area was...it thinned out the indoor area!!

Wave pool fun...

And our champion lily pad crosser was...

Unfortunately, all fun things must come to an end. We had a BLAST!

Our first morning in Texas...

Last night was a late night for us. We got checked into our hotel and then I had to wash Tyler's clothes. The pour kid just has a week's worth of clothes (that he finds acceptable to wear). We actually had to go shopping the week before camp to have that many outfits ---I mean shorts and shirts:). After a week of sweaty Atlanta tennis camp, he had a bag full of mildew!! It stunk, but I did fly into Texas ready to hang out in the guest laundry facility of the Embassy Suites. It was actually the nicest "public laundry" I have been in --clean, tidy, and it had a TV!

Today, we are moving on over to the Great Wolf Lodge. The kids cannot wait to get into the water park!

We did have a little time to "waste", so we went over to Grapevine Mills to do a little looking/shopping! Of course, I bagged a few bargains at Gymboree. Who can beat their clothes at $4.99! Tyler also picked himself up a new Texas Longhorn hat. In his short lifetime, Mom as required that 2 hats be laid to rest. A hat reaches this point when even after a good deep cleaning and washing, it comes out of the washing machine stinky!!! After a couple more stops, we reached our lunch desistination.

Rainforest Cafe

We discovered that the Cafe membership that we had purchased years ago for approx. $10 (and a free appetizer) would come in rather handy today. When we arrived, we were told it would be 50 minutes. We stood there for about 5 minutes when I remembered the membership card and started looking for it. JM went back to the front desk, and she kindly told us to follow the tracks to be seated immediately. NOTICE TO ALL MY FRIENDS - THE MEMBERSHIP is WORTH ITS PRICE! We were seated immediately, and the card entitles you to a free appetizer with each visit! We enjoyed our meal and entertainment. Lyndsey was completely mezmorized by all the animals and sounds.

The balloon lady visited our table.

Tyler could not have cared less about what was going on around him. Since we had fought many battles with him in the last 12 hours, we decided this was not a battle we would fight. He sat there QUIETLY entertained by the itouch Tiger Woods Golf game, and we enjoyed The Rainforest Cafe!

Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

While Tyler is away, the girls think my primary job should be entertaining them 24/7!  Lauren wants a full schedule of activities for the next day before she goes to bed (she gets this from her Dad)!  I thought this was going to be a slow paced 4 days where I could get a lot of something done around the house since I would not be running Tyler to tennis clinic and baseball practice and the list goes on...  They did a good job entertaining themselves yesterday afternoon.  They actually had a private big-sisters-only slumber party that started about 4pm and lasted until 7am this morning.  They did there own crafts, club houses, movies, and the whole works.  They requested breakfast for supper, and that was easy enough!  

Today, we started off the morning with a free movie at the Rave Theatre.  It was Horton Hears a Who.  None of us had actually seen the movie, so it worked out pretty good.  I had a hard time keeping my eyes open after staying up really late last night and an intense cardio workout this morning and NO caffiene!!! Next we went down the street the Chappy's for lunch.  We came home for a few hours, and now Corynne and Lauren are at Corks & Canvas painting another masterpiece!  By the time they are done, it will be time to head down to Riverwalk Stadium to meet Dad at the Biscuits game.  I sure hope it does not rain...cause I want them to stay at the game so I can go home and scrapbook!!!!  

Our Overnight Camper

JM took Tyler to Nike Tennis Camp this morning at Emory University in Atlanta, GA.  I was a little under the weather so I stayed at home with the girls.  JM said that it was harder to leave him at the camp than he thought it would have been.  That means that I would have been in tears!!!  This is his third overnight camp, but the first 2 were with his church group.  At this camp, he did not know a single person (and he is 3 hours from home)!

When he left home, we gave him the kid's cell phone to use to call home (it was permitted by the camp).  I requested that he call me on Monday and Wednesday night.  He quickly said, "Do I have to call home?"  JM and I said, "Yes, at least twice just to let us know how you are doing."  He huffed a little, and said he would call.

Well, he has been gone for 8 hours!  As we predicted he has called home 3 times!  He just can not make it with out talking to us!  Yeah!!!!

Happy Birthday, America!

We wish everyone a happy 4th of July!  Hope your day sparkles and your night lights up the sky!

Updates

Got my computer and printer fixed!  Actually had to get a new printer, but it is really COOL!  All that to say, I uploaded all my pics and have added quite a few new blog entries!  Be sure to scroll down thru June to catch-up on our wild and crazy summer fun!

Welcome Home

Well, kinda...we closed on our new-house-to-be this afternoon.  We are excited to begin this journey.  It will be a great location-close to JMs work and the kids schools-and a great friendly neighborhood!  The house will undergo quite a transformation before we move in so I went over today to take some BEFORE pics.  The kids went to see the house in May.  They quickly picked out their bedrooms, but we kept telling them that things would change before we moved into the house.  We are going to be adding on a master suite and a breakfast area downstairs, demolishing the current carports in the back to create a large open backyard with a pool,  and then we are finishing out the upstairs area with another bedroom, bathroom and media room.  Can you believe that where you see the beautiful dormer windows it is actually unfinished attic space?  It is a huge area that will double the upstairs space!  This should keep me busy over the next school year!!!  We have been meeting with an architect over the last month.  Hopefully we will have our schematic plan finished this month.  Then we can move on to the next phase!

JM just looked at the posting and said I should start taking pics for the realtors because my pics make this kitchen look really good! All of you who have actually seen this house in person know just how BAD it really is!!! Tricky, tricky, tricky --leave out the other half of the kitchen where the microwave is hanging by a thread and strange walls jut out to hide the refrig! In my pics the living area even looks good. The trick is to leave out the wall where the drywall has big holes and the molding is falling down and the 70s light fixtures mounted to the wall! Ahhhh...