We spent our fourth Christmas at Great Wolf Lodge this year. This year we also took a trip there in July with the cousins (minus Caroline and Joel), and Ben also got to go there on a sleepover/birthday party for his friend Jared. The extra visits this year did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm though! Also, Ben's best friend Jared and his family also decided to do Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas this year so that made it extra fun for the kids. Jared's younger brother Evan is a year older than Becca, and baby Josh is three months older than Caroline and is in her class at preschool. So all the kids had a buddy this year.
This year was also slightly different in a couple other ways. In previous years Joel had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and was also on-call both nights for phone calls. This year although he had to go in to round both days, he was not on-call for phone calls. He actually finished up at work on Christmas Eve and made it to Great Wolf Lodge a little bit before the kids and I got there. We upgraded our accommodations to the biggest room they have, which has two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a living room area. Joel and I stayed in one bedroom, which had a king bed and private bathroom, and Ben and Becca stayed in the other bedroom which had two queen beds. We set up Caroline's pack n play in the living room. So everyone was able to get some decently private sleeping space. This was the first year that Joel stayed overnight with us there, since we had the bigger room and he was not on call.
This was also our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge with a gluten-free Caroline. I was a little nervous about it, and packed a cooler of snacks and food for her. But it turned out to be a really easy place for her to eat. At the Christmas Eve dinner buffet, the chef came out and walked down the line with Joel and pointed out all the gluten free items to him -- and there were a lot of them, including roasted chicken , baked ham, lots of veggies, mashed potatoes. The next day at lunch I talked to the waitress about Caroline and she told me that they have a separate gluten free prep space in the kitchen and could make her a gluten free kids hamburger meal complete with a gluten free bun and french fries that are prepared separately in dedicated gluten free fryer oil. She also sent the head chef over to our table, who said hello to Caroline and explained again about the kitchen set up and how I would not have to worry about her food getting contaminated. He also said next time we come we could get a special allergy wristband for Caroline if we wanted, so all the staff would be immediately aware that she had food restrictions. So it was a big relief! Here are some pictures from our trip.
The kids checking out our upgraded accommodations:
Ben and best friend Jared at the Christmas Eve dinner buffet:
Becca and Caroline enjoying the water park:
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