The in-town spring break

Stuart and I decided to treat the kids to a trip to in-town family favorite, the Great Wolf Lodge. We had never been, but we figured a trip to a hotel with an indoor waterpark would be a big hit. We looked into it for spring break, but apparently GWL has figured out when spring break is, and the rates are about double the typical, which aren't really cheap from the start. So, we picked a date in affordable February, and headed off to the Lodge last Saturday night.

We waited to tell the kids where we were going until the last minute, but it turned out they had no idea what the Great Wolf Lodge was anyway. Sam's response was, "Is there a pool there?" Um, yeah.

We didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked, because the weather was down-right wintery and Sam had some homework, Stu had a cold, you know, same old same old. Still, we spent a good 5 hours or so swimming, and that was really enough for them to fall in love.

The place is a true resort for kids-- it was totally themed inside (though several notches below the fantastic Wilderness Lodge at Disney World, natch), and they not only had an indoor waterpark (like that would be enough), but a craft room, story time, an indoor quest game, and an arcade too. If it had been warm, putt putt would have also been an option.

We participated in the story time with about 150 other small kids in pjs, but the kids loved every minute of it. It was truly a little mini-break in our very cold cold winter. I personally enjoyed standing in line with the kids for water slides while watching it snow huge flakes outside.

We have pictures! They are mobile phone pictures, but at least we have something. Check them out below:

Nature or Nurture?

Apparently, my ambivalance for V-Day has passed on to the next generation. Kate did her valentines for school on Tuesday with Megan (during which she made a very funny comment about her friend Lincoln being "beautiful"). So we talked Tuesday, yesterday, and again this morning about whether or not she wanted to take valentines for her friends at Jo's. Her reply was always a very firm no. Until we got to Jo's, of course, when Riley kept saying "I brought valentines! I brought valentines!" After a few minutes, Kate starts to frown and says, "I want to bring valentines too!" Oh dear. Well, I guess we'll be bringing Valentines next week. It's the holiday that keeps on giving.

He's A Writer

A couple of weeks ago, we received a note from Sam's teacher that a book he wrote was chosen to be submitted for the Young Author's award in the district. Being the newbie school mom that I am, I had no idea if everyone was entered or just a few, but assumed that it was more likely the former. Still, the book was super cute and we told Sam how proud we are of him.

Yesterday, Sam came home with a note that his book was a selected winner in the contest. He has been invited to a ceremony in March recognizing his book, etc. Well, I'll be. We made a huge deal about this and again told Sam how great it was that he was becoming such a great writer!

The book is about T-Rex. It's illustrated non-fiction. It's about 10 pages, and very cute.

You know me, I had to satisify my curiosity by asking the teacher how many kids won this particular award. I mean, is this every other kid in the school or is this something to really get excited (aka brag) about? Obviously, we were really excited with Sam, but you know, can I include it in the Christmas letter or what?

Here is her response:
HUGE deal. Only 2 kindergartners are recognized form Cedar Creek.
I think there was like 350 entries...and 35 winners.
It is a really nice ceremony too.
I am SO PROUD of how hard he worked. I only selected the very best done ones to enter. M. in our class won also. The only 2 kindergartners at Cedar Creek to win.

See. Christmas letter worthy.

Bad Mom

I am basically the worst mom ever, so I have not updated the blog lately. It's been a good month, or so, but a busy one, so here are some highlights:

Both Sam and Kate are playing basketball. Kate calls hers "little basketball," which she's derived from the "itty bitty basketball" name given by Parks/Rec. That means Sam plays "big basketball." As in, "I have to play little basketball now so I can play big basketball when I grow up like Sam."

It turns out that Kate is somewhat left-handed, at least as far as basketball goes. They were trying to get her to dribble and she is much better with her left hand. They want her to wear a blue sticker on her nametag to signal to the coaches that she is a lefty, but she will have none of that. So, she'll probably end up royally confused.

Sam is really getting the idea of defense-- he's quite the shut-down defender. The 6-year-old Brady Morningstar, only without the ability to go for the basket. In fact, Sam's not big at driving to the basket under any circumstances and is much more likely to pass off the ball to someone else, even from another team. He's getting the hang of it, and he gets better and better every week. We're so blessed that he's on a team coached by a great husband/wife team. He also has several friends from school on his team, so that's been fun too.

Sam has been talking a lot lately about what he wants to be when he grows up. Last week he got one of his first phone calls from a school friend, where they were just talking. So, naturally, I listened to as much as possible. Most of the conversation centered around building the perfect lego town, but he did add this: "You know, when I grow up, I'm going to KU." Pause. "K.U. Because I'm going to play basketball there." My heart was simultaneously beaming and breaking. Oh well, he'll figure it out one day or another.

Then over the weekend, he told me that when he grows up he wants to make video games. Of course, I responded, "Yep, you and everyone else. Unfortunately, you'll probably have to build databases for some big company instead. But, you know, good luck with that." I know, talk about raining on his parade. Fortunately, it was lost on him. He said, "That's okay mom. I'm going to the video-game-making college." So, that's all worked out.

Kate's prayers have been pretty funny lately as she tries to incorporate new words and ideas. Today it was, "And thank you God that I'm so envious." Sam protested, but she insisted that she was envious. She's also been kind of obsessed with death, as she has been asking a lot of questions about dying and is making up stories where different people have died. I have no idea where that came from.

All in a day, or month's work...