Great Wolf Lodge

The Burch family visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord last week and had a great time.  They were having a convention & visitor's bureau event, and since Mike works in Concord he was invited.  Part of the event was a FREE night's room!  If you haven't heard of the Great Wolf Lodge, it is a resort with an indoor water park up near Concord Mills.  There are about 10 of them across the country. Admission to the water park is free with the room, and you cannot go to the water park unless you are staying there. Not only does it have an indoor water park, but it has a HUGE arcade (you need tokens); putt putt course ($4.99 - kids; $7.99 - adults); kids' spa; adult spa; a kids club (I think this is free); MagiQuest (a medieval themed virtual scavenger hunt - not sure of cost); and a room for teens with Guitar Hero, karaoke, Wii and more ($9.99).  Did you notice that everything except the water park costs extra?  They also have story time in the lobby in the evening.

At first just Mike and I were going to go up by ourselves.  Then we decided to surprise the kids and take them with us.  They had already heard about Great Wolf and REALLY wanted to go.  I packed a bag, picked them up from school and told them I had a surprise for them.  We drove towards the speedway, and I told them what we were doing.  They were thrilled.

We got there about 4 p.m. and Mike had already checked in.  He had a little work to do, so the kids and I quickly got our suits on and headed down to the water park.  We had a blast!  There is a wave pool; an area for really young children; a fort/treehouse thing was a few smaller slides; a pool with basketball goals and floating lily pads that you try to cross; an outdoor pool, and then there are LOTS of slides.  There are a few that five people can ride down together, and a few that you can ride down with a partner and then several that you can ride down by yourself.  The water park is open from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Right now they are running a grand opening special that for $179 you get your room and then, of course, admission to the water park.  I believe this lasts through early to mid-June.  Once the special is over rooms will begin at around $300.  The rooms are VERY spacious and there are many layouts to choose from.  Some even come with built-in forts or cabins with bunk beds in the rooms.  We got to go look at all the rooms and the kids loved the fun rooms.

There is a main restaurant, a Pizza Hut Express, a Dunkin Donuts, a snack bar in the water park and a delicious-looking ice cream;bakery/candy/fudge shop.  We stayed at the park until about 8:30.  We were very tired when we left.  The slides are pretty high up and require a lot of climbing.  You definitely get a workout just going up the stairs.

I highly recommend this for a fun family "vacation."  The rooms aren't cheap but when you throw in the water park admission, it becomes a little more reasonable.  My kids are still talking about how much fun they had!  You can check out the website by clicking here. 

She's Done Lost Her Head

I signed up this week to run the New York Marathon on Nov. 1.  I have no idea where that came from.  I have often been known to say that I could not and would not ever do such a thing.  Mike has run five marathons.  He is not a hard-core runner, just likes the sense of accomplishment.  He signed up a few months ago to run New York.  He ran it several years ago and really liked it.  I had no intentions of doing anything but supporting him on the sidelines, but something happened inside my brain.

First, I need to say that I (we) have only entered the lottery to be chosen to run it. Approximately 100,000 people sign up, but there are only around 30,000 people who get to run.  We will know in early June.  It is totally in God's hands.  I asked Mike what he would do if I was chosen but he wasn't, and he said then he would just go and support me.  I don't feel like I could do it without him, though.  

So - back to how I got to this place.  I was sitting at the Legally Blonde touring Broadway show on Tuesday night and for some reason I started thinking about it.  I am not sure why then and there those thoughts were going through my mind but they were.  I was thinking that if I was ever going to run a marathon then New York would be the one for me.  I LOVE NEW YORK and everything about it.  I have often said that I think God made a mistake because I was supposed to be born there.  I know God doesn't make mistakes, so of course that is a joke, but there is something about it that just makes me feel like I am at home when  I am there.  It is the only place I go that I am never ready to leave.  In the marathon you run through all five boroughs so you touch many parts of the city.  Those thoughts quickly escalated into why don't I try it.  

I came home that night and looked online to see if the registration deadline had passed, and it hadn't.  I went to bed and woke up still thinking about it.  I got on my computer, and before I knew it I had pushed all the buttons and signed myself up.  It is not cheap.  It costs $11 to apply.  No big deal there.  If I am chosen, however, it costs $171.  That is incentive right there to see it through.  Now, one of the underlying (and motivating) factors is my 40th birthday which takes place 11 days after the marathon.  I wasn't thinking about this that night at the show, but I have been thinking about it a lot over the past few months.  I want to be in better shape, and I know it is not getting any easier.  I have been thinking about getting a trainer, but the way I look at it I am basically paying $171 for following a marathon training program to get in shape over the next six months.  That is a lot cheaper than a trainer.

And - about the marathon itself, I have no big ambitions except to finish it.  As I have said over the past few days, "Who says I even have to run the whole thing?"  I will certainly try my best, because I don't want to be one of those people running on the streets after all the barricades have been taken down and I am no longer considered an official runner.  I don't know exactly what time you have to finish under to be considered official, but I think it is somewhere around 7 hours.

I don't usually make such quick decisions.  I over think things for days and days before I decide to do something.  Something about this decision process makes me think this is totally a God thing.  Now - again - I still have to get in.  As Mike said, it is in God's hands.  If you would like to pray along with me that I would get in, I'd appreciate it.  I don't really see me doing this anywhere but New York.  If I don't get in I'll just have to figure out another way to be fabulous and 40!

Quick Shout Out

I am so tired, but I want to give a quick shout out to my kids and to my church! First of all - my kids both scored their first soccer goals of the season today. It was actually Claire's first goal EVER, and she had been wanting to score one for so long. Taylor has scored many goals in the three years he has been playing soccer but has not scored a goal this spring. They were both so excited and so we decided to go out to dinner tonight celebrate. We went to Red Rocks where there is something for everyone. We had a lot fun!

My second shout out is to my church - Carmel Baptist - for the incredible Joy Prom it put on last night. I cannot even begin to explain in words what a truly beautiful event it is. It is one of my absolute favorite nights of the year. We hosted more than 700 special needs individuals and their caregivers for a "Night on the Town" prom experience. To see the pure joy on the faces of all those in attendance having the times of their lives was amazing. We heard so many stories of people who had been sleeping with their invitations under their pillow or carrying around last year's prom pictures with them all the time. It was truly fantastic! Click here to see a fantastic story about the event in our newspaper.

Writer's Block

I have felt very blog challenged the last few weeks. Maybe it is because I have done so much writing at work that I can't come up with anything to write about at home. Or - maybe it is because my life is BORING!! Either way - here are the highlights of the last few weeks written with an ode to numbers.

0 - more days Mike has to travel for work until mid-June. This past weekend was his last trip until the New Hampshire race. I am so happy about that. I know he hates being gone as much as we hate having him gone. I am so thankful for his job, but when you are gone 6 out of 8 weekends, it begins to wear and tear on your family. Nothing major - just the results of not much spending much time together.

1 - more game the Tarheels have to play to win the national championship. I can't wait until tonight's game. I am nervous.

2 - Taylor finished second in the ACSI Math Olympics in Burlington. He has made it into the competition every year since third grade, and he always competes in computation - basically just calculation problems instead of word problems. This year there were 14 students from five schools across NC in the fifth grade computation category. We were so proud of him.

3 - makeup soccer games Taylor has to play because of all the rain. Our regular season would have been over this past weekend if we had been able to play all our games. We would only have had two tournaments left (one a month) and we'd be done. Now - we still have half our season left to finish. Bummer.

35 - days of school left. For us, this includes several day-long field trips, half days, field days, programs and more. WOW!

219 - days until I turn 40. I have high hopes of turning 40 in the best shape of my life. I am not doing so well making that a reality. I think I need a trainer.

400 - special needs guests coming to our church's Joy Prom on April 17. I cannot wait for that event. It is so awesome to see so many of God's specially-loved children having the time of their lives. The amount of volunteers it takes to make this event happen are huge. It will be an awesome event. Please pray for it.