Great Wolf Lodge-me and my dad.....

Three little wolves and a big fat pig......

We decided to have a last hurrah and spend a couple of nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound, WA!! We had a blast! All three kids LOVED the water, Julia was completely independent going everywhere by herself and climbing and going down the slide by herself. You can totally tell that Grace and I are the first children, we were terrified to go down the big thrill slides, but then after we went couldn't get enough. All weekend I was contemplating going down the Howlin Tornado. I was terrifed, so the conversation in my head was can I actually leave here saying that I DIDN'T go down that slide? I was thinking I could, but my daughter was relentless, "Mommy you PROMISED!" I do not remember actually saying the words I PROMISE! So I finally did on Sunday morning and it was great! I would have gone on it again, but I didn't want to wait in the long line! If you don't want to spend ALL your time at the waterpark then you can become a master magi, you get a magic wand, pay through the nose for it and the game play and then follow the adventure throughout the first five floors of the lodge, we ALL got into it! We also loved the arcade, unlike Chuck E Cheese they give a lot of tickets, we ended up with over 1700, so we got cool prizes and the big bad pig, guess who? ate too much. They had good food at the one restaurant and for breakfast it was a buffet, so what do you do? Gotta eat the monies worth! They had the BEST Dreyers Peanut butter ice cream, of course at the store I don't usually buy REAL ice cream, so that was a treat. Many memories, lots of fun. Check out the Howlin Tornado
http://www.greatwolf.com/locations/grandmound/waterparks/index.aspx

Me and My Dad

First Pony Tails

First Kiss

Wow they start early these days! We told them to give a kiss good-bye and had no idea that they would both go for the lips!!!! This one definitely has to go on the table at their wedding!

It is a hard month.....

Two of the most special people in my life are leaving this month and it is so hard. I am concentrating on the glass half full. Kurt will only be deployed for eight months when he was so close to being gone for 15 months. I have had a wonderful and amazing friendship for the last two years with Angie.

Friends are so incredibly important to me, in the military friends are your family. I have to say good bye and see you again soon to a very unique friendship that has grown so close over the last two years. Everytime we leave we always think about the possibility of how you can live close again someday, what will the future hold. I love that the military has given me so many opportunites to go places and meet these amazing people and it is so heart-wrenching to then move away. I have always been the one moving away and this time, my friend is leaving me. I am confident that we will stay in close touch. I am also thankful for my wonderful friends that will still be here with me. And how far is Walla Walla Ange?

OH, NO......Oh, Crap

Well it has started and it still makes me chuckle, but a beautiful child of mine is mimicking my apparent favorite phrase AND she uses it in the right context. The first time I heard her say it, we were over in Wenatchee at the park. Yesterday in the dr's waiting room she was playing in a plastic play house with a 3 year old little girl, the girl went through the door and left it open. "Oh, Crap!" says Julia as she goes back to close the door. I looked at the other mom and she looked horrified. I could only say, you can tell she is the third child. My pediatrician assured me that it could be a lot worse. Just now, we got back from a walk and I told Julia I would carry her cart upstairs. "Oh, Crap!" she says "Blankie!" and goes back to get her treasure.