Water Park Getaway

For the past few years, we've taken a mid-winter weekend trip to a waterpark.  This year, though, we were really hesitant to commit to booking a little getaway because Carter is at a bad age for water parks.  (And also because Carter is, well, Carter.)  However, when a great two-night deal came up through one of Frank's friends, we decided to pull the trigger, and our family stayed the first night while Frank and his college friends stayed the second night.

Last Saturday, we headed up to Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort and Lodge in Utica.  Our villa was huge!

We stayed in the room with the two double beds... and the deer head light fixture, yikes!

There was also a second bedroom, which was actually probably the master, with a jacuzzi.  We didn't even touch this room, since we wanted to keep one bedroom clean for Frank's friends the following night.  

After arriving, we headed down to the waterpark.  Now, the only issue I had here was that unlike where we stayed in previous years, which was a hotel with a connecting waterpark, we were in a freestanding villa, which meant we had to get completely dressed to go outside, get in the car, drive to the waterpark on the grounds, and get changed.  That doesn't really sound like a lot, but when you're wrangling swim diapers and kids with wet feet and winter coats it would have been a lot easier if it would have been in a connecting building.

Jacob loved the waterpark!

Carter did not.

He did warm up to it somewhat; and I was able to get a few shots of everyone playing.

For dinner, we went to a little pub in downtown Utica.  The town has quite a few wineries and boutique-type stores, but it is tiny.

The next morning, we drove around the area a bit and waited for Grizzly Jack's indoor amusement park to open.  They were doing renovations to the amusement park and several attractions weren't operational, but of course, the ones that were, Jacob had no interest in.

This is about as close as he got to the bounce house!

He did decide (after getting in an out of a long line twice) to do the trampoline bungee.

Once he got all hooked up, they discovered that he was too little for the bungees, so they unhooked him and just let him jump like a trampoline.

After this, it was time to say goodbye to daddy, who was staying at the villa to continue the weekend with his friends.  Honestly, Carter was a handful the whole weekend, and I was ready to get him home.  I'm hoping he grows into being a better traveler by the time we take our next vacation!