Great Wolf Lodge

Last week was an event filled week for the Cunningham Fam.  We went to Legoland on Monday and on Wednesday we loaded up with some friends for our first trip to Great Wolf Lodge.  What have we been waiting for?  Christian actually went once last summer with a friend for his birthday, so this was the first time for us as a family....and needless to say, we all LOVED it.

We loaded the car and made our way to Fuddruckers in Grapevine before going to The Lodge.  We were all starving and decided it would be best to eat before all the fun ensued, and lets be honest my bladder could not wait any longer.  After lunch, we checked in the hotel, got our wrist bands, checked our luggage with the bellman, grabbed our beach bag and made our way downstairs.  There was so much to see and so much to do.  Did the boys go running into the water park?  Absolutely not!  Christian had one thing on his mind and that was going to the Wand Shop to get their magic wands.  This really came as no surprise especially considering how obsessed both boys are with Harry Potter.  I had actually called ahead of time to see if Christian's wand that he already had would work and they said yes, I would just have to pay to get it re-activated.  Great!  Within five minutes of being at GWL we spent $75 on one wand, two toppers and the activation so their MagiQuest could begin! Now that their major order of business had been taken care of we made our way into the water park for the real fun to begin.  

Several friends had mentioned to me before hand that we should reserve a cabana to have a home base, and what a great idea it was.  We were immediately guided to our indoor cabana complete with tables, chairs, tv, safe, towels, fan and stocked fridge.  This is the way to go, it was perfect.  Within two seconds of us giving the boys a speech on staying together and home base, they were off.  Chad and Joel hung in the cabana for a bit and Carson and I went straight ahead to Fort Mackenzie to try our hand at the slides.  We made our way up the water soaked plank before getting drenched by the huge bucket of water while waiting in line for the first slide.  When it was Carson's turn to go down the slide he tried real hard to chicken out but the lifeguard and I assured him this was the easiest slide in the park, he would do great and I would come down right behind him.  He loved it and immediately wanted to let daddy know what a big boy he was.  Kara and I then made our way to the River Canyon Run.  When we got to the loading area I asked the lifeguard if Carson could ride this slide with his green band and he said yes.  We loaded onto the raft and made our way down this fairly easy but fun slide.  When we got to the bottom I was very confident that this would be a perfect introduction into the bigger slides for Carson, not too fast, not too scary, like the three bears it was just right.  We gathered everyone and made our way back up the stairs for each family to go down the slide in a raft.  Up first, the Kennemers, followed by us and then the Stephens.  When it was our turn to load the raft the four of us climbed in and I just smiled and said this was going to be fun.  We all grabbed ahold of our handles and the lifeguard shoved us off.  It took about five seconds to realize 1.) with the added weight we were going at least twice as fast as Kara and I had traveled on our own and 2.) Carson was flat on his back on the bottom of the raft with his body stiff and a look of shear terror on his face.  WHAT HAD WE DONE?  I immediately lifted Carson back up, and assured him over and over he was o.k as we made our way to the bottom and darted into the landing pool.  OH MY GOSH.  Once the immediate shock wore off we decided to all take a chance at another "easy" big slide.  This time it would be just Carson and I riding together, but even then he was turned around trying to crawl in my lap. Needless to say that was it for Carson and the big slides and it was off to the kiddie pool we went.  

A few quick shots in the cabana

  

We had a great time in the water park that afternoon and ended up staying in there until about 8:30pm.  It was clean, seemed relatively sterile and the lines were short.  We were now starving and checked into our room to clean up and head down to dinner.  We got the Kid Kamp Suite and the boys loved their private bunk area complete with their own t.v.  The boys could not wait to go on their MagiQuest adventure so after dinner we gave them strict rules and let them go off as a group to begin their quest.  We adults hung around laughing while Chad and Joel took turns telling Hettie and Kara tales like the time I pushed the poor ol' lady into traffic on 121 and when Kara came to screeching halt in drivers ed because she came across a street sign that said DO NOT PASS.   We are truly soul sisters! 

  

Time to call it a night.

The next morning I woke up to find the boys like this.....PASSED OUT

I woke everyone up for breakfast around 9 or 9:30.  We went downstairs for a great buffet and went back to the water park.  It definitely seemed to be a bit more crowded today but luckily the Stephens had decided to rent another cabana.  Carson and I stuck together for most of the day going between the kiddie pool, lazy river and racing down slides.  Here are pictures I snapped of him.  We stayed at the park again Chad and I taking turns so I could get some time riding the more thrilling slides with Christian and even a few with Chad.

We had a great time and will definitely add this to the list of traditions for our family!  And for those of you wondering, Christian completed his quest book and received a Master Magi pin to wear for the rest of the day.  He was so proud of this "freebie"!

Legoland

At lunch on Friday, Grammy told the boys that she wanted to take them to Legoland after she saw it featured on GMT that morning.  As you can imagine the boys were anxious to go as soon as possible so we decided Monday would be the day but not until baseball camp was over at 11:00 am.  We made our reservation online the night before, drove to pick up grammy and away we went.   This Lego guy was there to greet us at the door.

Grammy, Christian and Carson ready to enjoy their day.

Once we got past the ticket counter, the very first thing we came to was the Lego Factory.  We waited a few minutes for the door to open and out popped the wacky professor to take us on our tour, that ended with each child getting a Lego brick.  From there we hopped aboard our chariot to shoot the skeletons, bats and spiders with our laser guns.  I believe Carson is reminding Grammy here not to shoot the dragon because he is on our side.

The boys of course loved it and half way through the ride, mom and I decided we better take a shot too.  Christian ended the voyage with the most points and I'm sad to say Grammy came in last.  It was a fun little ride.  From there we made our way to the MiniLand which was incredible.  They took all the sites from around the metroplex and re-created them using Lego's. It really was amazing.

DFW Airport

Great Wolf Lodge

Southfork Ranch

The back of Cowboys Stadium

Downtown Dallas.  Christian was trying to guess which building Aunt Chelsea worked in.

Cowboys Stadium

DFW Airport.  

I did not take a picture of everything but honestly walking through that room alone was well worth the ticket price.

Next we made our way to Merlins Apprentice.  A ride that takes you round and round while pedaling as fast as you can to make the magic happen.  This ride could have gone either way because Christian has the weakest stomach ever.  He was turning green just standing in line trying to decide whether or not he was going to ride it.  It came down to a last minute decision and at the gate he decided to give it a try.  Of all the rides he has tried and gotten sick on, I kept telling him this one I thought he could handle.  When the boys got to where we could see them, we were very happy to see both boys smiling and pedaling as fast as they could.

This ride was a success.  Disney World here we come....some day

Anxious to see the 4D movie. 

From there the boys climbed around the Lego City for awhile and then decided they were ready to go....to the Lego Shop.  As much as they have gotten into building Legos these past few weeks they had no interest in actually playing with Legos today.  All they wanted was to pick out their own new lego sets to take home. 

There is no telling how much time we spent walking around the store and debating between sets to get.  Carson finally decided to get a Cars 2 set in honor of the new movie coming out later this week and Christian picked out a new Harry Potter set that I had not seen before.  By this point we were all starving and left to grab a late lunch!  

Overall, the boys had a great time and are already talking about when they can go back.  To me it was much smaller than I was imagining and a little cramped together.  Either way it was checked off our list of 50 fun things to do this summer!  Thanks Grammy! XXOO

We have a new fish in the fam...

We have a new fish in the family and I don't mean a Beta.  I am talking about Carson since he finished his swimming lessons this week!  He loves the water now and loves to jump in, "dive" in, pick up rings and swim...like a fish!  When I say dive it is just like we all learned.  He gets down on one knee, stretches his arms above his head with one hand on top of the other and makes his way into the pool.  So cute!  Below are some pics taken on the last day of swim lessons.  Mrs. Krystal's back yard is truly an oasis. It is beautiful and shaded and it was so relaxing to wake up each morning, head to swim lessons, watch the boys swim and catch up with the girls!

On the last day they got popsicles and a certificate to celebrate their accomplishment!

The rest of the week was filled with football camp, vbs and one day of conditioning camp.  Here is how our week went.  On Monday Misti was not feeling well so I picked up Holt and Brock to take them to swim lessons and football camp.  Amazingly enough we were not late to swimming lessons this morning.  As worried as I was, the boys got in the pool at the same time as the rest of the class...success.  When that was over  it was time to get Brock and Christian to the stadium at 11:00 am.  I got them situated in the shade, pulled the truck around to the other side and decided to stay and watch for awhile to make sure they were o.k.  After the coaches welcome and intro, both boys went with the receivers group.  When it was time to line up to start the first drill, Christian and Brock were the first two in line,  which meant they did not have the bigger kids to watch as examples when the coach wanted them to run a different route!  They did awesome!  At one point I even called Chad to brag.  The coach showed the boys a new route and first in line Christian made an amazing play while diving for the ball.  The coach gave him a big high five and pat on the shoulders before heading to the back of the line!  They were obviously doing well and by this time it was almost 11:30 am.  I had about an hour and a half to fill before picking the boys back up at 1pm.  I took the little boys to play at the park.  After about 40 minutes, they were hot and tired so we decided to head home.  The boys got some water, played upstairs and I made us all a picnic lunch before heading back to pick up the boys.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up to the stadium at 12:53pm and there was not a person in sight!  The field was completely empty...crickets... as the equipment, water machines and everything were off the field.  I pulled around to the other side and there sat Christian and Brock with about 3 other kids. (At least they were not the very last ones)  Christian saw my truck, jumped up, put his hands in the air and gave me that look to ask where the heck had I been for the last 30 minutes.  I felt AWFUL!  He opened the door so I could ask if camp did not end at one o'clock and he said, "NO! 12:30".  Part of me wanted to duck and hide as I felt like the worst mom ever but the other part of me said I had to jump out and apologize to the coaches......which is exactly what I did.  I immediately called Misti for damage control and to let her know when they ask Brock how football camp was and he says that I left them out there for 30 minutes after camp was over, what really had happened.  I felt much better as she thought the same thing so I am not sure where the breakdown happened.  They were quick to forgive me as they were hot and hungry and I was there with lunch ready!!!  Christian was shocked to hear when he told Brock to tell me about his amazing catch that I was there and able to see it in person.  Needless to say when I dropped him off Tuesday morning he reminded me camp was over at 12:30.

Sunday night was the first night of VBS!  The boys had a great time praising the Lord and being with their friends.  They had crazy sock night, crazy hair night...etc.  I did not take pics of each night but here the boys are with their blue hair.

Thursday night was the family carnival and Christian was spending the night with a friend.  At 6:00 pm Carson asked what time it was and immediately jumped up and said we have to go to VBS.  The boys both got up on stage and sang songs of praise with their groups before heading outside to enjoy 360 bikes, bounce houses, cotton candy and much more.  Carson and I left a little early to meet friends for dinner though.

We had a swim day on Tuesday and on Friday we met Grammy for lunch at Ernestos while my car was getting detailed.  That night we went to meet Baby Hudson at the hospital!  He is one of the cutest babies I have ever seen!  As soon as we walked out of the hospital room Christian looked back at me and said, "I want a baby sister"!!  After our hospital visit we ran into Weirs to check out the clearance level upstairs.  In eight minutes (the amount of time we had before the store closed) we picked out new furniture for our bedroom for a great deal!!!!

Saturday morning Christian had All-Stars practice before we had our regular season end-of-year baseball party and trophy presentation at the pavilion in the park.  That night we met Pa Paw and drove to the Catfish Platter in OK for dinner.  We even stood outside in the rain while we waited for a table.  It was not pouring and honestly it just felt good!

That pretty much sums up our week! We LOVE Summer!!!

One Down, Ten to Go!

Summer is off to an incredible start for the Cunningham Fam as this first week proved to be an action packed week full of fun.  Monday morning I dropped Christian off for the first day of his speed and conditioning camp with Coach Frank that goes throughout the summer.  Carson and I then made our way to Mrs. Krystal's house for another year of swim lessons with his best buddies Ben and Holt.  She has such a gift for what she does and even Carson proclaims her to be the best swim teacher ever!  When  we got back over to Christian, I was very happy to hear how much fun he had and how nice Coach Frank is, which we already knew.  Monday afternoon the kids were beat and both took a nap for several hours...a VERY rare occassion!

The rest of the week we did more of the same, except that Tuesday morning I had to go to traffic court in Krugerville, Texas for which I thought would only take about 5 mins.  Boy was I wrong! 2 hours and $45 dollars later, everything was taken care of for my expired registration sticker.  Jenn kept the boys Tuesday afternoon so I could go to a PTA meeting and in exchange I had her kiddos Wednesday afternoon for her meeting.  Thursday afternoon we kicked off summer at my grandparents house with our first afternoon of swimming.  We ended up spending almost four hours in the pool that afternoon relaxing and playing a fun game of baseball that we made up.  The boys both loved having grandma bat and were amazed when she would hit a home run across the pool!  I think there will be many more of those games in our future over the summer.  By 5:00 pm we were all starving and went to grab mexican food before heading home.

Friday afternoon we had another pool party and brown bag lunch at Misti's.  We met Josh, Lexi and Kaden Friday night for dinner and a night out before baby Hudson's arrival on Thursday. We decided to meet up at Dodi's and load up on shrimp and crab legs before heading to Main Event for bowling and games. At the start of dinner the boys were shy and didn't really speak to each other but by the end of the night Christian and Carson both wanted Kaden to spend the night.   I am a TERRIBLE bowler but had a great time watching the kids bowl while keeping track of their score and dance to the music.   We were also thoroughly entertained by the group on the lanes to the right of us...WOW!  Saturday the kids and I relaxed while Chad worked and then went on a ride.   That evening we went over to a birthday party for Chad S. and Jennifer that ultimately ended with me being thrown in the pool with all my clothes on and several others jumping in after!  Like always it was a wonderful shindig and time well spent with friends.  Sunday called for relaxation!  Wyatt came home with us from the party and the boys played all afternoon before heading to their first night of VBS at FBS.  Chad and I decided at the last minute to invite a few people over to watch the Mavs win their 1st NBA CHAMPIONSHIP and win they did, with class I might add!!

That my friends is how the Cunningham Fam spent their first week of summer!  The kids have already proclaimed it to be the best summer ever and are excited about plans we have made for later!  Carson is already swimming like a fish and has one more week of swim lessons to go.  Christian is running extra laps after camp because he wants to,  and has brought home all kinds of swag throughout the week! Next week it is football camp.

I'll keep ya posted!

Sunday

This past Sunday was Ross' 22nd birthday.  As the day approached I tried to decide what we should do to acknowledge it, unlike last year where we all sat in our houses and cried.  Saturday afternoon I got a text from Jake asking me if he could come over on Sunday, hang out and take the boys to the movies; to which I absolutely said yes!  I told the boys about their plans for Sunday and needless to say they were beyond excited.  What a wonderful way to spend the day, so I decided to cook-out that evening and have the family over to celebrate the life of our son, grandson, brother and friend.  Sunday afternoon Jakers came over and when he walked upstairs Carson ran from across the room and jumped in his arms to give him a huge hug.  It was so sweet.  Christian was playing PS3 with his headphones on and was a bit startled at first but he too gave Jake a huge hug and immediately turned the game off to go have some fun.  We put booster seats in his car and after a few minutes off they went with great, big smiles to have a boys afternoon!  Seeing the boys light up every time they see "Uncle Jake" brings tears to my eyes.  Tears of joy, tears of sadness, and tears of what should be.

Later that afternoon the family made it over and the boys got back from the movie and said how awesome it was. Christian said Jake is just like him and anytime there is an Icee around he has to get one too.  The rest of the evening we all visited, ate and watched the Mavs game.  Jake had to be exhausted because the boys pulled him away every chance they could to play basketball, baseball, basketball on the PS3 and more.  They talked about sports, summer, college, girlfriends, etc.  It ended up being a very nice day!

Ross, I love and miss you more than words can say.  Our love and memories of you will never fade as we think and talk about you every day! Carson has turned into Ross Jr. with his facial expressions and antics and Christian looks more and more like you every day.  He has his collection of Uncle Ross music on his iTouch that he plays over and over as they both sing along.  How I long for the day to be with you again, to be welcomed with a bear hug that brings me to the floor, to be your sounding board (but not to tell mom), for our dinners, sushi dates, and sleep overs but for now I know that you are looking down on us with a smile and living it up in Heaven.  XXOO

Jake, I love you so much.  You have no idea how much it means to me that you took the time to come take my kids to the movies, to laugh and play with them like their Uncle Ross would do.  We cherish each time we are able to spend with you and love watching you mature into a fine young man.  The boys love having you to look up to and interact with and we all love and appreciate each moment we get to spend with you at lunches, games, etc.  Last night Carson asked me,  How old is Jake that is in our family"?  You will forever be apart of this family!  I could hug you and never let go!  XXOO

Last T-Ball Game EVER

Last week was our last t-ball game ever as next year Carson will move up to coach pitch.  Before the game we took some cowboy pics for the school calendar next year.  Carson's hat is entirely too small for his head.  It is one that Uncle Ross bought Christian a long time ago and needless to say we are in need of a new one!  Once again my pictures came out horrible :(.

Horse Wrangler Holt, Buckaroo Ben and Cowboy Carson

Carson "Puff" Cunningham (need to work on a new, more permanent nickname)

Hi Mom!

Sa wing batter......

On first base

Carson and daddy

Rounding second!

That is Carson's elbow on the bottom

CHEESE

Great job Bobcats.  Off to the "big leagues"

Last Day of School

Thursday was Christian's last day of school and I am a little embarrassed to say that tears were shed.  I spent the morning up at school with Christian.  I had some last minute papers to pick up and wanted to be there to give Mr. Pasqua his gift, plus one of the moms took donuts for the class.  When I walked over to his class, they were headed to p.e. so a few of the moms and I sat and chatted.  We had early release all week and I needed to do a few things before getting Christian so I left to get back in time for pick-up.  Mr. Pasqua walked Christian to the car, gave him a huge hug, and when he opened the door actually had tears in his eyes.  I told him what an impact he had made on Christian this year, etc and when he closed the door I actually had a tear in my eye too.  Christian immediately said he was going to miss Mr. Pasqua next year and then said he did NOT want this school year to end.

This is what Mr. P wrote in Christian's yearbook. So sweet.

It seems like the past 8 years have gone by with the blink of an eye.  How I have a 3rd grader and kindergartner now is beyond me.  Christian has been blessed with three of the most amazing teachers while at the elementary school and I only hope that Carson does too.