Hailey finished kindergarten on a Tuesday.  On Wednesday morning we got up and told her to get ready for a surprise trip!  She got ready super fast and kept asking where we were going.  We would not tell her or give her any hints at all.

In the car, all ready to go- so excited!

Hunter was not as excited, nor did he enjoy the car ride hahaha

When we got to Niagara Falls Hailey recognized the area from when we were there last year.  She still didn’t know where we were staying though.

The Great Wolf Lodge

She was just a little bit excited when we got inside.  She loved that she could walk around howling

Check-in isn’t until 4, but you can start playing in the water park at 1pm on your arrival day.  We got there around 2 and our room was ready when we arrived.  Yay!!  So, we went to go check out our room.  Instead of room keys the Great Wolf Lodge uses bracelets that you hold up to the door to open it up.  Hailey thought that was pretty fun!  We also added a credit card to our bracelets (mine and Rich’s) so that we could make purchases without having to carry any money or credit cards.

Our room

Hailey stayed in the Wolf Den- she loved it!  She had her own little room and her own TV.  She thought that was really neat!!  And it worked out nicely at night because I could put Hunter to bed out in our room (they provided a Pack and Play for him) while Hailey could stay up and watch TV.

More of our room

After checking out our room we got ready to head to the water park.

Hunter all ready for his first swimming experience.

We were on the lobby level (I had requested this), which I had thought was going to be the same level as the water park.  The water park was actually down one more level, but it worked out perfectly and I’m actually glad we were on the level we were.

We looked around the water park while we were trying to find a table to park at.  We brought Hunter’s stroller in with us, which worked out great!  I’m so glad they allow strollers.  He liked being strolled around while he watched all the action.  Then later when he was ready for a nap I had somewhere to put him while he slept.

Some of the water slides.  They are all actually much bigger than they look.  They go outside of the building and swirl around before coming back in, so it’s hard to tell how big they really are.

Hailey loved floating along in the Crystal River.  We spent a lot of time relaxing in there!

Then I put my camera away so I could swim too.  We stayed in the water park for quite a while.  Hunter took a little nap in his stroller while Rich and I took turns taking Hailey on the various rides.  She had so much fun!

Then we ate dinner at Antler Shanty.  It was a buffet, and the price was a little high ($22 per adult, $10 for a child) which we expected, so we weren’t shocked.  The food was just okay.  We decided we would not eat dinner there again.

After dinner Hailey got her pajamas on to go to story time.

Hailey loved story time!!  When I asked her if she liked it, she said, “No, I didn’t like it.  I LOVED it!”

The girl who did story time the first night we were there did an amazing job!  Her name was Jill and she was so animated that she kept my attention the whole time.  I can not say enough about what a great story teller she is.

After story time Hailey got to meet Wiley.

Then we went to the store to buy Hailey a wand so she could play MagiQuest.  She picked out a pink wand and a unicorn topper.  Then we had to pay for her to play the game.  The total was around $50.

At that point it was getting late so we headed to bed.

In the morning we ate breakfast at the Antler Shanty, which was a buffet again.  The food at breakfast was much better than it was at dinner.  We thought there were characters at the breakfast buffet, but we never saw any.

Hailey brought her wand to breakfast and figured out that if she cast her wand at a tree in the restaurant the tree would light up.

The tree lighting up.

Hunter during breakfast.  I loved that we could bring our stroller in, that was so much easier than trying to put him in a high chair.

Overall breakfast was much better than dinner.  (Price was $16 per adult and $10 for a child.) Our only complaint was that the service was super slow.  We had to wait forever for drinks and for plates to get cleared.  When we were trying to leave it took forever- I had to leave with Hailey and Hunter while Rich waited to pay the bill because it was taking so long.

I love the fireplace in the lobby.  Someday when we build our dream house, I will have a fireplace like this

Hailey posing in the lobby.

Next we did a Quest which was a lot of fun.  Hailey definitely needed help, so it was a fun family activity.

Then we were off to the water park for more fun!

Hailey had a blast:

Hailey and Hunter in the wave pool.

Hunter enjoyed the water too.  They had a couple of zero entry pools and he loved sitting in the very shallow water and splashing.

It was all very tiring, so he took a good nap in his stroller.

More water slide fun.

We played for several hours in the water park, then took a break to get something to eat.  To be continued in my next post.

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