An excursion

We spent last night at Great Wolf Lodge in Pennsylvania. It was our second time there and as we headed off, Tom couldn't have been less excited. Cranky, cranky. I hate it there. Wasn't once enough? On and on.  I wish he could have let me know this while I was booking the trip rather than in the car on the way there. Oh well. Maybe he wasn't listening when I asked if he wanted to go. What is it that they say about husbands losing the ability to hear the pitch of their wives' voices? That's definitely happened in our house.

Weirdly, I was looking forward to the trip. Ben and Sam had a blast last time we went and generally when they're happy, I'm happy. It’s even better when their fun has nothing to do with me!  My hope was that while they were cascading down the slides having the time of their lives, I would be busy reading my new book - Fifty Shades of Grey. Read it? It’s pretty entertaining but definitely not the ideal novel to read at a water park filled with critical mommies and intrigued daddies.  I could have planned better (or bough a book cover!) but I just couldn’t put it down.

Within minutes of arriving, we changed into our bathing suits and headed to the water park. As with so many things about Sam, his reaction was not what I expected - he thought the ride down the slides was awesome, but his intense fear of heights made the endless climb up the stairs terrifying. To ease Sam into it, Tom joined him and Ben for a while. Soon enough he felt safe and was excited to conquer all the slides – Hydro Plunge and Alberta Falls were no match for Ben and Sam and off they went on their own! Although Tom and I could hardly hear each other over the rushing water and screaming kids, we finally had a break and Tom admitted that it was kind of fun there. Hooray! Love when we all enjoy ourselves at the same time.

After about thirty minutes, Ben appeared and declared that he was ready to go. In unison, Tom and I asked where Sam was and he admitted that he didn’t know. We split up and scoured the area. I started off calm and laughing. But after a few minutes, I got really nervous. I wasn’t worried that he had drowned since there were too many lifeguards to allow that to happen. I was confident he wouldn’t wander off without us since he knew just where we were sitting. The only realistic explanation was that someone stole him. Just as I started to launch into a full blown panic,  Sam came running up to me.  Speaking quickly with a huge smile spread across his face he told me not to worry. He was right over there playing basketball with some nice boys. What? Who is this kid? The Sam I know doesn’t like sports or kids. I asked him if he was ready to leave and he said he’d like to to stay a little longer because he wanted to keep playing hoops. Sure, I said. Five more minutes. Hmmm. Love this. Maybe his brain is starting to balance. I don’t know what it is (and at this point, I don’t really care!) but I can’t stop smiling.

We head up to the room for showers and a break from the constant hum of the water park. As I straighten up the room, I find a Rice Krispies Treat wrapper.

Sam, is this yours?

It's mine. I was hungry.

But Sam. It has dairy in it.

Ooooh. I didn't know.

It's ok but you can't eat anything if you're not 100% sure it's allowed.

Sorry mom.

I know.

Then I asked him to read the label and point out the dairy. He easily found the milk in the list of the ingredients and understood what to look for next time before he eats something new. We were on Day Four and have to reset the clock. Disappointing but what’s an extra four days if this Brain Balance thing is actually working?!! I still can't wipe the grin off my face.