Indoor Water Park

We have an indoor water park less than half an hour from our house.  After going to Tropical Islands in Berlin, Germany, we knew it was inevitable that we would visit the Great Escape Indoor Water Park.  I have to say, it was no Tropical Islands, but it was a water park and it was inside and most importantly, it was WARM!  After the winter we've had we were in desperate need of a warm vacation.

It ended up being cheaper to stay at the hotel than to just buy day passes, so we planned to leave right after MiniM.E. was done with school on Wednesday, play that evening, sleep in the hotel and then play all day Thursday.

In retrospect, I most definitely would NOT have stayed in the hotel with a preschooler and a baby if I could have just driven us home for the night.  A. We had to pack half our house to be prepared for an overnight in a hotel.  B. Both kids were either really excited or really freaked out by sleeping someplace different and stayed up much later than usual.  C. See (B.) and also woke up at 5 and 5:30 leaving us four and a half hours in the morning before the water park opened to find things to keep the girls occupied.

Other than the fact that we probably should have chosen to sleep at home (how were we to know?) the girls had a great time.  Most of the water park was a little to old for MiniM.E., but she tried a few water slides and spent most of the time at the kiddie area.

LittleL.G. testing out the water

kiddie slide!

loves this place!

MiniM.E. was so excited the first day at the water park and played really hard until she was exhausted (she lost a lot of sleep the night before because she was so excited).  Little L.G. couldn't even wait until we left the park to crash:

Once we were in the hotel for the night the girls got a second wind and played for a while:

where's the baby?

Early the next morning we woke up and immediately at 5:30am MiniM.E. wanted to go to the water park.  Only four and a half hours to fill!  So we took our time getting dressed and having coffee in the room and then drove to Denny's for breakfast.  Before it was even time to get ready to go to the water park, LittleL.G. was already on nap #1 for the day:

Finally the water park opened.  Thursday we spent a lot of time all together in the Lazy River.  Even LittleL.G. swam with us in the water wrap.  It really tired her out!

 We only lasted about an hour and half on day two- MiniM.E. was running on a severe lack of sleep from being so excited Tuesday night and not sleeping much in the hotel.  There's only so much Lazy River and kiddie area you take I guess.  Some of the stuff for older kids seemed really awesome and in a couple years MiniM.E. is going to have a blast!

It was a semi-successful but overall enjoyable trip and it was so nice to be warm for a couple days!  We really tired out the girls!

Just Some Photos of Our Week So Far

Sunday we had a playdate with a friend and the girls went on a pretty awesome sled dog ride:

LittleL.G. took her first sitting bath:

(MiniM.E. took a sitting bath too, but that's pretty old news)

We went for a walk outside since it was sunny:

And LittleL.G. loved it so much she fell asleep

And then Wednesday after gymnastics we ate lunch at Dunkin and LittleL.G. did some intensive car watching while MiniM.E. ate.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I almost forgot it was St. Patrick's Day because I usually associate it with spring and it certainly doesn't feel like spring yet.  Our celebration entailed dressing the girls in matching shirts and going out to lunch with friends after an eye appointment.  Oh well... I think it's more of a drinking holiday for grown ups without kids...

This week we also did a lot of inside playing:

And I took the girls to the TreePaad for the first time just the three of us.  MiniM.E. did a lot of solo sliding (which I was really proud of her for, since she usually requires me to climb and slide with her)

And both girls spend a lot of time in the toddler area:

I guess both girls were pretty tired this week because this happened at 6:30 while we were watching a movie last night:

Lake Placid

Even though we only live two hours away from Lake Placid, we had never been.  We've heard great things about the cute little town in the Adirondacks from all our friends who seem to drive up at least once a year, but for some reason we never made the trip.  After we missed out on the dog sled rides at Lake George, we HAD to find a dog sled ride before the end of the winter, and Lake Placid was the place to go.

We are borrowing the van from my parents for a bit and MiniM.E. just got a new car seat so we were hoping the two hour drive would be pretty easy with a comfy kid that could watch movies the whole way.  Not fifteen minutes into the trip MiniM.E. started asking, "how many more minutes until we get there?" She repeated that question between one and ten times a minute until we arrived.  Despite the obnoxious questioning, she was otherwise good and LittleL.G. slept the whole time.

We met our friends there and started out with brunch at the Breakfast Club.  The girls chowed down on waffles and we all got delicious breakfast food from sausage and biscuits to egg sandwiches.

LittleL.G. ate her doll

The girls were beyond excited for the dogsled ride, so we finished up and took a walk down main street to find them.  The forecast didn't look good, but the "wintry mix" held off and the temperature was mild so it was a really pleasant day to walk around.

The dogsled ride was, hands down, the highlight of MiniM.E.'s winter.  (I was almost as excited...)  LittleL.G. slept through it... and Bob just wanted to watch.  The girls loved it so much they went twice and as soon as MiniM.E. got off the sled after the second ride, she asked to go again.  We will definitely be doing it again next year!

After the dogsled ride we did some shopping on Main Street then headed to the lake for some ice skating.  Even though the ice was bumpy and slushy, all the kids had a great time-- especially on the sled.

LittleL.G. was so excited to watch the girls skate around

We changed into dry clothes and stopped at the Lake Placid Brewery for a drink and a snack.  Best. Place. Ever.  They had a play room for the kids, so after they had a snack they played while the grown ups enjoyed a nice break.

Best Saturday ever.  We'll definitely be heading back to Lake Placid soon!

Ah, Spring

Gram was in town last week to switch cars so MiniM.E. was in seventh heaven with loads of attention and lots of play time.

On Tuesday the weather was nice so we gave Gram a break and went downtown with some friends for coffee and a walk in the park.  It is so nice to be outside without feeling like your face is going to freeze or your fingers are so cold you cant zip your jacket.

Wednesday was gymnastics and I had a chance to take some photos since Gram was there to help out.

Wednesday after school it was so nice out that we took a walk through the neighborhood and MiniM.E. showed off her fantastic scootering skills.

I'm looking forward to the weather being warm enough that we can put this:

in the car.  LittleL.G. hates her carseat and I think she'll be much happier driving once we put this in.  But I don't want to put it in until it warms up enough that I don't have to bundle her up to bring her in and out of the car.

Another exciting thing that happened in our house was the girls' first bath together.  I can't get enough of these two- they are so cute!