Great Wolf Lodge

The Baby Turns 10

~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

What in the actual…

Days are long and the years are fast, is that how the saying goes? Averi is ten! Can we take a moment and let that settle in?

For her summer birthday she wanted a trip to Great Wolf Lodge (GWL), a pink birthday party and cake pops. She got her wish and now I don’t feel the need to do two of those things again. We have officially grown out of GWL and the cake pops were the absolute worst thing that I have ever done.

I ordered cupcakes for her actual July 10th birthday and then we headed for the lodge later in the week.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our years celebrating birthday’s at GWL but we have outgrown the place. Not enough to keep the older ones interested and I don’t care to stand in anymore lines… for anything.

For her little celebration I gave the kid what she wanted… chocolate cake pops. Who knew the phenomenon of said dessert was such a nightmare to make? I mean I have made croissants and tarts, dutch babies and pavlova’s but leave it to cake pops to lead to profanity, alcohol and tears; and let’s not forget about the mess. I’ll have you know that I did my research and I was ready, armed with all the tools but it was a disaster. The cake and frosting rolled into balls, cake stick inserted and chocolate coating melted just for it all to melt and fall apart, one cake pop after the other sliding down the stick, chocolate getting everywhere, hands, counter, fridge, sink. I ended up saying fuck the cake sticks we will have cake balls, feeling so proud of myself in that moment. But, it wasn’t a real cake pop more like a cake truffle. Averi the empathetic child that she is felt guilty and said that she will never ask me to make those again, god I love her. Happy 10th birthday my sweet Aves.

Wolfs Tail

~ Girlmom ~ Leave a comment

Yes, we did make it to Great Wolf Lodge in case you were wondering. It happened sooner than we originally planned for, aka turned into a spur of the moment situation. We decided to keep it a surprise from the girls. We told them that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s and that we were meeting them at the their pool. So the girls packed the night before and let me say, Kaili wanted to pack every damn thing, she wanted to give this and that to Grandma and I felt guilty as hell for lying. Come morning, we packed up the car and headed out. Passing our normal Laguna Niguel exit, luckily they didn’t notice with their heads in IPads. But when we got closer to GWL they meaning Shayne, realized something was off.

“Why did you say we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s? Mom guilt.

We grabbed our luggage and off we went.

Our room was ready when we checked in, so we went and dropped off our stuff so we could get to sliding.

Averi’s birthday, her choice of bed. She chose the twin, no bunk this time.

We found a table to drop our shit, thankfully, that can be the biggest hurdle. If you can’t get there early, everything is taken.

We played all day.

The girls’ Paw Passes came with it all, ice cream, golf, arcade, yada yada yada. So around 6pm we went back to the room and changed and then went for ice cream.


Then they chose their stuffies, played games and then mini golf and then and then and then. For dinner, Averi wanted McDonald’s, sigh. We had it delivered (brilliance) which saved probably $125 for not eating at the resort.

The next morning we were up and down at the waterpark when it opened, easily grabbed a table and did it all again. Once the outdoor pool area opened, Shawna and I went out and had some adult beverages in the quiet sun.

Averi decided to brave the wave pool and boogie board before we went home, we were so proud.

She did so good for her first rodeo!
We stayed late into the afternoon and then decided to make our way back home. GWL is always a fun time. Next up though, maybe just Raging Waters and a motel, hahaha!