Family Road Trip

With Daddy only home for about 8 days this go 'round, we planned a special road trip for some family fun! Great Wolf Lodge in Concord Mills NC came highly recommended to us by my boss. We looked into it and decided this would be a perfect getaway for the end of February. Great Wolf is a resort that includes an 80,000 sq ft indoor water park (kept at a comfy 84 degrees!). They also offer all kinds of kid fun in the lodge.

We left Thursday mid morning and drove the 3 hours north. We stopped for lunch in Rock Hill at Panera Bread... YUM!

We arrived at Great Wolf around 2 ready for some water park fun. Especially since it was such a bleak day outdoors!



 

We checked in, checked out our suite and changed into our suits. We headed downstairs and hit the water! The pool, the family inter-tube slides, the two-person tube slides, the wave pool, the large kiddie play area... Over and over again... Up & down stairs.... in & out of pools... We had a blast! I was in on the fun too and unfortunately didn't get any pictures b/c I don't have a waterproof case (Note to self: Invest before summer!). Daddy got a really great video on his GoPro camera though. You can check it out here.

 

 After we worked up an appetite, we went back to the room to get ready for dinner. We went offsite into Concord Mills to find something good. We decided on a local place called Tavern at the Mills. They had a pub like menu with the most delicious nachos ever! I had a salad for dinner and it was enormous! After our bellies were full, we walked it off with a trip to Bass Pro Shops. WOW! This place is HUGE! Stryker loved looking at all the fun outdoor stuff, but most especially the boats, 4-wheelers and the fish tank!

Here are just a few of the fish they have in the tank there. Beautiful! And a VERY large catfish!

After wondering around the store for a bit, we headed back to Great Wolf so we could enjoy their nightly story time. First, we stopped into the  Dunkin Donuts shop for a couple hot lattes for Mommy & Daddy and a chocolate milk and donut for Stryker. We found a seat among the crowd in the lobby and awaited showtime.

The Great Clock Tower show was a cute little animated skit featuring a talking moose, an owl, squirrels, raccoon & tree. With the help of an animated Indian girl and a little guy, they told a story of being afraid--or something. I really can't remember. But it was cute nonetheless.

Afterwards, our little man waited patiently to have his picture taken with Wolf himself :)

Since it was still kind of early and we were on vacation, we hit up the bowling alley and the arcade for some fun! If there's one thing Stryker LOVES right now, it's bowling! Great Wolf had a kid-friendly bowling alley complete with smaller lanes and 5 lb balls. He was in PURE.HEAVEN.

We pretty much had to drag him away from the bowling, but once he heard 'arcade', he was all in again. Stryker & Daddy had so much fun playing games and winning tickets.



Daddy found the punching machine... Let's take a look at how this worked out....

Take 1

Take 2



Take 3

A couple hours and 530 tickets later, we emerged with a cute little wolf doll and a tired family! We headed up to our room and hit the hay.

The next morning we slept in and headed down to breakfast in the lodge restaurant. Their breakfast buffet was delish! After a good meal, we headed back up to change into our suits again and pack our clothes. You are able to 'check out' of your room, but still utilize the water park. We brought our change of clothes and used their shower room afterwards to get ready for our trip home.

Stryker got a few more hours of water park in before it was time to leave.



He just loved swimming in the regular pool! Can't wait for the summer and getting our little fish into some swimming lessons! And of course he found a friend right away too! They played some basketball together before it was time to go. 

Once we were all showered and put back together, it was time to say GoodBye to the Lodge. We can't wait to go back though! Hopefully this can be yearly trip! We'd love to introduce our family and friends to this great road trip place too!

Dan & I voted for a shopping trip before leaving Charlotte! We hit Concord Mills mall and were ready to shop til we dropped! After lunch of course :) We grab a bite and then hit the stores. Wouldn't you know it... Not one thing either of us found to buy for ourselves. Go figure. But, Stryker lucked up and Daddy bought him some Legos from the Lego store. That's a neat place! We browsed and then played!

Yes, that's a stroller... I just knew that once we started walking around that mall Stryker would get tired and whining would ensue. I paid for a stroller rental and he was off his feet the whole time. Win-Win! Off his feet until he saw this....

He just HAD to have a turn at flying once he saw this little contramption. Daddy paid the nice lady and she strapped him in. BOY, did he have a good time! We might have to invest in one of these for the backyard! :)



After a few hours in the mall & not buying anything, we decided it was time to hit the road back to Charleston. What a great road trip this was! Even though it was only a night, it was quality family time and great fun! I hope we can continue to make more memories like this often!