We left the comforts of home this past weekend to visit St. Joseph's College in Maine.  Bianca had a seminar on cooking and chemistry and Dad and Isaac bummed around for the entire time.  We had an amazing time, though the lack of Internet made it hard to share pictures.  One thing that was hard to get used to (or readjusted to) was sleeping in a dorm.  There is so much about college that was awesome and all of that covered up just how terrible it is to sleep in a dorm.  We had two terrible mattresses (both covered in thick rubber, eww!) and that wasn't enough to accommodate all three of us.  So we brought the air mattress and that was Isaac's bed.

Our two beds were awful, so during the night I migrated down to the queen sized air mattress that had nothing but a little boy on it.  He snuggled up and I feel back to sleep quickly, my back appreciating the better surface.

Then a few hours later I woke up to being hit in the face by a tiny pair of knuckles.  In the night, Isaac had moved around a bit and flopped over.  When he did his knuckles smacked me right in the eye.  No problem, I moved around and cuddled up again.  About an hour later, BANG, I got hit with an knee in the gut.  This time I fully woke up and saw him having turned from 12 o'clock to 6 o'clock on the mattress.  At this point I was so tired I just moved him and fell back asleep.  Around 6 AM I couldn't help it and I woke up.  I opened my eyes only to see Isaac's tiny fanny in my face.  When I woke up he had moved all the way around again and was actually laying on my face.

Bianca later told me the secret: cuddle him until he falls asleep and then get out there.  He is like a little gymnast when sleeping, flipping and flopping around like crazy.   

I was a terrible eater when I was a kid.  My parents constantly told me I was going to get scurvy.  So naturally I was worried that Isaac would be a poor eater.  Fortunately, that is not the case.  This kid will eat just about anything, at least once.  His real barrier to eating is an unwillingness to sit down.  But if he does sit down, he will usually throw himself into a meal with reckless abandon.  Here are two videos (with funny commentary) of him eating like a big boy:

Spare Ribs:


Other stuff:

Isaac's birthday is more than a month ago, but we promised him that one of the things we'd do is go to the recently opened Great Wolf Lodge. It is about five minutes from our house, so the trip wasn't a long one.  The Lodge is on the site of an old Marriott with a small indoor waterpark attached.  It was bought about two years ago and they have been rehabbing the site since.  It opened its doors in May and when we booked the trip, in March or April, it was full through October.  To add to the excitement, every day Bianca and Isaac pass a highway sign for the Great Wolf Lodge and howl as they do so.  We were all pumped.

I took a half day Friday and made my way up to the Great Wolf Lodge to meet Bianca and Isaac.  Check in starts at 1, but the rooms aren't guaranteed open until 4, which means you "must" go hang out in the waterpark.  Oh well.  When I arrived I got a wrist band, all three of us had them.  It acted as a door key, an access pass for the facilities, and it was tied to you credit card so you could buy stuff.  This meant that you could get around the entire place without the need for a wallet (which is a good thing when you are in the water about 95% of the time.  

Driving by, the place looks big, but inside it is positively humongous.  There are two different areas for the water park, the lobby which has a bunch of stores and restaurants, an arcade with games a pizza place, and an ice cream/dessert place, finally at the opposite end there is a ropes course with some small indoor rides and a very sad mini golf course (mini golf should be outside).  The size of the place, coupled with the lack of a wallet and cellphone made time seem to stand still, even though we were having a ton of fun.  We were there for about a day and a half, but it seemed like a week.  

Many of the rides had a height requirement of 42 inches, but there were still a ton for Isaac to do.  There were two different little kid areas and a wave pool and these are where we spent a lot of time.  There is also a "lazy river" type water course and we went there a lot, too.  

Here is Isaac screaming down the slide:



Bianca and Isaac enjoying the lazy river (though with Isaac, not too lazy as he insisted in swimming around it):



We didn't play in the arcade, but we did "drive" the motorcycle:

Finally, to prove the point about the non-lazy river, here is our boy doing his thing:



The experience was a good one.  We are definitely going back and I would imagine deep in the frozen world of New England February it will be a welcome break from the snow, snow, and more snow.  There is a ton of stuff to do and we had a very good time.  It is expensive, but that serves two purposes (aside from making GWL a ton of money): 1) it cuts down on the lines; and 2) it cuts down on the unsavory types.  The wrist band idea is amazing and I would love to try out one of the lodge rooms (equipped with bunks and log cabin touches).  The food is merely okay, but about as good or better than the food at an outdoor amusement park.  The trinkets and snacks are insanely expensive (no ironically cool wolf t-shirt is worth $50), so be aware of that.   The ropes course was very fun and they even had a small one for little guys.  Here is Momma up on the ropes course: