Wolf Gang

Departed only 45 minutes after our planned 0900 launch time to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, so not bad. Ryan complained about my choice of non-kiddie music (I tested out the iPod auxiliary attachment thingy for the first time), but Erin only fussed for about fifteen minutes of the 2-hour drive.

Ainsley's sister's family had arrived early the day before, so they had a good head start on us, so after hellos and Subway sandwiches and cousin size readjustments and stolen Elina kisses, we were all in our trunks to head to the attached indoor water park. Ryan did okay, if a bit shivery at first, though once we got him good and dunked in the water, he found his sea temperature and braved the long (for him) kiddie water slides. We hit a few more of the pools, the lazy creek, the wave pool, the one with the snake and the basketball hoops, before Ainsley released me to go on a big ride with my brother-in-law and 7-year-old nephew, who was a good half-inch above the you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride sign. Went backwards down the Howlin' Tornado, which is basically like being flushed down a big yellow and orange toilet. Highly recommended.

Back with Ryan, hanging out under the big, sprawling water fort, where a 1000-gallon bucket dumps the crowd underneath every five minutes, and various spouts and waterfalls abound. It was all I could do to drag Ryan away from some of the fountains shooting up from the floor.

It was decided that we should get bathed and ready for dinner, but I wanted to try another big-kid slide first, so they left me on my own recognisances.

So, a sliced elbow later, I plodded back to the room, band-aid applied.

We were awaiting the girls' parents, so we decided to just hit the dinner buffet at the resort, five kids, four adults. Bad math. But it went okay, with nary a thrown dinner roll. And bonus: there was pudding!

Once the grandparents arrived, the kids migrated down to that side of the table so they barely got a fork in sideways, then we piled into their hotel room to receive a multitude of elephant-intensive gifts from their trip to India. Though Ryan didn't have a nap, he was still wound up to beat the band, and was impossible to get to sleep before 11. Unfortunately, he woke up in a crying fit around 12:30 and was an inconsolable coughing nearly-barfing mess. At least I was able to walk around with Erin and keep her awake while Ainsley tried to soothe him. And compared to the next day's histrionics, this was a breeze.