Great Wolf Lodge

Ella checking out her wolf tail.

She liked it.

So did we.

They do a bedtime story every night which Ella really liked. She was up super early the next morning and we headed back down to the lobby about 7. I guess she thought if she sat there long enough, everyone else would come along eventually.

They didn't, but we were able to talk her into exploring the rest of the hotel.

Ella in the bear chair.

Ella and Maggie in the top bunk in the "cabin".

Ella and Daddy in the water park!

Ella loved it!

My little fishy.

Weeeee!!!

I think Maggie liked it all right too :-)

I got a groupon for Great Wolf Lodge a little before Maggie's Birthday, so I thought it would be a fun thing to take the girls to do for their Birthdays. We got the room with the cabin built in, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately with a one night stay, we were only there about 20 hours. There was a lot to pack into a short amount of time.

We hit the water park as soon as we checked in and were able to stay about two hours before we had to get ready for dinner. The girls absolutely loved the water park, especially Ella. They have a great big splash area where we spent most of our time. The water is about two feet at the deepest, so the girls were able to get around easily. There was a lazy river, a wave pool and a big play ground like area that they could play in too, but it was a lot colder in all those areas, so we didn't spend as much time there. In general, it was all just a smidge too cold. It would have been great if the room and/or the water was just a little bit warmer.

Dinner was pretty disappointing: over priced, poor quality and bad service. We had to scramble to make it down to the bedtime stories by the fire, but it was really cute. Bedtime back in our room was a bit of a disaster. We had hoped we could get the girls to go to sleep in the little cabin part of the room so we could at least watch tv in the other part of the room. That didn't happen. We had to take Ella out to the big bed and Carrie was able to get Maggie to go to sleep in the bottom bunk bed. It took probably close to two hours to get Ella to go to sleep, she just couldn't unwind in the unfamiliar place.

Ella woke up early the next morning, so we dressed quickly and whisked her out of the room before she woke Maggie and Carrie up. We went down to the lobby and explored for 30 minutes or so until the restaurant opened for breakfast. Another so-so, over-priced meal and then back to the water park until check-out. This time Jeff and I took turns staying with the girls while the other one went to do the big water slides. They were really fun. We let the girls stay and play until the absolute last minute and then had to rush to get out of there.

When we got home, Ella crashed immediately and slept for over three hours. I actually had to wake her up and she still went to bed at her normal time that night. Overall we had a great time. I would definitely go back, but I would want to have more time to spend and not have to eat there!

Day After Thanksgiving at Nana's House

Ella and Emily

Ella partaking in her new favorite pass time.

Thanksgiving dinner part II

Maggie and Carrie

Nana and Gran

Ella and Daddy

Mommy and Ella

Alan and Emily

Alan and the girls

Nana and the girls

Carrie and the girls

The little girls

All the girls

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ella insisted on this picture. I think she was trying to stall on leaving.

We did the day after Thanksgiving with my Mom. She was very excited because it was the first time she's had all of her kids and grandkids for Thanksgiving ever. She went all out and we had a wonderful time.

Thanksgiving and 25 Months



Ella's new "Maggie" hat.  (Ella calls all things Aggie, Maggie. Jeff's brainwashing backfired a little bit.)



Checking out the site of the upcoming restaurant. We're very excited!

Ella trying out the new tricycle. Thank you Aunt Cindy!

Another new "Maggie" hat. Ella picked this one herself.

Ella and baby Dahlia (Ella named her). She has become quite attached to her lately. She got her last year for her Birthday and played with her occasionally, but would then move on. Now she suddenly won't go to sleep without her.

Ella let me put her hair in a ponytail for all of five minutes, long enough to get a picture anyway. She spent most of the time looking at herself in the mirror and saying "Like Aubrey!".  She does remind me a lot of Aubrey with her hair up.

Ella playing with Jeff's ninja mask.

Another new hat, a cupcake. So cute! Goes great with her cupcake dress.

Ella and Roscoe cuddling. Jeff took this picture when I was at work, so I'm not sure who she was talking to. She loves to talk on the phone. The conversations are a little one sided, but it's impossible to get the phone away from her.

Thanksgiving morning with Aunt Cindy.

And Uncle Thomas.

Rallying after her nap, ready to keep Thanksgiving going.

Relaxing after Thanksgiving dinner (not that she ate any of it...).

Ella and Maggie playing with Molly.

I've been trying to get this post up since the day after Thanksgiving but Blogger's been all messed up.

It's been a crazy month and I can't say that I'm sorry to see it end. Ella had a hard time letting go of her Birthday, so we tried to focus on Thanksgiving. She got pretty excited about it, and I think she enjoyed all the time with family. She's already talking about Christmas, I think she's really going to have fun this year.

2 Year check-up and Halloween

Ella playing with her favorite Birthday present... The box her rainboots came in :-)

Daddy dressed Ella this day and even did her hair. Apparently the ponytail didn't last long.



Ella getting ready to go to Nana and Aunt Carrie's Halloween party.



Ella and Kevin trading hats on the way to Nana's house.

Upside down chicken fight!

Ella tickling Maggie.

 

Ella trying out her new tricycle. She hasn't really figured out how to work the peddles yet, but she likes it.

Ella dancing to R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

Vera, Ella, and Isla ready to go Trick-or-Treating.

Kitty Cat, Dinosaur, and Sun Flower.

Taking a break. Trick-or-Treating is hard!

Ridding on the Forest Park train.

Ella had her two year check-up last week, it went really well. Dr. Sweet said she looks great and was very impressed with her language skills. In fact, Ella told her a "story" and Dr. Sweet said that is a three year old milestone. All of her other milestone were ahead of the curve as well except that she can't jump yet. She's not supposed to be able to yet, it's an advanced skill she might be working on. The stats are as follows: weight- 26lbs (51%), and height- 36in (95%). Still tall and skinny.

We had a really fun Halloween, especially since Ella was really into it this year. We needed the distraction to take her mind off of it no longer being her Birthday. We had Nana and Carrie's Halloween party last weekend which was lots of fun and gave Ella a chance to try out her costume. On Halloween we went to our friend's Mikki and Brian's house. We did dinner with them and then headed out to go Trick-or-Treating in their neighborhood. It was a lot of fun, their neighborhood really does a good job. I thought Ella might like going to a few houses and then get bored with it- but man, was I wrong! She was so into it. After an hour and a half we had to drag her home. She had been practicing saying "Trick-or-Treat" and even learned the little song, but lost her nerve when she got up to the doors. She would just stand there holding her bucket out, even after they put candy in it, until one of us turned her around and steered her away. She was so cute and we had a great time! Today she keeps asking about Halloween and I've moved on to distracting her from Halloween with Thanksgiving. Unfortunately she's not that into food or football, so it's hard to find the appeal for her. We might have to focus on Christmas.