GWL APRIL 2017

We still had one more surprise to unveil as we left the aquarium...

It didn't take them long to get changed and get to swimming and swinging!

 In an effort to baby my knee while it's still healing, I purchased the very dorky and unflattering water shoes sold in the gift shop (they ROCKED though - helped me keep my grip and not slip around on my knee, AND provided cushioning and a way to keep my plantar fasciitis wrap in place - I'm getting so old...) AND took it easy on the rides and slides. I avoided the Lazy River completely (the height of the water pushes me along right on my thighs, and I spend most of my time chasing the kids in circles anyway, since they refuse to just sit in tubes), avoided the crowds in the Wave Pool, and limited my waterslide tower climbs to about every other trip. This meant that the kids took it upon themselves to start riding together without a parent (because they wanted to go over and over again without a break). I was SO PROUD of them after their first run (and only a little nervous when they took off together up those 80 steps carrying that giant raft all by themselves). Superstars!

 Since we beat MagiQuest on our last visit (if you recall, I am the dragon slayer of the family), we purchased ShadowQuest games for the kids this time. It's a little harder, but also a little shorter. The kids had it beat near the end of our 48 hours, just doing a half hour or hour here and there when taking a break from the chlorine.

 By the next morning, the kids were ready to try riding SOLO down the big slides. Believe it or not, this was all James' idea too... he amazed us with how confident and brave he was on this visit.

 Randomly came across a balloon animal fest in the lobby at one point...

 Took a break from the Lodge to go to Target (beer shopping as presents for friends taking care of Buster, Cannon, and the chickens), the Lego Store, and Rainforest Cafe for lunch.

(These were their favorite Scavenger Hunt finds, and they requested photos)

ShadowQuest late into the night...

...so late it required a pajamas change.

 The excitement of starting our last morning at the waterpark waned in under 2 hours. This is basically Cora's "I'm done" face:

 She rallied for one last trip up the zipline course (Jay went along, but I did not - the knee):

 And then it was time to shower off, throw on some dry clothes, and head home. They made it to the highway, but just barely!

 I'm pretty sure our next mini-vacation will be an outdoor adventure. I'm not sure where or what yet, but with how much we all loved being outside at the zoo and aquarium, we may be ready for a long distance road trip! That, and I think GWL has lost a bit of it's magic (though I still love the fun and convenience of the resort!) Team Lindsay is ready for a new adventure, but this past weekend was certainly perfect in many ways.

DALLAS WORLD AQUARIUM

On the recommendation of a friend (thanks Jason!), we added the Dallas World Aquarium to our Texas to-do list, and I'm so glad we did. It ended up being everyone's favorite activity over the entire trip (even more fun than Great Wolf Lodge, according to the kids!)

 Even the OUTSIDE of the aquarium was cool. The Disney-like admissions line (which was empty on Easter morning at opening time) was well decorated and filled with all sorts of cool fish, birds, and even mammals (and touch screen kiosks to explore more about it).

 Once we finished our breakfast (no food or drink allowed inside, so we dined just outside the gate while watching the storks), we headed up to the 3rd floor, then very slowly wound our way down through Mundo Maya, Orinoco, Africa, and Borneo. We saw an incredible number of bird species (some caged and some free-flying, and multiple types of penguins), many more mammals that we expected (like sloths, a wombat, an island of monkeys, lemurs, marmosets, a group of howler monkeys hiding at the tip-top of the atrium, a manatee, and a black jaguar, to name a few), some cool reptiles, both big and small (from gorgeous chameleons to saltwater crocs), and of course, fish. The actual aquarium level had tanks of representative coral reefs from around the world. It was a very neat place where everything was laid out and designed perfectly, so that you felt like you were right there with the animals, and also that they were living the good life in realistic environments!

Oh, I forgot to mention the Giant River Otters:

The shark character switched into various other things during our time there (multiple different fish costumes), and while we were resting, we saw a whole group of costumed workers doing a tribal dance across the aquarium near the jaguar exhibit.

James highly enjoyed photobombing Cora here...

 The aquarium level also had multiple tanks that you could walk through, including one with a variety of sharks in it:

 The lady I talked to at the front counter told me it would take 1-1.5 hours to go through the Dallas World Aquarium, but we spent 3.5 hours there (including about 45 minutes for lunch overlooking the animals - the food was great, so I recommend it as a great way to multitask eating and resting your feet while still entertaining the kids). In fact, after lunch, we went all the way through the aquarium a second time (at a much faster pace) because the kids wanted to see a few of the exhibits one more time (including the jaguar, who was still hiding in it's "safe" spot, unfortunately - though we did see it's tail flicking and live video of it sleeping on a big log).

This was truly a wonderful way to spend Easter morning!

HOTEL EGG HUNT

There was no string to follow and no scavenger hunt (James mentioned both, so we did feel bad for vacation taking away both traditions), but we still packed eggs and hid baskets!

And Grambot still sent crazy singing cards ;-)

Then we dressed them up for Easter and took them on another adventure!

BREW TOUR

In the interest of combining some good beer tasting with a bit of brewery research, we visited a couple brewing companies in Fort Worth before dinner. Our first stop was Chimera, followed by HopFusion. Jay met the brewmasters at both places and score private brewery tours while the kids and I played games.

Her faces were cracking me up! We played 3 games while James went back to his Kindle.

Jay hadn't been to a Flying Saucer yet (I went to the one in Memphis with Robyn last fall), so headed into downtown to top off the afternoon with an early dinner there before heading back to the hotel for some swimming. Cora was fascinated with the decor (while James remained fascinated by his Kindle).

 Cora did not do the best job eating her dinner (probably due to the ice cream earlier, and the pretzel appetizer we had here), and as I tried to get her to eat just a few more bites, she leaned back, lifter her shirt, and tried to stick her belly out, all while saying something along the lines of "Mama I know what I want and my body doesn't need all that". Hard to argue with that.

MELT

After the zoo, we decided to hunt down a treat. We came upon Melt Ice Creams, which I will recommend to anyone looking for something a little different. I had some kind of coffee, chocolate, caramel deliciousness and Jay had a weird mint ice cream with lavender (called Mint to Be, which Cora loved because it was the Girl Scout cookie saying on last year's sales shirt, and which James loved because he loves puns, but neither liked the flavor). Thankfully, they had simple chocolate and caramel for the kids.