Traverse City Children's Museum

Just down the street from Great Wolf Lodge, is a quaint little building tucked in tight amongst other businesses, that is also jam packed with fun! We stopped there upon arriving in Traverse City and before checking into GWL on our recent trip. The girls had a great time crawling, climbing and playing in the aquatic-themed museum. They also loved when Daddy engineered a path to get the water flowing fast in the otherwise static water table.

A 'hands-on' depiction of the water cycle.

Both girls loved this. Its hard to see in the picture but when you are there, it appears that you are walking right in water with live fish swimming around your feet. Kelsey was mesmerized by it!

Playtime!

Kaitlyn's imagination is so impressive, as is evident by the series of pictures to follow. When you ask her what she wants to do on a given day, her answer is usually something like this, "Well Monks is going to the beach and I have a tea party and also a wedding to go to and you are invited so I will help you pick out some outfits. . ." She has so much fun at home, she rarely asks to go anywhere ... well besides Crazy Bounce, that is. She spends the majority of the time dressing or undressing some sort of doll and carrying on conversations with her 'friends' while she dresses them. Love your innocence and imagination, KK. Enjoy these pictures of some mid-winter at home fun.
Posing for a 'family' photo.
Coloring ON the table?

Making an icy suncatcher

Ballerina!

Dressing everybody in 'winter clothes'.

The beach!

Storytime at the tea party.

School - 'Does each Barbie know what number is on the heart she has been handed out?'

Kaitlyn the Teacher.

Marshmallow snowman

The Florist

Throwing a Valentine's Party

Recent Kaitlyn-isms

-After listening to Jeff tell me that a window got broken at the fire station, this was her nightime prayer: "Dear Jesus - Thank you that Daddy didn't get banished forever for breaking the window." Can you tell that we have been talking about Rapunzel??? - "Mommy, can you please turn off the kid shows. I am trying to do a craft and they will distract me. Turn it to the weather or something." - "Mommy, why don't dogs get dizzy when they chase their tales? I know; I'll have to check my dog book. No I'll just ask Grammy and Grampy or Mary and Timmy since they have a dog!" - "Mommy, did you know that "Oh-why-ee" (aka Hawaii) is the Spanish word for desert?"

Talented Toddler!

We had planned to make a stop on the way home from Great Wolf Lodge, but Kelsey napped at the beginning of the drive and then Kaitlyn fell asleep about three quarters of the way home. So we just kept driving and used every toy in the car to entertain Kelsey. She was getting very ancy with just twenty minutes left in the trip so I opened a container of baby food. All I had was a toddler fork, but my talented toddler managed to dip the fork and feed herself almost the entire container of food. She was quite messy but it kept her happy until we arrived home!

Great Wolf Lodge

On Kelsey's 1st birthday, we gave Kaitlyn a "Big Sister 1 Year Anniversary" gift. It included a new swimsuit, a 22 day countdown chain and a brochure detailing a trip to a 'waterpark hotel' that she had been begging for!

So in early February, we packed our bags and headed north to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. The girls were superb riders - far exceeding both Jeff and my expectations. Both girls also fell in love with the water. Kaitlyn wore her life jacket without complaint and went down every single water slide she was allowed on ... over and over again. She was even laughing at me for screaming while we went down this incredibly fast double tube slide! Whoa! I was so thrilled with her courage. She and Daddy spent much of the three days we were there going down water slides, doing laps in the lazy river and hopping across the lilypads. Unfortunately the strong chemicals in the water really irritated Kaitlyn's excema and by the last day both of her legs were red, inflammed and very painful. Of course she was a trouper and never complained about them till bedtime. Jeff and I had noticed her walking silly in the water park but we thought her life jacket strap was just bugging her. We were shocked when we actually examined her poor legs. :( Kelsey had fun playing in the water spouts and swimming in the pool with me.

Nobody slept well the first night so we paid an upgrade charge and moved to a huge suite for the second night which meant Kaitlyn had her own huge bed and we could keep Kelsey in a room with us so she wouldn't wake Kaitlyn up during the night. We all got a wonderful nights sleep that night so it was well worth it. Besides the water park, we all enjoyed playing round after round of Magic Quest, visiting the Treat Shop, doing some crafts in the Kids Area and listening to the Bedtime Story. So blessed to be able to take these vacations and make such wonderful memories with my girls!

A little warm in the waterpark for a swim cover-up. Oops!

MMMMmmmmm...Mommy's treat!

Magic Quest training.

One of my favorite parts of GWL - people either walk around in swimsuits or PJs! :)