Dec
7
First of all, I’d like to share with you the fact that I ran over seven miles yesterday. Seven miles! IN A ROW. And the crazy part was, I wasn’t even dying at the end. I didn’t finish that seventh mile with half a lung protruding visibly from my right eyesocket or a giant splatter of barf down my shirt or ANYTHING! I felt—and here is where shit really gets fucked up—like I could have kept going. With the exception of my hands, which had frozen into aching, immobile claws thanks to Seattle’s recent sub-30 temperatures and my previously-fine, now woefully-inequate lightweight running gloves, I felt . . . fine.
It’s almost like this weekly training is actually working. Which I know, total no-shitter, and yet I am here to tell you I secretly did not believe I would ever get any better at running, no matter how often I tried to do it. I knew I would commit to the New Orleans half marathon no matter what, but I sort of thought I’d end up maybe running four or five miles then walking the rest of it.
Now I’m actually starting to believe, like full-on believe, I’m going to run thirteen miles in February. Thirteen miles! IN A ROW. And when that’s done, man, what will be next? Oh, the world is just filled with finish lines, friends.
In other weekend news of the far more exhausting sort, I took Riley on an overnight trip to a Great Wolf Lodge. A few months ago I was offered the opportunity to check out the resort under a reduced nightly rate, and thinking back to the wonderful time I had with Riley in D.C. last April I planned for a just-the-two-of-us outing.
I know, I know: total dick move to leave my other son at home, right? But it’s so rare that I get any time alone with either of them, and I figured Riley would appreciate it a lot more than Dylan would. Plus, selfishly, I knew it would be lots easier with just Riley, so.
It was kind of a hassle getting from our house to our hotel room—there was an hour and a half drive, a parking lot the size of Texas, then a check-in line that took over 30 minutes to navigate, but once we were settled Riley was super geeked. He picked out his bed and immediately chastised me when I absentmindedly dumped a bag on HIS covers.
We got into our swim gear and made for the main attraction, which is a giant indoor waterpark. Of course, Riley wanted nothing whatsoever to do with the eight million waterslides or the lurching wave pool, but he loved the kiddie pool area and the (non-moving) jetskis which you can use to shoot water at other kids.
After we’d pruned up nicely and were generally reeking of chlorine, we got dressed and checked out the arcade. It was kind of hard to find a game he could get into, but skeeball was a good choice. We played that until the machine pooped out an obligatory string of tickets, which he was able to turn in for a cheap plastic car and OH MY GOD THAT TOTALLY BLEW HIS MIND.
The entire lodge was decorated for the holidays, and it was really pretty amazing.
I’m not really sure he’s in the intended location for this bucolic, Lodge-branded photo, but what the hell.
At around 8 PM there was an advertised story hour, which for some reason I had pictured as involving a nice older lady with bifocals, reading from a beloved childhood classic. Riley and I got situated in the midst of a large crowd of kids and parents and then this mildly terrifying animatronic display chugged to life, with various animals saying various robotic things and, worse, singing, and we sat there for a while before I whispered, “Hey, you want to go do something else?” to Riley and he said “Sure!” with no hesitation and I loved him just a little bit more.
The coolest thing we did at the lodge involved buying a plastic wand which could be used to wave at various things around the hotel and trigger them to light up or open or make noise or whatever. If you pointed your want at enough of a certain group of objects (treasure chests, painting, etc) you completed a quest, and I guess there are several quests you can try and finish. We mostly just walked around “looking for magic”, and you know, it was oddly satisfying. Riley really loved it, and judging by the teeming throngs of other kids we saw wielding their own sticks, this seemed to be a hit for most age groups.
If I have one complaint about the lodge, it’s the cost. I paid $100 for our room, which I assumed was at MOST half the going rate. Checking their website, though, I see that our room—the smallest, cheapest you can get—is currently $300. The waterpark is included, but there are lots of extra costs. The wand ($15, and that was for the basic wand. Oh, you could get fancier wands, if you wanted to), the kid-friendly activities, the arcade . . . it all adds up pretty quickly. Plus, we had dinner at a buffet and it was about $30 for the two of us. Ouch, especially since Riley basically ate a piece of pizza with the top scraped off and a handful of crackers. The room did have a little fridge in it, and if we go back I’d make use of that. There isn’t any room service, so unless you bring your own meals your choices are the buffet, a Pizza Hut, or a Starbucks.
I wish the rates weren’t quite so high, or that at least they’d be more flexible with check-in and check-out times. This isn’t a gripe specific to the Great Wolf folks, obviously, but when you can’t get to your room until 4 PM and you have to check out by 11, that $300+ night cost for less than 24 hours really irks. On the upside, you can use the waterpark before and after those times.
Overall, though, the whole thing was fantastic, and I’m really grateful for the just-us time we got to spend together. One of my favorite moments was right before lights-out when we were both lying in our respective beds with our books, and I said, “I had a great day with you today,” and he said “Me too, Mommy. I had a good day with YOU.”
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