Back in the summer of 2010, we took our kids on a little vacation at a cottage on Lake Michigan. It was wonderful and relaxing and refreshing.

It was our only family vacation ever, until now!

Luke and I got a great deal on the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. So, we decided to make some more memories!

You know, there is something to be said for not overindulging in activities like this. Because vacationing is so rare for us, our kids were BEYOND thrilled with the whole experience. Checking into the hotel room, making ourselves at home, playing in the waterpark, eating out, EVERYTHING was an adventure for them.

They actually got along nearly the entire time. Smiling, playing together.

It was GREAT.

So, let’s get to the pictures!

So happy to be on our way!

They napped on the way there.

We got there, unloaded, and here’s a pic of the kids waiting in the lobby as Luke parked the car.

The lobby has a really warm and welcoming feel. It’s huge, for one thing. But it also smells like a cinnamony potpurri, and there’s a fire in the fireplace.

Oh, and there are taxidermied animals everywhere. That gives me warm fuzzy memories of my childhood, as my deer-hunting dad mounted five deer in our living room.

We splurged and got a KidCabin Suite, which had a little log cabin room with bunk beds for the kiddos to sleep in. They LOVED it!

We spent the entire first afternoon in the waterpark area of the hotel. It was great fun! There is enough in there to keep a family busy, that’s for sure!

The only bummer was that Jaden was not really liking the water. I floated on the lazy river with him for quite a while that afternoon (in lieu of naptime). 🙂 You can see his grumpiness in this picture…

When dinner time rolled around, we went up to our room, got dried and dressed, and ate at the restaurant in the hotel.

The pizza was fine, but the kids were much more entertained by the decor…Trees with flashing lights, fake bugs, other fake animals, etc, etc…And a faux campfire.

That first night, they slept like ROCKS. They fell asleep quickly, and slept hard all night. That was a blessing! I did hear them a couple of times through the night, but not as much as I thought I might.

The next morning – bagels, bananas, and juice in our room!

And then it was back to the waterpark! Yippee!!!

And the good news was, Jaden loosened up a lot, and really enjoyed his second day in the water!

First, he loved these water guns that he could shoot at Daddy and Caleb.

And then he got used to the little kid slides (going down by himself!)…

And eventually he loved the bigger slides (after I shoved him down them the first time, hehehe)…

(That was Grace on the yellow slide, by the way.)

Ava’s favorite part was the swimming pool. She enjoyed floating around in there, tossing a ball back and forth, and kicking her feet.

Grace and Caleb loved riding the big tube slides with Luke and/or me. I wish we had pictures of those, but we were having too much fun to stop and take pictures. 🙂

Oh, the other favorite was the big ol’ bucket at the top of the big play structure. See it there, on top?

It dumps 1,000 gallons of water every 5 minutes.

Caleb loved standing under it. Jaden loved watching it.

None of us loved saying goodbye to the waterpark that night.

"Bye, water park!"

Luke Pricelined a different hotel for that night (hello, $45!). So, we were able to stay at the water park until almost 9pm, and then head over to the other hotel for a good night’s rest.

The next day, we had a yummy breakfast at the hotel, and then drove along the Grand Traverse Bay for a little while, enjoying the sunshine.

We got out to play at a roadside park for a few minutes, but it ended up being MUCH colder than we expected!

As corny as it sounds, our next stop was the mall to let the kiddos ride the carousel. They loved their little ride.

And then we headed home. And for one last hoorah, we stopped for ice cream in Cedar Springs. YUM.

Family vacation was super successful. Thank you, Lord!