More Dells Pics

Unfortunately, it was Noah who got REALLY sick on our trip. The poor guy started out playing and swimming, but ended up with bouts of diarhea (I never can spell that word correctly, so I'm not even going to try) and then moved on to a night and day of vomiting. Since McCarragher's had had such a long night the last night, and Noah was still so sick, they decided to head home by noon on Tuesday. We had planned on staying through the afternoon, but our kids were so tired, they kept falling down and getting hurt, and Will was battling a bit of a cold, so we decided to head home early too. It was good to get home and regroup. Will ended up staying home Wednesday from school and laying around but went back to school today. This pic is on the huge multi-level fort where you can climb, squirt people, and there are slides at the top. The first (and only) time Sam went down this one he turned around at the bottom, with his feet up in the air, and the water pouring over his face. He was totally submerged, and needed help to get out. It was very scary! He stuck to smaller slides after that, but the bigger boys loved those slides.

Jack, standing in a spray of water:

Sam, tuckered out:

On the first day, everyone was more daring. Here Sam and Noah are going down a slide that later on Sam would not do because it was too fast: he'd lose his footing and go under at the bottom sometimes. His all time favorite slide was actually the one right next to it, that looks like an eagle. He called it the "Herky the Hawk slide." He liked it because it went almost painstakingly slow. Unfortunately I guess I never videoed him on that one. But it was funny, he'd almost stop sometimes, and had all this extra time to look around him as he leisurely slid down. He's not much of a thrill seeker I guess. Later on Noah convinced him to go back to the faster slide, but then he'd only do it if I caught him. Seemed silly after he'd done it so well by himself. But he was gun shy after going under.

Sam on a water-squirting "jet ski":

On the last day, Jack actually talked Mom into going down a water slide!

There was also a dry play area called Wiley's Woods. It was climbing structure with net ladders and tube slides. Plus there were foam balls that you could shoot at each other from air cannons. You wore an electronic bracelet that kept track of your score as you went to different kiosks and performed tasks like gathering a certain amount of "berries," (balls) and other games. The kids had fun running and getting sweaty, but it turned out to be a bit lame, as many of the kiosks were not working properly and the prize that was advertised to all who reached a certain score, was no longer given out. Here are some pics from there:

I know that Jack will be disappointed that the picture of him jumping out of the basket isn't here, because he really liked that one. (Actually, his awesome aunt is saving him the embarassment!) However, I can't resist putting in Jack's all time favorite highlight of the trip: "The Rhythm of Nature" show in the lobby. We made him attend something like three times. The little kids loved every cheesy minute of it and the corny music will be forever embedded in our brains. It's hard to see, but there are little robotic animals- an owl, squirrel, beaver, and turtle that all moved and "sang." Plus up top there was an indian girl and a pioneer boy. I've recorded some of it here, so that anytime Jack wants to he can relive his fondest memory over and over, as many times as he wants. Sam had to say this when the animatronic indian girl came "rolling" out of her door, "Here comes the angel, out the dining room door!"

The "Big Kids" had fun too. They went on the Howlin' Tornado which was featured in the video on the Great Wolf Lodge website. Jack, Joe, Damon and Laura went together on a four person raft. Evidently it was pretty intense. Laura and Jack definitely decided NEVER AGAIN! Joe and Damon went down Mountain Edge Raceway several times: a head-first mat racing ride. The "Yoo-hoo" you here is the characteristic yell that reverberates throughout the waterpark anytime Damon goes down any waterslide! Afterward, the life guard came over to Damon laughing because he said he'd never seen anyone switch lanes like that! Unfortunately I can't figure out how to rotate this video so y'all will have to turn your heads! Also, I just realized that the sound didn't make it to this video for some reason. Oh well!