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Josiah turned 13 on November 1st and wanted to go to the Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate his birthday. Thinking how much less work it would be for me compared to hosting a party for his friends, I readily agreed. Then, I looked at the cost of the place and was reminded that it is always beneficial to have all the information prior to committing to something. You would think I would learn that eventually. After coming to grips with the price, Grandma, Grandpa, and Zeke’s participation in the event was eliminated in cost cutting efforts. They stayed home and had an exciting water adventure of their own. Mom dropped the phone in the pond. Zeke was thrilled with that turn of events, and told me about it in great detail when I arrived home. Grandma wanted it hushed up because of concern for my Dad’s blood pressure. One of the problems with having me, my Mom, and Abby in the same house is that nothing stays hushed up for long. Anyway, Josiah, Abby, Gabe, and I set off for the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. It is located approximately 2 hours away. Halfway there, we stopped at the Barnes and Noble in Richmond, and they were finally able to get the books they wanted with their gift card. I guess it’s true that the third time’s the charm. When we arrived, we stared in utter amazement at the place. It is a giant hotel with a giant indoor waterpark. After four years in Hawaii and Australia, supersized America still occasionally shocks me. Upon arrival, we received an unexpected blessing. We were given a free upgrade on our room. We stayed in a loft suite which was huge. I had to change our initial reservations when my Dad was ill and the woman was very understanding. I’m not sure if she put us in for the free upgrade, but it was very appreciated. We then went into the waterpark and the fun began. I am quite certain that Gabe would have been content to play the entire time in the massive climbing tree fort: dumping buckets of water on people’s heads, turning on water funnels, and pulling chains that squirted water at people. He really loved the gigantic bucket on top which was filled with thousands of gallons of water and would drench everyone every five minutes. If you needed to get down in a hurry, you could ride a water slide down. My favorite rides were the tube slides that were a bit like the bobsled track in Australia without the danger of flying off and breaking your leg. Josiah had the most fun at night, when the tube slide was competely dark. He thought it most enjoyable to ride the tube backwards on that occasion. We were all quite challenged on the boogie board wave. It was a rush of water soaring upward at a 45 degree angle. You stood at the top, holding a boogie board and jumped down onto the wave. You would ride down the wave and then push back up and ride down and push back up for as long as you could control your board. There were teenagers releasing and catching their boards, performing rolls, and going from laying down to kneeling on their boards. Josiah did finally accomplish kneeling on his board, but one time he decided to land on the wave with his knees already on the board. The wave rolled him and his board up and out the top. It was a spectacular wipeout. I congratualted him and said, “if your going to wipe out, you might as well wipe out with style.” Soon after, I didn’t follow that advice, I wiped out without any style at all. I lost my board and almost lost my swim top. The guy had to cut the power on the wave so I could stagger out. The next day, when I was standing in line to give it another go, the woman behind me was asking if I had done it before, so I told her about my less than stellar performance. She said that she couldn’t believe I was taking it so well. I told her it gave the kids a good laugh and a knock to my pride is occasionally needed. Thankfully, I had a successful run that go and so did she. As we stood in line watching everyone’s attempt, I was thinking that Martyn and Alex should build one of these things in their back yard. We also spent some time in the giant wave pool catching the waves with our tubes and in the lazy river where you just float along on your tube. The two biggest rides were a river rapids ride and one called the tornado. You sat in 4 person rafts and really got a thrill. Gabe went on both once. Josiah and Abby went several times. When you start on the tornado, your raft drops over the edge into a giant funnel and then your raft goes back and forth across the sides until you finally drop through to the slide. When we all rode together, Abby was facing backwards when we went over the drop. She was holding on for dear life. It was quite a ride. She and Josiah rode it again, but because they were so light, they didn’t achieve the break neck speed that you get from a weighted raft. Josiah and I got to experience that break neck speed to a level of fright quite unexpected. Abby and Gabe were back in the tree fort and Josiah and I decided to ride the tornado one more time. When we got to the front of the line, there was a big fat guy who was trying to convince the lifeguard to let him go down alone. The lifeguard told him that you had to have at least 2 people on the raft. So, Josiah and I got on the raft with him. Here is where my knowledge of balanced weight loads went out the window. Thinking that Josiah wouldn’t want to sit next to the guy, I told Josiah to sit opposite the guy. Josiah went over the edge and my knowledge of balanced weight loads returned to me. He was as light as a feather and with the weight load coming behind, I though for sure we were going to flip that raft. The next several moments were sheer terror and hilarity as we barrelled back and forth across that funnel on the edge of disaster. We were flying. When we landed in the pool at the end, the guy looked completely dazed and Josiah and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t stop. So, if ever you’re inside the tornado, take the fat guy with you.