Great Times at the Great Wolf Lodge

Grandma Baleiko and Aunt Ruthie gifted us a stay at the Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas. We were able to enjoy that adventure this weekend.  It was a balmy 84 degrees in the waterpark, and we enjoyed every fun filled minute.  The waterslides were all fun, but the lilypads and the spraying devices were the favored activities.

At the end of our stay we met Uncle Bo, Aunt Lynne, cousin Emma, and Grandma B for lunch.  They definitely got to see the full range of family dynamics as enacted by the fatigued Rogers children.

Mitchell is under the spray of the bucket dump with his arms wide open.

Apparently the fun was just too much, as we had a 67% hostile sibling rate by check out!

Stuffed Full of Fun

We headed in to Naperville for part of Thanksgiving break; it did not disappoint!  We stuffed our hours full of family fun (and food!).

We started at the arcade at the Brunswick Zone. The Hallowells merged with us for lots of games.  Uncle Bo was just as excited as our kids!

The kids loaded up with tons of prizes (mostly of the candy variety).

After the arcade fun we headed back to Anderson Drive for some quality pool time.  The boys took on numerous opponents, but were left in awe of Cousin Matt's skill.  He was definitely channeling the Giddings Street Garage juju!

 

Some of us remained spectators throughout.

When the battle rounds were completed, some excellent coaching took place.

The trip would not be complete without poker,

Or Fridaes and Saturdaes.

Naperville, Part Deux

The fun continued today...

We started off early with breakfast and a swim in the pool (see Early Risers post).  Then we were off to the Naperville Baleikos for more family fun. We visited with Matthew and Courtney, trading a swimming pool for a a game of pool with Matthew, took a trip to the very cool playground, and then had ice cream!

Lucy and Aunt Ruthie also managed to have a Mini Pedi Party;  both of them had their toes painted outside on the deck!

Later we met The Hallowells Great for dinner at BD's Mongolian BBQ.  That was a fantastic dinner! It was very cool to watch the food being cooked.

Brookfield Zoo

Today we met the Hallowells Great and took the kiddos to the Brookfield Zoo.  This first stop?  Primates!  Lucy was in monkey heaven.  Then we headed off to Feathers and Scales at Mitchell's request.  After lunch we found the wolves and bears for Owen.  We even had some time on one of the playgrounds before seeing the giraffes and other hoofed animals on the way out.