Great Wolf Birthday

Nathan opted out of a typical birthday party this year in favor of an overnight trip to the Great Wolf Lodge, which he has been asking to do for years, and daaaaang can I just say this is a great idea? Family time? Fun. Water slides? Fun. Great room with built in cabin? FUN. And no managing rsvp's and filling favor bags and planning party games and worrying your child's friends have summer plans and are hard to catch up with and then cleaning up after them? RECOMMEND.

We woke up early to hit the road, so we had Nathan's birthday cake first thing. For breakfast dessert! (Oh, the small things that delight children.)

(I made Smitten Kitchen's Pink Lady Cake but with raspberries instead of strawberries, and you should definitely do that if you like fruity cake. I only made a third of the recipe since hers is hyuuuge.)

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg (there are two about the same distance from us, and that one had better ratings), and we only went for one night. We weren't sure of the timing but it turns out that was a great length for us. We got there at 1, which is the earliest you can get a water park bracelet on your check-in day. Our room wasn't ready til 4, but we knew that going in, and we (I) had packed our swimsuits and stuff smartly, so we had "day at the pool" bags separate from our suitcase.

So we had several hours at the waterpark, and this was peak crowds, it turns out (which makes sense, since that day's checkout people can stay til close and people like us were there ready to play before our own checkins), but even at peak crowds it was still fine. Only the biggest baddest slide had a long line, and that was.... fifteen minutes? So, fiiiiine.

And y'all, the slides are GOOD! They say "waterpark" indoors, but people throw that term around loosely, and sometimes a "waterpark" at a hotel is like, a cool pool with several slides. So, you never know. But this was legit! They were big and fast and really fun, even for adults.

You have to be 48 inches to do most of the big ones, so Nathan and Anneliese could go on whatever they wanted. There were a handful of slides for smaller kids too, but Charlotte had zero interest. She mostly just wanted to skip through the splash pools, chicken out at the tops of even the baby splash slides, and find her zen in the wave pool.

Anneliese, meanwhile, is our adventure-seeker and waited in  line for the biggest coolest (scariest) slide a gazillion times.

We went out for a family birthday dinner, and they had a steak on the kids menu, and Nathan desperately wanted it, which is of course fine. Steak dinner!

(He needed help learning to cut it. It was adorable.)

We opened presents in our room, which was sweet.

Our room was great! It had a fireplace and a fridge and a table and couch and sitting area. Plus a balcony. And a cabin! With bunk beds!

They have several kinds of suites (tents, caves, cabins) but Nathan liked this one because it had room for a third kid in the fun part, instead of just getting stuck on a sleeper sofa. So if you have three kids, get the cabin. When you're a child (or a grownup, ha), there's nothing much cooler than a novel place to sleep in a hotel room.

The hotel has all manner of things for kids to do if you get tired of the waterpark (we didn't, really, but some people might). Like a round-the-clock schedule of included activities in the lobby, like kiddie yoga, and crafts, and button making, and character appearances, and milk/cookies at bedtime, and a PJ bubble party. (We did stop by that.) (Mark taught Charlotte the electric slide. Haaaaaaa.)

I had heard that lots of stuff at GWL would cost extra, and we would rack up room charges on all manner of things (everything goes through your room key, which is also your waterpark wristband, which is very easy and also therefore potentially dangerous), but we didn't find that to be the case at all. Everything we wanted to do was included, we went out for one dinner, we brought our own yogurt and cereal and pop tarts for breakfast (there's a fridge in every room, we'd have been dumb not to), and we used a resort credit booking promo to buy lunch and snacks and frozen drinks at the pool.

Apparently there is a magic game involving wands and extra charges that lots of kids love, but our kids were happy to chase Pokemon and no one tried to push any of those extras on us or anything. I don't think our kids even noticed they existed, which is nice. Some places market that stuff directly to kids which is so maddening, but GWL didn't, so A+ to them.

Anyway it was totally a good experience, especially for a birthday (every kid gets wolf ears at check-in, but Nathan's had a special hat on them so all the staff could see he was a special occasion kid, and treated him as such, which was very sweet -- and he also got a token for a free treat at the ice cream parlor, which is a nice touch). It felt special enough and out of the ordinary that for the kids it was a Very Big Deal, and for us it was really easy to have a night in a place that clearly knows how to cater to families.

(Well, I say easy except my broke-ass foot was really tired from walking barefoot all around the waterpark. I have been weaning off my boot cast and into sturdy hiking shoes, but all those barefoot hours were a more strenuous wean than I should have done. I'm still hoping it doesn't come back to bite me later. I feel dumb, yo.)

17 Days, 11 States, 1 Giant Road Trip

Well! Two Four months later and I have finally finished adding pics to the (now backdated) road trip posts from our lovely trip this summer. It was WONDERFUL.

Links here!

Days 1-2: North Carolina: my Grandpa's house, Tweetsie Railroad

Days 3-4: St. Louis: Cardinals game, religious art, a riverboat ride, and did you know the arch is made of metal??? My mind was blown.

Days 4-5: Rural Illinois, including a prairie park (yes that's a thing), and then Iowa, all the corn, Field of Dreams, oh and also we slept in a caboose. And broke into a zoo.

Days 5-6: Wisconsin Dells, yes it's a real place, yes for real, I know it sounds fake but it's real. Very waterpark. Many kitch. Much delightful.

Days 6-11: MinneEFFINGsota, Take Four: the one where I post pics of tractors and grain bins on my blog. And also Northfield, Another Nathan, popcorn and beer, St. Olaf, waterfalls, adults on swings, and Charlotte Booler's fourth birthday! Oh and saying goodbye to Marky. Sad face.

Days 12-17: Southbound! Including me drinking a beer on Hillary's Cincinnati porch swing, and the kids riding boats at Lake Wateree, with surprise appearances by my dad and also Emily! AND THEN WE MADE IT HOME.

Not the Outer Banks

Well, our long-planned trip to the outer banks this weekend for ferry riding and camping and lighthouse climbing and shipwreck museums IS OFF. Sad face. It's pouring rain everywhere -- like, everywhere, across the whole state -- all weekend.

It's a rare weekend when Mark is off work though, so we didn't want it to be for naught. We tried to find some fun things we could do with the kids, and still maybe balance it with some lazy at-home time, and the best idea we landed on was pitching the tent (yes ha ha ha) in the bonus room and letting them "camp" in there.

So we did. Who knows how this will go.

We also made s'mores on the stovetop. Believe it or not, this method actually works better on an electric stove than a gas burner, but we made it work!

It's fine. It's sweet. It's not the family time we have been dreaming of, but it's fine.

(I am bummed.) (Wine me.)

Summer Basket List

Summer is over. Well, not really, there is still a month of summer weather left, but summer break is over, and school starts this week, and so we have crossed off as many of the remaining bucket list items as we can. I needed this summer to be something redemptive after last year, which was a sh!t show of emotions and baby soothing and feeling like I was failing everyone around me, and then feeling resentful about the failing, and yeah. This year was better.

I had a page in my notebook where I jotted down ideas the kids named as things they wanted to do this summer (a few times, someone got ahold of a pen and added ideas himself), and we got to almost all of them.

We also renamed it The Basket List because at the beginning of the summer Anneliese could never remember what it was called, so she kept saying that, and it stuck for the rest of us even though she rolls her eyes and refuses to partake of the cutesy rename herself. HER LOSS. CUTESY IS FUN, YO.

And truthfully we didn't even look much at the list because we were busy just hanging out and having fun. Montreat was a freaking delight. Our family road trip was more fun than I ever could have dreamed. And lots of little fun things in between the travels too:

1.) Ride on a ferry. This list was born in April when Nathan, indignant that I would go to Seattle and ride on a ferry without him, made a page in my notebook and put FERRY as the first thing on it. We... didn't actually get to this. But we have Outer Banks camping plans next month, and we will ferry to Okracoke and then Hatteras. The ferry will happen! I promise, buddy!

2.) Visit Northfield. Check and check. 'Twas delightful. Here are all the kids at St. Olaf:

Oh Charlotte. I don't even know, y'all. She just doesn't stop.

Road trip blogs still to come. (They are all half written and still need pics and there's a lot to sort through so eh.)

3.) Crayon A. This is a craft I have been intending to do for years with Anneliese and we finally did it, and it turned out great, and she loves it, and I love it.

NAILED IT. Suck it, Pinterest, I own you.

4.) Go camping. Not yet - this will be with the ferry ride next month.

5.) Eat purple carrots. Okay so Anneliese asked for this for weeks, and I wrote it down for her, even though you can't get any carrots at the farmer's market, much less purple ones, until fall. So this is still to come also. We did, however, make several stews with parsnips, and Anneliese has a new favorite vegetable. (She is an odd child.)

6.) Strawberries. There were no carrots, but there were strawberries, and Anneliese used them to bake her very first dessert for all of us. Bisquick shortcakes, and warm strawberries, and cream she whipped herself, and oh she was so proud.

7.) Cinderella movie. Anneliese saw this with Grandma. That counts, right? (I still haven't seen it.) (I am totally interested, but secretly more for the Frozen short than for the movie itself. Don't judge me.)

8.) Rise Biscuits and Donuts. This is a place in Durham with apparently really great breakfast treats. We never made it there, but I am counting our Duck Donut outing as a check mark on the list for new treat places.

9.) Learn ponytails. Anneliese did it! This is a life skill, I mean really.


(If you can't see the embedded video, click here to watch it on YouTube.)

10.) Learn shoe tying. Yeah, no. This did not happen.

11.) Watch Jurassic Park (not with the girls). Yes finally, Nathan, of years-long dinosaur obsession, has seen the original Jurassic Park movie. It totally scared him. But I think he thinks it was worth it. (It still is delightfully scary to me too.) We have listened to the soundtrack a thousand times this summer since then. Currently the girls' favorite song to dance to. We are That Family, apparently.

12.) Tropical Pick'n Chicken. It's a new (to us) local chain restaurant near our house, with Caribbean food and such. Nathan is enamored with it. It's just okay for me. But! We went! Summer dreams coming true over here y'all!

13.) Build legos. Um, duh. Done and done.

14.) Sleepovers. Yes, Nathan and Anneliese, every Friday, all summer (all year actually, but the summer was no exception). These two are best buddies, and never moreso than on Friday nights. We don't understand how they spend all day every day together and still have things to talk about into the wee hours. They say more to each other than they ever do to any of the rest of us.

15.) Baking contest. This got added to the list in summer's eleventh hour, and we still did it!

16.) Read lots of books. CHECK. We have been very library busy. And library days are the best days, aren't they? Let's not forget the afternoon I found the kids all outside reading their library books sprawled on the sidewalk WITH THEIR BEDDING, why children, why?

Days 6-11: MinneEFFINGsota, Take Four

{Still backdated, are you still with me?}

And on the sixth night, tired from the water park and after one small carsick rest stop, we rolled into Northfield, Minnesota, hugged Another Nathan, and there was much rejoicing in all the land.

A year to the weekend after he moved away, the kids were so excited to see his new house, and play in "their" room he had set up for them in the den downstairs, complete with shelves of toys and trinkets and plastic animal snouts and other Welcome Prizes, and air mattresses, and snuggles and legos and happiness.

And then they crashed, and Mark and I played allllll the pictures from our northbound journey as a slideshow on the Apple TV in the living room, because we are adults who know how to partaaaaay.

Day 7: The Sather Farm

The next morning we drove with Another Nathan to his grandparents' farm a few hours away, in rural Minnesota (even more rural than where he lives, which is basically in the middle of corn, if you'll recall). His mom had been sweetly inviting us to come visit the farm where she grew up, if we ever came to Minnesota, and, well, here we were.

The Sather Farm

(She drove from Iowa to hang out with us for the day. Another Nathan's mom. At her parents' farm. Isn't is just the coolest thing ever when the people you love start meshing into your family, and then they share their family with you?)

The universal preschool method for eating corn on the cob.

We had a such a lovely time with them, a lunch with fresh corn picked that day (it was basically all of Mark's corn dreams come true) (yes he has corn dreams, and has for years) (HE ATE SIX), and we got to see their horses, and Nathan got to play hide and seek with me in the cornfields, which, I won't lie, secretly scared the sh!t out of me. But he was cute.

At one point, while shucking corn to feed the horses, Charlotte proclaimed that her hair was the color of the cornsilk, which it was! Exactly! And now I can never see it any other way. At another point, while exploring all the giant* tractors and combines and trucks in their barn, we looked up and Charlotte had hopped up on a tractor with Grandpa Sather, and was waving to us happily, and oh man I just love that she makes friends wherever she goes. It also made me feel a bit sappy and miss my Grandpa, so yeah, that's the story of how I cried in a barn in Minnesota on our family road trip.

Also, Mark and Another Nathan piled the kids into a Gator (?) and drove across to where their big silos bins are (I have been informed they are not silos but bins, so okay), and Mark climbed to the top of one to look inside, even though he is scared of heights, so excited was he about this giant commercial farm.

And then we had root beer floats and heard funny stories and peeked in their ice fishing house, which apparently just sits in the garden during the summer (Minnesota is baffling and delightful to southerners like us, y'all), and played games and accepted a big crate of kiddie books from Another Nathan's mom, for the rest of our stay, because of course she thought ahead that we might be strapped for new material after a week on the road. She is just... that person. (Lovely, is what I'm saying.)

I insisted we eat at Pizza Ranch for dinner on the way home, because I had never been to one before, and, you know, covered! wagons! with pizza! But it turns out that was a dream I had put too much stock in (YES I KNOW, EVERYONE WARNED ME: NOT THAT GREAT) but I am glad I can say we did it, although I don't need to again anytime soon.

Day 8: Nerstrand State Park Waterfalls, and Northfield by Night

We fiiiinally had a slow day on our hands, so we went to a state park near Northfield and took a short walk and saw waterfalls. Was sweet and pretty.

Also, there were swings. When you're a kid, what's more delightful than swings, except grown-ass men who also will swing with you (bonus points for Daddy and Mr. David).

That evening, Another Nathan had one of his youth choir kids come over to sit, so finally Mark and I could have a break for some grownup time. We all went downtown and had burgers and beer by the river.

And then more beers at another place on the other side of the river, and oh man, Northfield is just so dang charming.

Day 9: Charlotte Booler's Birthday!!!

In the morning we went for a walk around Northfield's downtown market, and we had coffee cocktails (mine was delicious, other people had mixed opinions) and baked goods and the kids picked out various hair ties and bookmarks and both big kids got lanyard bracelets which they loved.

Okay so, by far, the hardest thing about planning this trip on the dates we did (which were basically the only dates we could make it work, all summer, was that we would be away from home on Charlotte's birthday. I haaaaated the idea at first, although she seemed fine with it (she wasn't asking for any particular friends or themed party at home, nor has she ever had that anyway). I made peace with the idea that as long as we weren't actually in transit, it could be okay. We could have a cake and a little party, and it would be sweet. And we did, and we did, and it was.



My friend Miriel came from her town close by, and brought her baby, and we drew with chalk outside and then made superhero capes, and we opened a few presents, and had cake.

It was very simple and sweet and easy, and that's about all the birthday chaos I would be comfortable throwing at someone else's home.

There were a few moments where I felt really far from home, and I also cried when my cake frosting fell apart (David helped me fix it, because there is no end to his sainthood), but by the time the day's chaos had settled and we were all snuggled on the couch watching her birthday video, I felt so warm and sweet and happy. Birthday feelings all intact, even while abroad. Ha.

Oh! And also! When Charlotte woke up on her birthday morning, Sheepie was suddenly wearing a birthday shirt, just like the cupcake one Charlotte had packed to wear all day!

Someone must have put it on her in the middle of the night! No one will ever know who. (Edit, backdated: this remains a much-discussed mystery of our family, even months later. Haaaaaa being a parent is sometimes the best.)

Day 10: Another Nathan's Church, Mall of America

We had to hug and kiss Marky goodbye first thing in the morning, since he had to fly back to Raleigh for work (the kids and I had plans to drive home slowly and see more friends along the way, but he didn't have that much time off), and it was surprisingly sad considering we would see him just a few days later. We didn't want the whole-family portion of our trip to be over. It was so fun! I never would have dreamed that driving across the country with three kids could be so fun  but it was! Fun and easy! We had had lots of adventures already and we were sad to send him to the airport.

But we waved goodbye and then went to church in Northfield. Anneliese had been waiting for years (literal years) (in the correct use of the word literal) to sit at the organ with Another Nathan in worship, something she didn't get to do when he was here in Raleigh (she was jealous when big brother did). I think it made alllll her dreams come true. So sweet.

After worship we had a delightful Cracker Barrel lunch (oh, how we have missed post-church lunches with Another Nathan!) and then drove to the Mall of America. The rides and such were too chaotic and busy for us that day, but we did go to the very giant and impressive Lego store, and Anneliese had a gift certificate for the American Girl store, and she had a delightful time wandering around forever, choosing a back to school outfit for Kit.

Another Nathan was also delighted:

Day 11: St Olaf, and a Hymn Festival

We took the kids to St. Olaf in the morning to walk all through the campus and chapel and see all the places where Another Nathan went to college, which was very sweet. I think he liked seeing them run all around outside in a place he loves so much. It's really pretty in the summer!

We shopped in the bookstore and ate grilled cheese at the student cafe, and it was actually a totally delightful little excursion.

The kids and I spent the afternoon bumming all over town, we went to the library and a few shops (Northfield has fun quirky shopping! Beautiful pen and paper stores, and fancy candy, and even a little shop that sells handmade doll clothes in that delighted all of the children but maybe especially Nathan, who has a hard time finding boy things for his tiger to wear), and also playing on a swingset at a park. It was sometime that afternoon that I realized how delightfully awesome summers in Northfield are, and understanding why people have summer homes in small towns away from home.

Just. So. Charming.

We lounged around in the library at Nathan's church and listened to him practice a bit, which sounds like a silly dumb thing, but it turns out it's totally a thing I miss from when he lived here. He plays beautifully, and when your best friend is a beautiful musician, it turns out you should not take that for granted, because it's lovely to listen to, and someday he might live in MinneEFFINGsota and you won't be able to listen to it as often as you used to.

ASK ME HOW I KNOW.

Anyway. Charlotte danced while he played. It was sweet.

That evening, we drove all the way up to a town north of St Paul to see a hymn festival from two important music teachers of Nathan's, they do these lovely little worship/festivals with readings and beautiful music and a choir, and he has wanted to show me for years what they're like, and here I was in the same town where they were doing one, when they were doing it, and so I was not passing it up.

It was a lovely last evening in Minnesota. The drive back through the cities was gorgeous, although you can't tell from this picture. It's blurry but pretend it's blurry with my tears, because I hate saying bye and I'm not very good at it.

Afterwards we had a beer and popcorn at a bar in Northfield before we went back to the house, because beer and popcorn is a thing one does when one is in Northfield.

And then we really did cry the next morning, because having our whole family together, and all of us together there with our dear friends, was so wonderful.

You're welcome, friend, for posting the pictures we took before your cry eyes got bad. (Mine were even worse, which is mostly why I'm not posting it, but let's pretend the decision was purely altruistic.)

Til we meet again, Minnesota.  <3 p="">

Days 5-6: Wisconsin Dells

(backdated, again, etc)

5th Night: Wisconsin Dells!

Last summer when Another Nathan and I were driving for his move, we stopped for dinner in the Dells, and I was so delighted I could barely stand it, and all I could think was that I wanted to come back there with my family. So much kitsch! So many water parks! Like Myrtle but in Wisconsin!

So when we decided to take this road trip this summer, this was the first stop I planned, and I sort of worked backwards from there. Y'all, it was just as fun with the kids as I wanted it to be.

I labored over hotel decisions forever and ever, because there are a million choices, and they run the gamut from roadside motel pay by the half-day (me: wide eyes) to, like... fancy resort with all-inclusive meals and booze and unlimited water slides.

Knowing that we had three young kids who would be too short for many slides, one of whom can't swim unassisted, all of whom get randomly nervous right when we aren't expecting it, we opted for a less expensive hotel with a great series of pools for designed for young kids, and it came with free included park passes for a huge waterpark in town. (We figured if the kids didn't know the "fancy" waterpark existed, they would be thrilled with the slides and play areas at our pool -- and we were correct -- but then we would have the option to go to the big park too, if the crowds didn't sound annoying or if there weren't other things in town we wanted to do, etc. OPTIONS.) So anyway that ended up being a great decision.

We checked into the hotel, and it was a suite, so the kids all had beds, and Mark and I also had our own separate bedroom with a door that closed (this was a godsend by this point on our trip IF YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING). and immediately put on swimsuits and played outside in the outdoor pools.

Y'all. Wisconsin in August is still chilly. It was like, 75 out or something. For us, that's not exactly swimming weather. I do not know how this whole town stays in business when you can only swim maybe two months a year, but hey! Whatever! Some of the pools were heated (IN AUGUST OMG HAHAHAHAHA *wipes tear*) and the kids were happy even on the cold slides and waterfalls, and it was super fun.

We went to a famous* pizza and brewery place for dinner, where I had the weirdest beer of my life (wheat beer filtered with banana? Wisconsin WHAT EVEN) and we wore moose antlers because hey America family road trip (!?) and then we drove through the (kitschy, delightful) downtown area of Wisconsin Dells.

And then, because the main thing to do in the dells is swim, we went back to the hotel and got in the indoor pool. At nine o'clock at night. Because the kids seemed fine, and vacation had apparently made us punchy. (*Famous for small town Wisconsin standards. Mostly I just wanted to yell MYRTLE Y'ALL but I refrained.)

The indoor pool was adorable, with a polar theme and lots of penguins and polar bears (who live at opposite poles, which is now a Thing I Know because I brought my pedantic 8-year-old to a pool with a polar theme, and he had Concerns about how realistic it was/n't) and the children were very taken with it. (Me too.)

Day 6: Wisconsin Dells, Ginormous Water Park

We did indeed decide to go to "the big water park" the next day, and it ended up being gobs of fun. Here's the thing about Marky and me: we really love waterparks. We were basically giddy. I don't think the kids knew what to make of us.

So we did a few slides all together in the big tubes as a family (Charlotte basically sobbed down one of them, she was terrified and then super angry at us and we felt like crap parents, but also, you know, she was fine so whatever.) And then Nathan and Anneliese got rullll brave and did a few by themselves. Mark waited for them while I took Charlotte a huge splash pad where she found the quietest corner of the quietest slide and then sat in an inch of water and watched other kids come down while gently splashing water over her thighs. So, to each her own I guess.

There was no slide Nathan and Anneliese didn't want to try. I went with them on a bunch (there were a few things they wouldn't let me do because of my cast and broken arm (OH WAIT DID Y'ALL FORGET I WAS TRAIPSING AROUND THE COUNTRY LIKE A NEON STORM STROOPER?) and anyway we had Mark's work phone with its waterproof case so I got some fun pictures.

Anneliese was the only one in our family brave enough to try the zip line, where you hold onto a handlebar thing and jump off a giant tower over a pool, and she was crazy nervous and did it anyway, and sometimes I am so proud of her little quiet adventurous spirit that I might burst.

The only thing better than being super proud of your kid is seeing them feel super proud of themselves.

We finished the day with a long swim in the wave pool all together, and then good showers with actual hair washing and such, before we needed to get in the road for a long drive. (Again, I give myself an A+ for packing.)

Really excellent day. I would go back here every year, I really would. Delightful and cheesy and I won't lie, a waterpark day without the blistering heat is pretty awesome.