Harry Potter & Our Stay at Great Wolf Lodge {Chloe's 11th Birthday}

Chloe celebrated her 11th birthday! As most of you know, I usually let the kids decide between a party or a road trip for their birthdays. Evan always chooses a party, but Chloe usually opts for a road trip.

This year, she let me know a few months prior to her birthday that she wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge in LaGrange, Georgia, so this momma got to planning. Chloe and I stayed at Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina a year earlier when she competed at the 2018 JBQ Southeast Regional. However, this was our first trip to Great Wolf as a family.

Even though we had a trip planned to Great Wolf, I couldn't resist having a mini-celebration at the house, especially since this was my Harry Potter fan's 11th birthday. Every kid deserves cake on his or her birthday!

I found the cutest custom Hogwarts acceptance letter and train ticket on Pinterest. For those of you who haven't read the Harry Potter books, like me, Harry receives his Hogwarts acceptance letter on his 11th birthday. 

 

Chloe's birthday fell on a school day and she had a chorus performance that morning, so I sent my 11 year old off to school for half the day.

We checked the kids out of school around lunchtime and arrived at the lodge right at check-in.

Selfies with the birthday girl were in order!

And, a picture with brother...

First things, first! We headed to the indoor water park. (These pictures were actually taken over the few days we were there.)

Then, we ventured off the property to find dinner. The kids' favorite foods are hot wings and pizza, and since it was the birthday girl's choice, we found a local pizza joint Karvelas. It was a little weird eating directly off butcher paper, but with food that good, we weren't complaining! If we are ever in the area again, we will be back.

After dinner, the kids wasted no time in throwing on their Gryffindor pjs and robes, so that they could play Magi-Quest in the resorts lobby. This was literally hours of fun for them.

Chris and I hung out in the very spooky lobby while they played. On both nights, we had to hunt the kids down to go to bed. There was a little drama on the second night when our walkie talkies stopped working and Chris had to find the kids at 11pm to go to bed...They knew better. 

And of course, we found the only pressed penny machine in the building. We've got to have our souvenir pressed pennies!

I couldn't resist snapping this picture as the walked down the halls of Great Wolf. They looked so cute in their Hogwarts' robes.

I purchased Wolf Passes for each kid and I thought it was money well spent.  Along with wands and toppers to play Magi-Quest, they played putt putt golf!

They bowled!

And, they received credits to play arcade games!

 

The Wolf Passes even came with goodies like ice cream and a cup they could fill candies from their candy wall!

We forgot our closed-toed shoes (staying at a waterpark resort and all), so they weren't able to climb the rock wall or the ropes course that came with the Wolf Passes, but we hope to do them on our next trip.

For souvenirs, the kids made bears at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. They did have to spend a little of their own money for these, since they were more expensive than our typical souvenirs.

We had a howling good time at Great Wolf! We went into town for our dinners where we found a few good places to eat and loved the downtown area! We hope to make a few more trips before the kids are too cool for school. 

Happy Birthday, Chloe! We hope you enjoyed your birthday vacay. Love and hugs!

Beware of Biting Flies {Dauphin Island Beach Trip}

I could think of no better title for this post after my allergic reaction to the biting flies that literally chased us off the beach on the first evening of our trip. For those of you that had the honor (or should I say "dishonor") of seeing my legs after our return, you understand. A steroid shot and some strong antihistamines later, and I am on the mend. Although, I doubt my legs will see the light of day anytime soon.

Chloe and Evan had a Junior Bible Quiz competition in Mobile this past weekend, so like we did last year, we planned a mini beach vacay. This year I decided that we should stay in Dauphin Island, since it was only about 50 minutes away from the competition site. We did the busy beach scene early in the summer when we vacationed in Destin, so we were looking for a more peaceful beach this time. I also liked that a beach house on Dauphin Island rented for about the same price as a condo in Gulf Shores.

The kids and I did the planning and ultimately they helped me decide on this triangle beach house. We were not disappointed.

 The views from the inside were just as pretty as...

....the views from the outside balconies.

Gulf View

Bay View

The beach was just as beautiful.

We had the beach all to ourselves. The water was shallow and clear. We enjoyed playing in the water and admiring the sea life. It seemed like the perfect beach day...BUT biting flies were swarming all around us. We realized very quickly why we had the beach all to ourselves. People were probably watching us from their windows thinking, " Oh, those poor suckers." I couldn't sit on the sand, my favorite beach spot, without flies biting me. After about 30 minutes, the flies had won and we were racing up the road back to the house, so we could get some relief from the constant biting. I wouldn't realize the damage that had been done in that half hour until the following day when red welts began appearing on my body.

After washing up and recovering from our trauma, we went out in search of dinner. There are only a handful restaurants on the island and we decided on Waves. There were a lot of locals there enjoying the happy hour specials and we stuck out like a sore "tourist" thumbs. I got the seafood special and Chris got the surf and turf. My fish was overcooked, but all-in-all, we enjoyed our meals.

Afterwards, we grabbed a cone at Island Rainbow.

The next morning, we drove up to Mobile, so that the kids could quiz. Here were a few pictures from that morning.

Following the competition, we resumed our vacation. I took this picture of the birdhouses. I could've spent all day travelling around the island taking pictures, but that would've only been fun for me...

We ventured out to the beach a second time. This time, there wasn't a fly in sight and people were actually on the beach. It was a good afternoon. 

I hate when I don't notice how dirty my lens is...

The kids made friends with a group of boys who were catching crabs with a net. Chloe decided she didn't need a net and was pretty successful at catching them with buckets.

We cooked up her catch later that evening. I'll spare you the aftermath.

We spent Saturday night in. We ordered pizza from Island Rainbow and watched Auburn football.

We got in a little more beach time on Sunday morning.

We stopped by Fort Gaines on our way out. Evan will be making his Alabama history portfolio next year, so I thought this would be a fun/educational excursion.

If you know anything about my family, you know we are all about some pressed pennies. Guess what we found at Fort Gaines?!

That sums up our trip to Dauphin Island. We really enjoyed it, despite the biting flies. We may vacation there again, but perhaps, at a different time of year. Remember to beware of biting flies!