One last hoorah as a party of four...

Last week as I was in the shower getting ready for us to go out of town, I was hit with a wave of emotion. I was thinking about it being our last out of town trip as a family of four, and I got a little sad.  Not that I'm not excited or looking forward to adding another member to our family, because I certainly cannot wait on so many levels to meet the little wiggle worm in my belly, but because I realized a chapter of our lives was coming to a close.  It made me see that in the last five and a half years we had grown quite comfortable, like a warm blanket on a cold day or an old friend.  It made me realize that our kids have grown into a pretty self-sufficient place in life, as far as kids go.  There are no diapers and bottoms to wipe, they can feed and bathe themselves, and though growing up is presenting its own challenges and trials, five and seven can be really fun ages.  I realized that their life as they know it is about to be turned upside down, as excited as they are about it.

Now of course, knowing the depth of joy and love unspeakable each of our children has enriched our lives with, I can only imagine how much deeper, stronger, more beautiful, and really, more fun the next chapter will be with another child.  There are days I cannot contain the joy I feel about having another baby, and I daydream about tiny fingers and toes and walk over and smell the Johnson and Johnson's Honey Apple lotion awaiting the sweet skin to lather onto.  But I've noticed about myself that when change is approaching, it throws me into this introspective spin cycle that can become really dangerous.  As good as it is to reflect, which I love to do, nipping at the heels of reflection for me can be regret.  And then I think about all of the things I wish I was, wish I would have done, time that was wasted, and this general overwhelming sense of please-God-don't-let-me-screw-my-kids'-life-up gloomy cloud.  But the good news is that I'm working really hard on letting go of the expectations I put on myself, because I'll never live up to them, and I know deep down inside that it's only by God's grace we are doing anything worthwhile anyway and He more than covers my imperfections and short comings.

So in short, I just wanted to enjoy our time, enjoy our children, and forget about all of the things I just said above.  And I really did.  We had a lovely time.  They had their age-appropriate moments, but mostly everyone got along, had great attitudes, and we just had a lot of fun.  The Great Wolf Lodge ended up being the perfect solution for us, considering I was pretty much outlawed from the doc to be out in this wicked extreme heat, and who really wants to be anyway!  It was all right there in the hotel- waterpark, food, and other fun things to do.  I think because I had been feeling so crummy before we left that I imagined myself mostly sitting poolside with a cold drink and a good book, maybe occasionally sneaking up to the room for a nap and enjoying from a distance.  But that really wasn't the case at all.  I was right there in the middle of it, and I'm so thankful I felt pretty good for those few days and had the energy and physical ability to keep up with everyone and splash around in the fun.  That's what I really wanted to be doing anyway :)  I even tried a water slide when we first got there that looked pretty innocent, but let's just say that was the one and only time I did that...

Before this gets too long, here's some of our pics from the trip.  We also took along our waterproof video camera that we've always been too nervous to put in the water, but I'm so glad we did because it was awesome!  That part will have to come later, though, because I have a lot of little clips to dump on the computer and sort through.  Good stuff, though.

Our room was SO cool- this was the front part for the kids- bunk beds!  And two TV's, which was a non-necessity but definitely a luxury we enjoyed!!  The entire hotel was made to look like you were in the woods in a cabin.

A couple of pics of the outside part.  Not as much going on out there, but still some slides and other fun stuff.  

This was what you saw as you entered into the inside part.  There were also huge glass windows throughout the lobby, so you could see all of this the minute you came into the building.  These guys are ready to go!

This was more of a little kids area.  Behind that was a big wave pool and lazy river.

More slides.  One of these (I think) is the Howling Tornado which Chris and Addison rode.  And tried to capture on the video camera, but it ended up being so crazy there wasn't much footage!  From the sound of things it was pretty intense!

 This might have been Addison's favorite part.  There was a thing called Magiquest, and it was like a big game.  You had a wand and used it to unlock things all over the hotel, giving you quests and adventures.  It sent us (mostly Addison and Chris cause I couldn't handle all of the stairs!) all over the hotel, up and down floors, waving wands at treasure chests, pictures, and talking things that interacted with you.  He was so.into.it.  It was almost all he could talk about!!

 Here he is receiving a new quest!

Every evening in the lobby they had story time/a little animated show.  Think a la Chucky Cheese moving and singing little character machines....Cadence and I went here while Chris and Addison were on wild quest adventures all over the hotel!  You were supposed to go in your PJ's.

She looks a little tired after a long day, but before the story time started she was turned around facing the other kids, and I couldn't hear her but she was telling all of them stories of her own.  From what I could see of her, it was something very important and dramatic.  Of course it was :)

And she just LOVED meeting Violet the wolf afterwards.  Please note the wolf ears in the picture :)

 Don't have many water pictures because, well, I didn't want to ruin my camera or my phone!  But I'll try to upload some of the little videos soon.  Oh- what's that?  You thought you would see pictures of me waddling around in my maternity swimsuit?  Ha- nope!  I do have a few just for documentation's sake, but I feel like a whale as it is, and I certainly don't want to have that permanently cemented in cyberspace- in a bathing suit, none the less!  Just had to get over it while I was there, but it didn't matter much to me because it wasn't like I knew anybody :)  Like I said before, it was a great trip.  It wasn't Disneyworld, our first choice that got cancelled upon finding out I was pregnant and will be due when the trip was scheduled, and it wasn't Sea World, our attempt at second best closer to home, but you would have thought our kids were at either of those places the way they were so excited and having so much fun.  That's the beauty of kids, and our kids specifically.  They don't know any better and just had a blast right where they were.  We'll do the big trips one day, but I celebrate our time for what it was and it was just perfect in that moment.  It was more than just about the cool place. It was just us, being together and having fun as a family.  The Pates are a party wherever we are :)

Peace out from the Pate house.