Pre-Christmas trip to Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocanoes

This week we took a pre-Christmas vacation to Great Wolf Lodge in the Pocanoes in nearby Pennsyltucky.  We had told Allison we were going to go away on a vacation, but we had not quite explained to her that we were going to a giant indoor water park, and that she'd be sleeping in a bunk bed.  She was thrilled with both!  When she first walked in to the room, she was very sad that there was no bed for her... it took her a moment to realize that she had a "wolf den" room to herself, with bunk beds.  She climbed that ladder over and over, but in the end slept on the bottom bunk each night.

The lobby was all decorated up for the Christmas season, beautiful.

 
And has a gorgeous stone fireplace.

We didn't take pictures inside the actual water park, and this one really doesn't do it justice. It was really awesome, with everything from mini water slides to the great big one (which John enjoyed) and a medium sized one the whole family tried!  The first time, Allison came down face first, and immediately said she wanted to go again.  On the first day she didn't like the "ocean area" - the waves were too strong for her, but the 2nd day she enjoyed that too!  John particularly enjoyed tricking me into walking under an full bucket of water, and pulling the rope....

Santa visited the Lodge while we were there.

Each evening in the lobby, the clock tower puts on a show and all of the little ones gather round to see. 

The first night Ally was a little reserved and sat with John.

The 2nd night, she found a spot for herself in the crowd,

and even stood for a better view. (Yes, I was upstairs to take this picture, but John was just out of camera view - can you find her?)

The show ends with snow falling in the lobby, a real wonder for the little ones.

After the show, it is time for story time around the huge stone fireplace.  The story is read by one of Santa's Elves, and Rowdy the Reindeer is by her side.  Look who is by Rowdy's side on the second evening....

And a follow up picture with Rowdy.

The other thing Ally enjoyed about the Lodge was her "magic wand".  The whole Lodge is set up with an interactive game where you go on quests and collect certain things.  Ally was too young for the actual quest, but she loved waving her magic wand and seeing the treasure chests open up!

 
We really had a great time.\

Visit with Santa 2012

First Ever trip to Chuck E Cheese

Mac and Ally day was a first for Ally today, her first ever visit to Chuck E Cheese.

Thanks to my experienced Mom friend, we made the perfect plan. Get there as it opened and have the place to ourselves, followed up by lunch at Panera just before the crowd started to gather.

Kids had a great time, riding pony, cars, taking pictures.

The outing ending with another first, Ally's first ever meltdown in public.  A day I'll never forget!

Reading?

Haven't posted in a while, but Allison started to show some impressive new developments this Thanksgiving break. She can now spell/recognize 'Exit' and 'Cat'!

Class Thanksgiving show

John and I were invited in to watch Ally's pre-K class sing a Thanksgiving song, and enjoy a Feast with the class.

Miss Amy with Gabriel

Today we invited Gabriel to participate in one of our Mac and Ally days, a trip to the mall to see Miss Amy.

Gabriel enjoyed all of the new friends, and had a great time dancing to Miss Amy's music too.

He also enjoyed the "after Miss Amy, let them run around a bit part".

Fall Festival 2012

We went to Terhune Orchards for the Fall Festival.  Ally had a great time eating cider donuts, feeding animals, riding a pony and picking pumpkins.  The weather was beautiful and Ally's pumpkin ambitions were high, we told her we would buy any pumpkin she could lift! At the end of the day, we headed over to the new Cheesecake Factory restaurant.  While we endured a two hour wait, Ally entertained herself by running around us.  She is the energizer!

Balancing!

Who would have thought she could do this?

Fun Thursday with Mac and his family

I'm sure there is some blog rule that says this is cheating, but Kimberly has such a nice post about our day yesterday, I just have to put a link to it!  I'll admit it made me very sad to read it though, time is flying!

Countdown to Kindergarten-50

Beautiful Day for Bowman's Tower

What an absolutely beautiful day today was, we drove to Washington's Crossing PA to "climb" up in Bowman's Tower and take a look around.  Great views, really amazing to see the shadows of the clouds! They have installed an elevator since the last time I was there! 

Gram, she is not even CLOSE to the top, don't worry!

Looking North



Beautiful Trenton off in the distance on the far left



Ready for the first day of dance, year two!

Yesterday Ally tried a gymnastics class and really loved it, today she starts her second year of dance class!

Don't they look like they need an adult on that ride?

I thought so too! All is fine that ends well, and Ally and her good buddies had a great time!

Good Morning with Grandparents

Maybe if we make the kids walk

To the ice cream shop, they will be exhausted and go to sleep easily!

Beach bum!

Ally is having a great time on the beach this week!!

Blue eyes just like Cinderella

Is what she said she was going for. A good scrubbing is what she ended up with!!

Allison's new bed

Before the sheets are put on:

July 4th Trip to Atlantic City

We decided to take a quick overnight trip to visit Lucy the Elephant, and spend July 4th in Atlantic City.  We had a great time wandering around Lucy, the new Revel casino/hotel, playing in the surf and catching the fireworks on the beach.  It was a fun family getaway!