Junior Festival Results

Oh, and Sam got his first Jr. Festival over with last week. He wasn't particularly nervous when we went on the snowiest day in March to play for the judges. He played very well, and we found out that he scored 98/100. What a rock star, indeed!

My toothless wonder

We've lost a front tooth. Finally. Both have been loose for ages, but we're finally down one. Here's my super-cute toothless guy:

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.