Swagbucks

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http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/AbercrombieMonkeys

Great Wolf Lodge - Water Park

Part 3: Water Park

Now that we were in our swim suits we went downstairs to the water park.  The entrance to the water park is on the first floor.  Upon entering the park, our oldest was measure for height.  There was one of 4 wrist bands, red, yellow, green, or blue placed on his arm indicating how tall he was, which in turn dedicated which slides he could go on.  I must say they are picky, which can be a good and bad thing.  They made our son remove his sandals, his feet had to be against the board, and both feet had the be together.  Then she took a ruler and measured his height.  We were lucky and our 3 year old got a green bracelet which means he was taller than 42".

Side note: Our son ripped off his green bracelet at bedtime, so when we returned to the water park in the morning we had to get him another colour coded bracelet.  This time the lifeguard measuring the kids did not want to give him a green bracelet, and my husband and another mother behind us in line had to convince her to hold the ruler level and see that he is taller than 42". So make sure you kid get the appropriate bracelet as it will greatly impact the rides they can go on.

Once in the water park, we first found a table to hold our towels (which you pick up immediately inside the water park doors), cover-ups and sandals.  Then it was off to the kid area.

Kiddie Area

This area has 4 slides for kids ranging in height from 35" to 48".  Two slides are short little ones that go perfectly straight, while the other two each have two small curves in them.

To the right of the slides there is a small area where the water is only 2 feet deep and has a couple low basketball nets.

Fort Mackenzie

This was the next thing that caught our son’s attention. Who wouldn't love to climb up two flights of stairs turning on and off sprinklers, water guns, and dumping buckets of water on top of people below?  Once reaching the top there were two slides, both which required you be 42" to ride, and we are not allowed to ride two at a time.  The orange one is the slower one, and I recommend the first one you should try.

Crystal River

Since walking around with a 9 month old while getting water dumped and sprayed on me wasn’t my idea of fun, our youngest son and I hit the Crystal River.  While it was relaxing just floating along in the river, there was one spot where buckets of water randomly dump on you and a spot where cold water sprays out of a barrel, so while relaxing, I also needed to pay attention to where we were and do my best to avoid water landing on us.

Frog Pond

This was something our oldest could do but only with a parent in the water helping him from lily pad to lily pad.  It was a lot of fun, but you need to be 48" or taller to do without a parent in the water.

Canada Vortex, Grizzy Falls, Eagle Falls, and Bobcat Falls

These are 4 other slides, all requiring tubes, and all but one you can do in pairs sitting tandem.

This photo shows the end of the vortex and where the 3 other slides end.  All the 'Falls' slides have a portion that goes outside which adds to the excitement.

Wooley Mammoth

This ride you can ride as a family as long as the youngest member can hold onto the handle by yourself.  As an added feature you can scan your wrist bracelet at the top and at the bottom it takes you photo which can be viewed in the lobby by scanning your wrist ban again.

Niagara Rapids Run

Now this ride is one only my husband went on.  We didn't realise you need to be atleast 2 people to ride on this one.  For this one you must be 48" tall no exception.

Since we went in the winter, all outdoor areas were closed expect the outdoor hot tub, but with -20 C, I was not about to see if it was warm outside.

Three other areas inside that we did use but I do not have photos of was the wave pool, hot tubs (one that was for kids and adults and one that was adults only), and a pool that was 3 feet deep at one end and 4 feet at the other.

Overall there is something for every age of kid; both my 3 year and my 9 month old had a blast.

Next: The food.

Great Wolf Lodge - Family Suite

Part 2: Our Room

Since we are just a family of 4 we determined that the Family Suite room was enough for us.  The room had 2 queen beds and a pull out couch on the opposite side of the half wall.  Here is a photo from their website.

The room also had a tub/toliet room, a sink, microwave, mini fridge, desk area with two chairs, and a television.

Here is the floor plan layout for the Family Suite

There are many option room options but this one worked based on the age of our kids.

One thing I would change next time we go it our room location.  We were located on the second floor about 8 to 10 rooms from the lobby.  This was a problem as I was trying to get our youngest to sleep while a majority of the children at the lodge were at the nightly storey time.  There was a constant talking, yelling, running, shouting going on outside our door till about 9pm.

Another thing that didn't work as well as expected was the internet. When we arrived we had no problem connecting; however by 8pm we couldn't get a single webpage to load.  Even after talking to the front desk and getting an Ethernet cable we still couldn't get it to work.

Next up: The water park

Great Wolf Lodge

So this past two days we headed off to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls Canada for the first time with the boys.  There were many things we learned after going that no amount of reading ahead of time told me.  I am going to break in down into specific posts, mainly to keep on topic, but also the boys don't let me get too much time on the computer in a row.

Part 1: Check-in

Check-in is available 1pm on your day of arrival.  They don't guarantee your room will be ready for you but you can get into your bath suit and hit the waterpark.  When you check-in you get bracelets.  These act as your room key, charge card, and most importantly they connect your children to you in the event you get separated.

For us upon check-in we were also offered a meal package for adults and children older than 4.  The meal package includes a buffet dinner, buffet breakfast, and lunch option from the restaurants in the waterpark or just outside.  The price for each adult was $45 and for a child was $25.  I have no idea if this is a regular thing, but nothing I saw by reading ahead of time.

Another fun thing was during check-in there are spots for your children to place their hands under the counter that cause creatures to come to life and talk to them.  At first this scared my 3 year old, but then he wanted to check in again just so he could make the animals talk.

In the lobby there are also a moose, bear, and tree that you can make come to life the same way.  In front of this is also where they do the night-time story at 8pm.

So now we are checked in, lucky us our room was ready, so off we go to get into our room and hit the waterpark.

Next room review......

Domestic Travel in Canada

When travelling within Canada there are really only two airlines Air Canada and WestJet.

Non-connecting flights are very important to me.  I don't like to take any longer than I need to get to on vacation, and with kids do you really need another couple of hours to keep them entertained??

So unless I can't get a direct flight with WestJet would be the only reason I would fly Air Canada.  Yes all airlines have their issues, extra fees, and reward programs, it is actually the television for every seat and the complimentary snacks on all flights over 1 hr that is the real reason I choose them.

Another tool I find really helpful, since the price of airfare changes faster than a normal person changes their underwear is http://www.kayak.com/  When you create an account you can get daily or weekly emails letting you know what the price is on all the airlines and how that price is changing.  I much rather read one email a day than make dummy books with different airlines, just to find out their price hasn't changed.  Then when the price actually does change you know, making it a win-win situation.

First Flight as a Parent

Our first airplane ride as parents occurred in October 2009.  We only had one child at the time and we would be flying home on his 2nd birthday.

Reason for the flight was we, along with my mom, step-dad, step-sister, and BIL, were flying to Edmonton for Thanksgiving. Although we were all flying from Ontario to Alberta, we were on 3 separate flights.

I booking our flights there are many things you need to take into consideration, what time is nap, will we be in the air during a meal time, and because we were going to be encountering a 2 hour time change, what could we do so the affect wouldn't be felt so badly when we landed.  Once I found flights that met our timing requirements the next thought was how many seats.

Since our return flight was going to be on our son's 2nd birthday we knew he was going to require a seat, but what about the flight out west?  After looking at prices and remembering how little room there is between the rows of seat, we decided it was well worth the money to just get our son his own seat. (Side note: My husband is 6'2" and I am 6' so there is already no leg room without even adding a child.)

On the plane I was so happy he had his own seat.  For the life of me I will never understand but people must recline their seat when the person behind them has a child on their lap.  I see it on every flight, and even after the flight attendants ask them to put their seat back up, they still refuse.

We also chose to take our son's car seat with us, not only on the trip but onto the plane.  Now I will admit it was a *&%^&% to get installed and even worse to get it uninstalled when we reached Edmonton, but he slept amazing, and I left a lot better knowing he was safe no matter what.  It did help the decision we needed a car seat when we reached Edmonton and the rental companies couldn't guarantee they would have them for us.

Final recommendations when travelling with a child:
1. If you can afford it get your child their own seat and bring their car seat with you
2. Plan according to nap and meal times
3. If possible get your seats directly being the emergency row as they cannot recline

Introduction

Welcome to my blog!!

I thought I better start my introducing myself and give the reason for the name of the blog.

My name is Melissa and I am the mom of two little boys.  My oldest is 3 and the baby is 9 months old.  I live with them and my husband in South-western Ontario on a 50 acre farm, which we do not actually farm.  We love country life and all the space it gives us, however our main goal since we first talked about having kids was to show them the world, and of course Canada.

Because of our desire to show our kids the world, we wanted to include every member of the family in all vacations; no one will ever be left out.

Although we haven't done that many family vacations, I wanted to document what we have learned first as a record of all the fun we have, then a reminder to me, and third to help anyone else we can with our experiences.

Hope you enjoy reading along and let me know if you have any questions about our travels.