Monday 28 July 2014

Great Wolf Lodge...


SO. It's been a painfully hot summer here in the Pacific Northwest and we were gifted a really brief reprieve from the heat by my oh-so-beautiful mother-in-law, who booked us a room at a resort we've been desperate to stay at pretty much since the day I arrive back in the States.

Every drive by its outdoor water slides would send me into a fit of jealousy that I could barely contain as I murmured under my breath about how poor we were and how much I hated EVERY person in that water park because I couldn't be there.

Great Wolf Lodge is marketed as a gigantic water park that's inside (which is wildly necessary because Washington makes me want to die with all it's OMGITNEEDSTORAINEVERYDAY bullshit) a humidity-controlled resort. What it REALLY is, is a money sink. The rooms themselves are outrageously with absolutely nothing included. No meals, no transportation, no nothing. You get to go play in their actually pretty small water park and then sleep in their rooms, which are one of the only things I appreciated about the trip.

Upon arrival, Muffin was forced to wait in line to check in for nearly an hour, as there were only two staff working the front desk at peak check-in time. Once he finally made it up to the counter, after getting the key and purchasing a "Paw Pass" (which is a glorified sight-seeing pass for a facility that isn't big enough to need to see the sights. The pass itself gets you a wolf-themed Build-a-Bear, a small cup of Mike and Ike's, a small sundae, a t-shirt, and a glitter tattoo. Molly got to spend her own money on this waste, as we were not going to drop forty dollars for fifteen bucks worth of junk) for the child, he had to all but fight the staff for two more sets of ears (that easily had a wholesale cost of fifty cents) for the two of us.

Our room wasn't ready when we arrived, so we were allowed to go out into the waterpark and the staff assured us that they would call the instant our room was ready for us to move on in. They assured us that it wouldn't be more than an hour, and that we could play in the park to our heart's content, so we did.

The park itself? Small and not good enough. For being marketed as a fabulous indoor waterpark, it was disappointing. I can totally understand why, as a ten-year-old, it would be the most fabulous place in the world, but for THIS almost thirty-something? Terrible. Lockers were twenty dollars each to reserve for the remaining eight hours of the day, band-aids and log strands of hair kept entangling themselves with my toes, and the lifeguards and staff were atrocious. I am a particular fan of good customer service. I personally feel that if you are going to work with the public, you should take a specific interest in being respectful, kind, and helpful, especially if you are going to work in a place where your patience is going to be tried. So why, in the name of god, would people with such bitter, negative attitudes, work in a place where they not only need to be sensitive to people with herds of small children, but also people who are insecure or uncomfortable in their own skin, being thrust into a bathing suit for the sake of their children's joy? The staff were atrocious. They were unhelpful, disrespectful, and intolerable, which is unacceptable. 

Two painful hours in the tide pool later, no phone call had been received. Muffin called the front desk, only to have them have no idea who we were or why we were wanting a room. We made our way to the front desk, finally gained the secret knowledge as to where our room was, and went to dry off in the safety of our room. A room that was, like I said, the only good part about our trip (apart from spending a wonderful night with our favourite friends). The room was huge, had a balcony (which didn't come cheap, by the way), a tiny TV (which was broken and had to be replaced), the littlest shower in the world, and OMGCOMFYBEDS. The beds were easily the best part. They were plush, huge, and covered in pillows.

I didn't want to leave my bed, but the lure of food enticed me. Unfortunately, the foodplace in the hotel was a buffet at a whopping twenty bucks a head, so there was no way we were going to eat THERE. We instead walked en masse to a burger place next door (who really deserve their own poor rating, but I just can't stand to drone on for ages about their overpriced burgers, which were tasty, but not worth the pennies) to have some chow before going back to the hotel so that Molly could buy a thirty buck piece of plastic with the last of her money that she could wave around to see paintings come "alive" in front of their very eyes (OMGMAGICAL).

We then swam for another forty minutes and then made our way between the ice cream parlour (where we promptly gave up one of our limbs), the build-a-bear workshop, the arcade (which was my second-favourite part of the trip, as, after an hour and many dollars of trying to win a specific toy, my whining prompted the staff to open the machine and GIVE me a toy), and the disco going on in the great room.

It was overall just exhausting and nearly put us in the poor house. We were lucky that someone else paid for the room, because otherwise we wouldn't have made it through the trip financially. A lot of improvements can stand to be made, and I hope that they shape things up.

Two-and-a-half stars out of five.

Tuesday 8 July 2014

Tuesday, July 8th

It feels like it is literally the hottest day in the world. I want to die right now.

The child and I are sitting around, trying not to melt away by filling the living room with fans and reducing the amount of clothes we are wearing considerably. We're watching a film and waiting for the sun to go down so that we can go outside and play.

I have about four blogs to post tonight, two or three on here and one on my other blog, so I'll get on with this Tuesday and move on to them...

TJ Miller
free cinema visits... I follow a lot of groups where I am lucky enough to get a whole heap of free stuff, including a phone last year, lots of toilet paper, and free cinema tickets. My most recent free fabulousness came in the form of two free pre-screening tickets to see the new film The Purge: Anarchy. I'll do a blog about it in a bit, but I wanted to make sure that I gave some love to how much I love new films and especially love to go and see them for free with my BFF on a Monday evening!
thrillers
water parks... NOT the prices, just the experience. I can't even begin to describe how much I hate the prices at places set out to entertain children and steal money from their unsuspecting parents. Again, I have begun a blog about my latest experience at a water park, so you'll have to wait for that. Just suffice it to say that I love them, but only the water part, not the fleecing.
waxing... I'm badass at it and you should totally be jealous that you're not here to get waxed by me right now.
crocheting
Wen Fa... Hot. Towels. On. My. Sternum and neck. DO IT.
ice packs... They make everything okay on these painfully hot nights.
cuddles
bedtime... particularly with Molly here. Every night at bedtime we get to lay her in bed, talk about life, her other home, her friends, her favourite parts of our day, and then we give cuddles and kisses and go to bed. It's really nice and I'll miss it when she leaves, but I'm really glad that her mum also gets to spend so much time with such a great little lady. Knowing that all her love and fun and cleverness is being spread around the country is heartwarming. Her mummy deserves every bit of love that she gets from her.
road trips
planning my Thirtieth... Yeah, that's right. In 128 days I will be thirty and I've been planning like a fiend. I want to do something special and important, even if it IS just for me and Hubby to experience (unless, of course, any of YOU want to meet us and celebrate as well!)
organizing my Pinterest
The VA... After many, MANY weeks of strife and concern, I was given something magical from my dad AND the VA. Because of my dad's service-related injuries, he's recently been awarded one hundred percent disability and because he's my daddy I get to have my education covered by his GI bill. I can't believe that finally, after all the crap that's been showered upon our household, we are being gifted something so special. I'm finally catching a break and I couldn't thank my father or the VA more.
my dad
Denise... she's an angel. One of my classmates and one of the people I'm closest with at the moment. I love her so much.
bonding with classmates... Some of them. do you guys remember when I was in Cosmo and I was dealing with bullshit high school drama? That shit is creeping up again with a few of my classmates and I'm furious about it. I just want to be in a class where I can learn and not have to deal with dramatic crap. Why is that SO HARD?! A few of my classmates, though? They're gems. They are kind, hilarious, and really great to just sit and talk to. We're still all learning about one another, but it's been fun!


Alright. I've got stuff to do... Namely a bath with a super sexy bath bomb just before working on another blog or two and organizing more of my pinterest.

Have a fabulous night and be well!

Tuesday 1 July 2014

June 2014. It's ALSO Tuesday!

Good LORD! It's already July!

With the little one outside playing in the warm night with the neighbour kids, I get a moment in the sweltering heat of our house to post some of my favourite things about the past month.

It's been a month chock full of excitement, hot days, fun, and crazy busy, but I've enjoyed pretty much every second of it. Please, have a look!

Things i love most RIGHT NOW:


  • Esthetics... I've just begun my first quarter and we started waxing today (which I am INCREDIBLE at, if I do say so myself) and I'm in love! Thus past month has been really important for my education thus far and I've appreciated every moment of it. We've learned a gigantic amount about skin and how it reacts to lots of different variables. It's been great!
  • The CDC... I am VERY fascinated with the CDC right now and spend a LOT of time perusing their website every day to keep myself updated on any new outbreaks or viruses. It's incredibly interesting.
  • Having Molly here... she's been here for a few weeks now and it's been such a great time! We have so much fun with her, learning about her and teaching her about things that might be new to her. We've spent a lot of time watching films from the eighties and nineties and have done a lot of crafts together. We've all had a blast! To top it off, we've gotten to see her grow leaps and bounds even just in the weeks since she's been here because she finally gets a chance to relax and be a kid. I worry she doesn't get to just get out and get dirty and have rambunctious fun very often at home, so we like to accommodate that.
  • Reading... I've been doing a lot of it and there's not really a lot of explanation needed.
  • Maleficent... If you're one of my regulars, you'll know I love it. I want to see it again desperately.
Things that are consuming my life right now:
  • Taking as many photos as possible... Because we only get a handful of days with the little lady a year, we like to capture as many memories as possible. I've spent a lot of this trip taking a step back and letting Muffin enjoy time with Molly so that I can take photos for him to look back on until the next time he sees her again. It'll be a long five months, but we'll see her again soon enough. 
  • Stephen King books... Doctor Sleep has spurned a whole new love for Mr. King's books for me again. I've become pretty obsessed with reading as many of them as possible lately. Plus, he has a new one that JUST came out that I'm going to be starting soon. He's such a brilliant author and I adore his books. I'm also thrilled to discover that a whole heap of his books are going to be made into films VERY soon!
  • Planning Great Wolf Lodge... So, for Molly's birthday, Grandma booked us a room at Great Wolf Lodge for this summer and we're going in three days. We can't even BELIEVE how excited we are about it! I honestly think Muffin and I are more excited than Molly is. We've been looking at photos of the water park there every single day to get ourselves all riled up about the trip. It's going to be so much fun and there will be TONS of photos taken to commemorate the excitement!

Things I want to tell July Danie:
  • "You can take the high road and it won't cost you a penny. Just be patient and understanding."
  • "Stop putting off workouts, you're not going to get where you want to be with that kind of attitude!"

last but not least... here's a quote.  I've personally given up on being hateful. I want for things to start mending, and until people make the decision to grow up with me, I'll be here, patiently hoping for an end to all the negative junk in my life. I don't have time in my life for things that are so unpleasant. I have chosen to be happy and take control of how I treat people. I know that everyone deserves to be treated with fairness and respect, and I am willing to offer that to individuals, even if they might not necessarily deserve it.


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