I always thought the idea of a staycation was a little odd, but I totally retract that thought as they are actually pretty awesome. Packing up for the weekend to stay at a resort only 30 minutes from our house is pretty genius; we were in total vacay mode, and when it was over, we were home in no time! We chose Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine as our first stab at a staycation, and I’ll be the first to admit I was thoroughly impressed.
We ended up bringing Beckhams best friend, Olive, the first night to join in on the fun. We kicked the weekend off meeting the Lady Wolf of the resort. Her name is Violet and wherever she was making a special appearance, we were there! The kids both thought she was the coolest.
The resort gave us each wolf ears to sport for the weekend, so that’s just what we did!
We spent A LOT of time at the indoor water park. It doesn’t look that big on the outside, but when you are up close and personal, the park is actually pretty HUGE. There were only two big slides that Beckham and Olive were both tall enough to ride, but they have tons of other options that kept the kids entertained. The toddler area was a big hit, along with the pools and lazy river.
This trip was taken at the end of Summer (almost 3 months ago), but I can still hear the squeals and excitement from these two best friends.
The arcade is so conveniently placed to where you have to walk right through it to get to any of the pools or the water park. Lets just say we really brushed up on our negotiation skills trying to get the kids through the arcade to the water park (where we knew they would have the most fun).
There are several restaurants and little shops throughout the resort, but the ice cream shop was the biggest hit of all. Beckham’s love language is ice cream, so if he were ever to share with you, you’ll know you’re a big deal.
Every night, Great Wolf Lodge offers story time and a dance party. After picking out rocks at the gift shop and grabbing a late dinner, we headed to the lobby for story time. Shortly after the bedtime story, the dance party commenced. Beckham was too exhausted from the day to really take part in the action, but Olive morphed into a social-butterfly-dancing-queen and was ready for the party!
Night one ended with all the snuggles and tickles between the kids int the coolest tree house ever.
We let the kids sleep in the next morning and grabbed brunch before it was time for Olive to go home. Beckham was sad to see her go, but we did what any rational parent would do and distracted him with the most expensive stuffed animal ever (and what will hopefully be his first and only experience with Build A Bear). Everyone, meet Mr. Wolf, the fifety-something-dollar stuffed animal that was well loved for a whole week.
But, I mean.. look at that face.
After hitting the arcade for the 43rd time and grabbing a quick treat, we headed back to the waterpark where we spent the good majority of our day.
At one point, Beckham passed out while laying on daddy as we were floating the lazy river. Obviously we were way overdue for a nap.
We packed up and headed off to the room for a quick siesta. Beckham woke up talking about the arcade, so there was obviously no question as to what we were doing next.
There are so many activities the resort offers throughout the day, but Beckham was so fixated on the arcade and water park that we did not have the chance to experience many of the events this time around. We did, however, make it to The Great Clock Tower show on night two. The kids all take a seat around the clock tower as characters come alive and sing and dance. Beckham thoroughly enjoyed this- so much that he passed right out. 😉 Kidding- he really did love this part, but was just so drained from the day and couldn’t hang.
We called it an early night and woke up early the next morning to grab breakfast, check out, and spend the rest of the day lounging at the outdoor pool.
After several hours in the sun, we headed home. The BEST part of a staycation is feeling like you are away on vacation but only having a 30 minute drive home; the perfect amount of time for a quick nap for Beckham and Mr. Wolf.
Thank you, Great Wolf Lodge, for a great weekend and the absolute perfect end to our Summer! We will be back time and time again!
