All Hallow's Eve

The cutest cat.

Great Wolf is a fabulous place to celebrate Halloween - especially when you don't have your own neighborhood in which to trick-or-treat.  The Lodge is decorated for the season and they hold trick-or-treat every night in October from 6 - 8 PM all around the lodge.  Staff members dress in costume and hand out candy to each costumed kid.  Maeryn and Jonah were stoked - as you can imagine.  Their costume choices for this year:  Maeryn wanted to be a Witch Cat.  Jonah wanted to be a Wood Elf from Skyrim. 

Spooky!

Witch Cat

We used the elf ears purchased in Asheville and attached them with Spirit Gum.

He wanted to add a scar.

Jonah's costume mostly came from the local Thrift Store.  We used Michael's belt, a woman's size medium thermal shirt, and a huge crushed velvet brown shirt out of which I cut the sleeves and modified the collar.  We also got corduroy pants and sliced them up at the bottom.  I used my stage make-up to create the scar.

The kids together, just before we headed out.

The kids and me, in line for the Halloween Costume Parade.  Jonah is lugging his goodies.

The Great Wolf Lodge

Jonah and Maeryn at story time.

Great Wolf Lodge is a family favorite.  We. love. it.  We have explored the Great Wolf Niagara Falls, Great Wolf Poconos Mountains, and now Great Wolf: Charlotte, NC.

I planned this trip and put away money for it long before we thought about moving to Asheville on a permanent basis.  And it was a good thing - God's timing is perfect.

We needed this vacation - time away from the grind of traveling and campgrounds and boondocking at Flying J's and Walmarts: it was a beautiful thing to have endless hot water in the shower.

We went immediately to the waterpark (after checking out the super fast and wonderful WiFi) and went nuts on the slides.  Maeryn and I took some girls-only time and went down all the slides she could manage.  It was exhilarating.  It was the first time Maeryn could go on almost everything.

After waterslides we ordered pizza.  We hit up storytime.  We watched lots of TV in the room.  Michael and I caught up on Once Upon a Time.  Great Wolf is always worth every penny.

The kids chillin' outside the sweets shoppe.

Maeryn: triumphant after standing under the big bucket of water for the first time - you Great Wolf regulars know what I mean.

The next day I took Maeryn to the kids' spa and she had a facial.  It was hysterical to watch.  Everyone got a kick out of her incredible sense of humor.

Of course we also did a LOT of Magi-Quest.  Especially Jonah, who spent all of day two running through the lodge with his wand.

That night was Halloween...

But that's a blog for another time ;)