Return to the Wolf

Emma under the big bucket
Before the elder Boorens abandoned us for Virginia, they arranged for some of us to go to Great Wolf Lodge in Washington. They were back in town for Edward and Andrew's baptism and wanted to treat the others in Oregon who hadn't been able to make the first trip. Meg wanted to go again, so as soon as Aaron and I returned from outdoor school, we were back on the road in the opposite direction, with me behind the wheel (Meg said she didn't sleep very well the night before, but I don't know how it was any worse than my utterly restless sleep at outdoor school). But I got us out of a traffic-clogged Portland and to the resort without (much) incident.

The only way to get into the water park at Great Wolf is to buy a hotel room for the night, and after we unloaded our gear, ate dinner together at the onsite restaurant, I took the older boys to the water park for Round 1. There weren't too many people there, so we didn't have to wait much if any time to go down the more extreme water tubes. I rode so many times that I got motion sickness and had to sit down and relax for the rest of the evening. When the pool closed at 9:00, the boys quickly transitioned to playing the MagiQuest game. I was already dead-tired, but I had to keep up as Ian joined the fray. But the game closed at 10:00 p.m., and we were soon back to our room for some sleep. Except I'm a very light sleeper, and I cannot be in the same room with Aaron because his scratching woke me up all the time.

After waking up in the morning, I took the boys back to the water park, with Meg and Ian joining us this time. I spent a lot of the time following Ian around. The strongest memory I have of him was his boldness in crossing the lily pads in one of the pools. He just jumped and almost got across in both of his attempts. He is generally more wary of new situations, but he literally jumped in with both feet.

We exited the pool around noon, and after a brief lunch in the lobby, the boys returned to their MagiQuest game. I enjoyed sitting in the chairs and eating chips, as I was running on fumes at this point. After a few hours of this, the boys finished their quests and were ready to travel back home, thank goodness. We took Grandma Booren home with us, and she treated us to drive-thru Burger King.
Location: Thurston, WA, USA

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