Great Wolf in Grapevine

 "Part of our responsibility as parents, as adults, is to set examples for children.  But we have to like children 

in order to be really happy fulfilled adults."

-Bobby McFerrin

John heard it through the grapevine at work, that we just had to take Zoey to Grapevine, TX for the time of her life.  Therefore, with little notice, as always, we packed up our bags and our favorite 4th person and headed out towards Dallas again for the weekend.  This time the roadside bluebells had withered and

mounds of yellow and red flowers had taken their place.  The scenery became greener and beautiful the nearer we got.


Our destination was the Great Wolf Lodge, home to a huge indoor water-park, open only to lodge guests and multiple of other kid friendly attractions designed to suck parent's wallets dry (we refrained from all the extras).   The temperatures were scheduled to be in the 70's for the weekend, which is great for most outdoor activities except swimming, so the lodge was a great excape for us and exactly what Zoey wanted.

Tickling her to smile because she's sad we're leaving.

Although Zoey is growing up too fast for me, she still is that little girl who loves her princess frilly swimsuits and the kiddie pool.  She slid down the smaller slides nearly a million times.  We talked her into a few bigger slides, one of which she refused to go down again after the first ride due to an unfortunate water-up-the-nose blast.  She loved the river where she could run in the current relying on her life jacket to steady her and she even rode the waves in the wave pool without hesitation.

The place really caters to kids, but we decided to be among the young at heart, so we adults traded off watching Zoey so we could enjoy some of the more adventurous rides.  Karlie and I had a few issues with our coordination at the rides ends in tandem tubes and once she flipped from behind me over my head and once I bit her head.  In the end we survived and had so much fun I didn't bother stopping to take any pictures inside the water park (not to mention I was fearful of what the water/humidity would do to electronics), so you'll just have to use your imagination and settle for this one leaving pic (day 2).

After a long day of driving and play, we ended the  night  at Joe's Crab Shack (yummmmm)!

Pirate John wants his crab pot.

Of course we posed in the cool mosaic bathroom.

We ordered Zoey's meal first, which was a good decision since she crashed immediately after her meal.  Those who play hard sleep hard.

The next morning Karlie and I played with Zoey for a few hours in the waterpark, even sneaking her onto one of the bigger "boat style" rides; as she was about a half inch short of the height requirement.  We thought she would enjoy the speedy ride, but the deadpan look on her face was clear...'this is not my idea of fun Mom!'

Although the lodge would allow us to stay in the water-park until 9pm that night, we had to be home for John and Karlie to be ready for work on Monday, so we checked out and headed to lunch.  On our way to find a place, we stumbled across the Central Market in Southlake.  John and I found some elusive fruits we had desired to try such as: mangosteen, dragon fruit, mamey sapote, and manzano bananas.  Karlie too knew what she wanted and found a huge assortment of loose-leaf tea that we could barely pull her away from.  There was so much selection I was in heaven, but with a five hour drive back, full grocery shopping was neither advantageous or a priority.

Some of our bounty. (Mamey Sapote, Kawino Horned Melon, Dragon Fruit , and various teas)

Dragon fruit is soooo cool.

 After lunch at the Cheesecake Factory...

Our view at lunch!

...we stopped by Cabela's to spy camping gear and their amazing stuffed exhibits (Zoey thought she got a zoo outing also).  We then pointed ourselves back towards the Chihuahua Desert and Midland, TX. Goodbye rivers, lakes and everything green. It was a great weekend and I'm so glad I have such a great daughter, husband, and sister to share it with.  What will future weekends bring?