(The “Moana” soundtrack is stuck in my head…MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY!)

“Holy cow, this place is huge!”  I said to the wife as we pulled up to the entrance.  I felt a little like Clark Griswold pulling up to Wally World.  A 50 minute drive had taken almost two hours thanks to a snowstorm and a potty break, but we had finally made it to the Great Wolf Lodge in Colorado Springs, CO.

The view from our room.  It was the perfect weather for spending time in an indoor water park.

The wife had booked a night’s stay at the 50,000 square foot indoor water park as part of our “buy more experiences and less things” mantra of 2018.  Our oldest loves the water, so we thought this would be perfect.  The weather was perfect too.  There was a snowstorm happening outside and it was a balmy 84 degrees inside.

They do the wolf theme very well at the Great Wolf Lodge.  The minute we stepped into the lobby, the staff put wolf ears on the kids.  They immediately formed their own little two person wolf pack and began howling at each other, the first of what seemed like hundreds of times in a 24 hour period.  We checked in and went up to our room on the 7th floor.  The kids had their own wolf den to sleep in, complete with bunk beds and a TV.  It was the first time our kids were going to sleep in the same room, so in the back of our minds we were wondering how that would go.

Happy wolves.

After getting settled in there wasn’t anything left to do but put on our swimsuits and dive into the fun.  I don’t know if wolves like the water, but ours did.  This water park had everything.  It had a kiddie pool with slides, a wave pool, a huge climbing structure with intermediate water slides attached, and some big water slides for older kids and adults.

The highlight of the big slides is called “Wolf Tail.”  You step into this vertical launch pod that’s shaped like a tube and the lifeguard closes the door.  As you’re standing on a trap door, the sound of a heart pumping faster and faster is played.  The lifeguard gives you a thumbs up through the clear tube and a countdown from three begins.  Finally, the floor drops out, hurling you into a nearly vertical 20-foot free fall followed immediately by a 360-degree, high-speed loop.  You barely have time to think as you speed down the slide.  I had to try it out.

The wife enjoyed the Howlin’ Tornado.  It’s a super-fast thrill ride in a raft built for four.  You speed through twists and turns before dropping into a six-story funnel of fun and then splashing down at the end.  The kids were too little to hit the big slides, but they had fun on the smaller ones.

The highlight for our family was the wave pool.  Every 5 minutes or so, an alarm sounds signaling the starting of the waves.  All the kids in the pool cheer as the water starts to churn.  Our kids loved it.  Our 4-year-old loved to dive into the waves and our almost 2-year-old loved to float as the waves moved her up and down, up and down.  The wife and I took turns hanging out with the kids while the other went on some of the big slides.

The wave pool!

Like I said earlier, this place is huge.  The water park is the main attraction, but there are tons of other things to do.  There are restaurants, a mini golf course, a ropes course, a climbing wall, and adventure park, a bowling alley, and our kid’s other favorite attraction, a video arcade.

If you would have given me a list of things to do at Great Wolf Lodge, the last thing I would have picked on list that my kids would enjoy was a video arcade, but they were mesmerized by it.  We’re not talking about video arcades I grew up with that included Pac-Man and pinball.  This arcade was like a laser show on steroids.  Flashing lights, loud sounds, games you sat in; this arcade had it all.  Our girls didn’t even play the games.  They were happy just walking around climbing on everything, and sitting in every game they could.  Their senses were on overload.  I think we spent an hour in there before we had to carry them out.

Finally, we were able to grab something to eat before heading up to our room to get ready for bed.  They were wrecked.  Between the drive, the pool, the arcade, and dinner, they were totaled.  We gave them a bath and they were down for the count.

The funny part about being parents is when we plan a day that we know will tire out our kids, we forget how tired we’ll be.  After we got the kids down, it was about 8pm.  Our intention was to spend some time together and watch a movie or something fun like that.  I remember looking at the clock.  It read 8pm.  I looked at the wife and said, “Okay, it’s only 8?  I feel like it’s 11!”  She said, “I know!  I’m ready for bed!”  We didn’t give in that easily though.  I managed to go downstairs and get some ice cream, Triple Caramel Chunk, and we had some while we watched part of a movie before finally turning in.

Day 2.  Follow the wolf pack!

The next morning, our little cherubs were ready to go!  We put our swimsuits back on, got a breakfast buffet, and went back to the pool for some more fun!  We left right before  afternoon nap.  The snowstorm had passed, the roads were good, and it was a quiet ride home as the kids were tuckered out again.  It was a great little weekend getaway with the family.  The kids loved it and the wife and I had fun too.  We’ll definitely be back.

I love dates with my daughter.  I had a rare Saturday off, the wife had plans, and since she was taking our youngest with her, it was time for a date with our oldest.

We do this from time to time.  Usually we go for Chinese food, but lately she’s been into movies, so when I told her we were going on a date, I knew exactly what she would want to do.  “Let’s go to a movie!”  Once she’s made up her mind, there’s no changing it, so that’s what we did.

We started by going out to breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants, The Bagel Deli.   It’s a great little Jewish deli with very tasty…well…everything.  A while back it was featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.”  Everything on the menu is great.  She ordered a bagel, eggs, and milk, and I ordered Eggs Bagel-Dict.  Here’s the description from the menu: “A toasted fresh bagel or English muffin and a blanket of pastrami, topped with two poached eggs, and covered with Hollandaise Sauce.”  Yum.

Breakfast at The Bagel Deli!

As we sat and ate our breakfast, it really struck me how our baby is growing up so fast.  She’s only 4, but she can hold a conversation about almost anything.  We talk like pals.  She’s asks me about work and I ask her about school.  She tells me about her friends and she asks tons of questions.  We play tic-tac-toe in crayon on the kids menu.  She asks me if she looks beautiful and I tell her, “Yes, because you’re so smart and kind.”  She disappears under the table and giggles.  I ask her to take a few more bites of her breakfast.  She’s a little person and she’s awesome.

I pay the bill, she thanks the server, and we walk out to our car.  She points out a yellow punch-buggy in the parking lot.  As we get to our car she says, “Our car is really dirty, daddy.  We should get a car wash!”  She loves going to the car wash.  She thinks it’s funny when the soap covers the car and we can’t see.  We pretend we’re in a submarine.

From the car wash we head to the Century Aurora 16 (yes, that theater).  I’ll admit, I thought about it.  I have been working across the street from it for the last 2 1/2 years.  I see it every day.  For the first month or so, I thought about it from time to time, but July 20, 2012 hadn’t crossed my mind in years.  Now, it’s just where I work.  It’s a normal place.  The wife and I had been to that theater before, but we haven’t been back; not because of the event, but because we moved and have a theater closer to us.  Walking in, I thought about it for a few seconds.  I can’t explain why.  My guess is that it’s like going anywhere something awful has happened.  I know it happened, I acknowledged it, and realized it’s a normal place where something horrific happened, and yet it’s normal again.  Whatever that means.  Littles has no idea, she just knows she’s going to see a movie.  God bless kids.

Anyway, my daughter and I saw “Ferdinand” at 11:00am.  It was great.  We got popcorn. Her eyes are the size of dinner plates while staring at the huge screen.  She’s robotically reaching into the popcorn bag every 20 seconds.  I don’t even think she knows she’s doing it.  I even caught her a few times with her hand in front of her mouth, popcorn squeezed between her index finger, middle finger, and thumb, and she’s just frozen.  She’s so taken by the movie she forgets she’s eating popcorn.  I chuckle at the sight.  She breaks from her trance to tell me about the characters and how “that one is mean” and “that one is so nice.”  She makes sure I know what’s happening in the movie, saying stuff like, “Oh, that’s the same place he was at when he was little” and “Oh, that’s not good.”  She cuddles against me half way through.  She tells me the seats are cozy.

Daddy/Daughter Date!

The movie ends and she makes us stay past the credits.  She loves the music.  The lights come on and she snaps out of it like a 21-year-old does when the lights come on at 2am at the club.  We go outside and get in the car.  I ask her what she thought of the movie and she enthusiastically says/yells, “It was great!”  She asks if we can stop by my work (she loves going there).  We walk in and she tells my co-workers all about Ferdinand.  We go home and meet up with mom and little sister.  She tells them all about it Ferdinand.  What a great time!

I love dates with my daughter and I can’t wait until the next one.

(Listening to “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers)

The wife and I went to Black Hawk, CO…overnight…without kids.  It’s the first time we’ve gone anywhere alone since our youngest was born, so that’s about a year-and-a-half.  It was awesome!

People used to go to Black Hawk to strike it rich. Gold was discovered in May of 1859 and thousands of prospectors flocked to the area; but like a lot of gold rush towns, it faded into history around the turn of the century.  Thanks to a 1990 statewide referendum allowing casino gambling in Black Hawk, people are once again trying to strike it rich in the mountains of Gilpin County.

Black Hawk is a site to see.  As you’re driving on state highway 119, it’s pitch black and you’re wondering where this winding road into the mountains is leading.  Then, it hits you like a pot of gold; neon lights and towering casinos.  You can almost smell the buffets and hear the slot machines as you roll into town.  Black Hawk is home to Monarch Casino, The Lodge Casino, Lady Luck Casino, Golden Gates Casino, Golden Mardi Gras Casino, the 30-plus story Ameristar Casino, and many others.  There are more casinos in Black Hawk’s 1.95 square miles than there are in Atlantic City, NJ.

Ameristar Casino, Black Hawk, CO

The idea for this trip was born a little while back. The wife and I were sitting on our couch, looking at our phones, and she said,  “You know, we should really buy more experiences and less things.  Do you think we’ll really remember these phones, or our iPad, or a DVD player?  No.  We’ll remember the stuff we did.”  I agreed and we started talking about what we wanted to do.

We came up with a lot of ideas to do as a family, but we also made sure to think about some things we wanted to do with just us.  That’s important.  It’s easy to get caught in the routine of work, kids, bedtime, housework, wash, rinse, and repeat.  Pretty soon we’d realize a few weeks or a month had gone by and we hadn’t taken any time for us.  It’s not on purpose, it just happens.  Life gets busy and we just forget.

As we were talking, I said, “I got it!  Let’s go to Black Hawk!”

“Yes!” she replied, and in the next couple of days she had the whole thing planned.  She booked us a room at the Lady Luck Casino and found an overnight babysitter for the kids.  Black Hawk or bust!

It’s fitting our getaway would be to a casino as they do play a small role in our relationship.  We’ve always enjoyed gaming together.  We met on a connecting flight in Las Vegas.  I was living in Reno at the time and she was living in Minnesota.  When she would come out to visit, we’d go out on the town to the El Dorado.  When we go visit family in Minnesota and Wisconsin, there are casinos nearby we like to visit.  I’m a craps and blackjack guy.  I learned how to play on a riverboat in Sioux City, IA.  The wife likes to play slot machines and she’s been known to pull up a chair at a blackjack table from time to time.  She’ll also take your money in a house game of Michigan Rummy if you’re not careful.   Gambling is something we like to do together, so this trip was the perfect idea.

The smiles of kid-free parents in Black Hawk!

We had a great time.  We drove up on Saturday night, treated ourselves to a buffet, played some table games, had a couple of drinks, went to bed late, and slept in…basically everything we don’t do as parents.  And that was the point…just be us, have fun, and miss the kids.  We did all three.  We even lost a few bucks, but really, we came out ahead.  We spent quality time together doing something we enjoy and you can’t put a price on that.

More experiences, less things.

(Listening to “Shape of You” by Ed Sheeran)

“Congrats, we made it around the sun one more time. Hope your path in 2018 is a bright one.”

That’s what my brother-in-law posted on Facebook about the new year. I laughed out loud when I read it because really, that’s all it is. It’s a trip around the sun, but we make it much more than that. We call the new year a “new beginning” and make resolutions and all that rigmarole. Some might even make good on their resolutions for a few weeks, the dedicated few might make it all year, but in the end, it’s just a trip around the sun.

The twelfth month of that trip, otherwise known as December, flies by for me. It’s a busy month with work, holiday parties, and visitors; and in 2017 it was no different. I didn’t write anything because of all the “stuff” going on. So, here are a few thoughts and a few things that happened in the month before the ball dropped.

The North Pole

We went to the North Pole!  Yep, Santa was there and everything!  We loaded up the family sleigh, our Honda Pilot, with the wife, Littles, Tiny, and Grandpa Paul and “Just DeDe” who were visiting from Minnesota.  The North Pole is located in Cascade, CO.  If you have never been there, I suggest going.  It’s an amusement park with a Santa’s workshop theme.  There are carnival rides, a magician, food, shops, and you can even meet the jolly fat man himself.  We had a great time, and Littles got to give Santa her letter that asked for mer-ponies (mermaid ponies…yes they exist).

Our little girl’s car seat. Sniff sniff,

Next phase.

Littles and Tiny are growing up fast.  The wife and I went through our storage room and donated all of our baby stuff.  We gave away a crib, the car seat in which we took both our kids home from the hospital, a bath tub, a bassinet, and some other odds and ends.  We packed up baby bottles from the cabinets and I even took down the baby gate from the top of the stairs.  I said, “Are we sure we’re done with all this stuff?”  The wife and I both gave each other a look and laughed.  Our cackles said, “Yep, we’re done.”  It was nice getting all of that stuff out of our house and into the hands of others that would use it, but on the other hand, it’s sad to know that phase of life is over (at least that’s our plan).  I remember putting the baby gate up at the top of the stairs when Littles was just starting to walk and thinking, “Wow, this is going to be here for a while.  I hope it doesn’t leave too big of holes in the wall.”  In the blink of an eye I was patching the holes from where it was anchored.  That was a quick three years.  I hope I don’t blink too many more times, but it’s inevitable…I will.

No more baby gate!

Another sign the kids are growing up fast…Littles gets up in the middle of the night and goes potty by herself.  I’ll be laying in bed and hear her.  It’s like clockwork, between 12 and 1am.  (She’s doing this as I type this).  I hear the doorknob turn, the door open, and her sound machine get a little louder as the door cracks open.  She shuffles down the hall into the bathroom.  She turns on the light, shimmies onto the toilet, exhales, does her thing, and walks back to her room.  I hear the door shut and she falls back into bed.  Sometimes she calls out for “dadda” to tuck her back in, but she usually does this by herself.  It’s funny to hear another person in our house, but that’s what she is, a little person…my little girl.

We received some snow this year and the girls love playing in it.  They don’t care how cold it is.  As we were bundling the girls up, Littles said, “The cold never bothered me anyway.”  Whatever, Elsa.  You still need to put on a coat.  They love sledding and jumping on the trampoline.  Tiny tags right along and does whatever her big sister does.  I don’t think our youngest has a fearful bone in her body.

The cold never bothered them anyway.

Speaking of snow, despite the lack of it this season, I was able to make it to the hill a few times for some snowboarding, or as I like to call it, “therapy sessions.”  The holidays are the busy time for me at work, so it’s great to get up to the mountain for a little introvert time.

Introvert time…sort of. Ha!

We celebrated Christmas as a family and a couple of days later, Grandpy and Grammy came to town.  We’ve had a fun time showing them around, going to Buffalo Bill’s grave, Red Rocks, and spending time together.

Family Time

The new year came and went with a whimper.  The wife was in bed before 10pm, but I stayed up to watch the ball drop with a couple of White Russians (the drink), Ryan Seacrest (I miss Dick Clark), and Mariah Carey, who did get her hot tea.

As far as resolutions go, I don’t have anything that’s groundbreaking, but they are meaningful.  I turn 40 later this year.  When I turned 39, I made it my goal to get into the best shape of my life.  I’m not sure what shape that is yet (ba dum ch!).  With that goal in mind, I want to do something active at least 3 times a week, drink more water, and go to bed earlier.  Unrelated to health, I also want to get a hair cut.  I haven’t had a haircut since January 15, 2017 and the wife keeps bringing it up, so I guess I could chalk that up to health…mental health.

The most important goal for me is to put down the phone.  I’m on it enough during the day for work, so the last thing I want to do is be on it when I’m home.  I don’t think I have a problem with it, but it’s just such a habit to pick it up when there’s a lull in the action.  It’s a reflex.  Oh, I’m bored, pick up the phone.  I started thinking about this in the middle of December, when I took this picture.

Talk to each other.

I was stopped at a traffic light and saw these two people.  They’re waiting at the bus stop and they were both locked into their phones with headphones on.  They had no idea the other person was even there.  They could be having a conversation.  Who knows, they could be each other’s mate, but they’ll never know because they missed it.

What could I have missed because I was on my phone?  As someone who met his wife on a plane, what if I had just put on my headphones and started watching Youtube videos instead of  talking to my future wife?  I could have missed out on the rest of my life!  It doesn’t have to be that dramatic.  What if I missed out on a great conversation with the wife because I was texting?  What if I missed out on my kid telling me about something she did at school because I was paying attention to someone else 1,000 miles away on Facebook?  What if I missed out on something as simple as giving my family the attention the deserve?  I can’t imagine how much time I “kill” on my phone when I could be doing something productive.  That’s picture reminds me of all of those things.  I’m staring down 40, I don’t want to waste time.  That doesn’t mean I won’t use my phone for those things, it just means I’ll be intentional about putting it down.

Wow.  I can’t believe it’s 2018.  Use it wisely.

Happy New Year!