Summer of fun

The Stinson family has spent many days away from home this summer, which partly explains why this blog has been silent for long stretches.

Our first trip was to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. Or, as Owen calls it, the Wolf hotel. It is corny in a way that seems totally appropriate for the town it's in, with a nature theme that extends to the carpeting in the hallways and the decor in the rooms. Our room had a separate sleeping area for kids, with a bunk bed done up in faux wood to look like a tent. Owen quite liked it, as the photo shows.

The Wolf hotel's main selling point is a giant indoor waterpark. When I was young I used to get excited about a pool with a slide, so this is like that to a factor of about four thousand. The slides were the one thing Owen had little interest in, which was handy since he was too small to go on almost all of them. The splash pad (called Timber Canyon or some other such hokey name) was a big hit, with all kinds of fountains and hoses and buckets and whatnot that a 3-year-old could spend all day pointing and shooting and dumping.

Also fun was the wave pool, which Owen called the beach. Sue took him out into the waves, which promptly knocked his bather to his knees. Sadly, Sue was unaware of this development, so as she struggle to keep the two of them splashing in the waves, Owen mooned the rest of the waterpark. We soon found the optimal way to enjoy the beach was by riding in pairs on an inner tube.

But despite the extravagance of the waterpark and a room with his own bunk bed and TV, the Wolf hotel's truly redeeming quality in Owen's mind was the presence of an arcade. Understand, now, that Owen is quite unable to play the vast majority of games on his own. This is of no consequence. He loves to pretend to play games, to watch Daddy play games, to have Daddy play games on his behalf, and in rare circumstances, to play them himself. One such game employed a simple concept: the player used a handle to move a bucket. Dozens of little yellow balls — popcorn— shot out and the player tried to catch as much as possible in the bucket. Honestly, Owen would still be there today playing Popcorn if we had left him with enough tokens.

So, Great Wolf Lodge. Pricey, but fun. Owen used to ask when we were going back to the Wolf
hotel on a near-daily basis. He's given that up, but he still reminisces about it in a kind of wistful way, like he's fondly recalling the halcyon days of his youth.

Process of elimination

Owen has apparently reached the age where he rather enjoys fiddling with his, er, bits 'n pieces. Sue recently noticed him having a fairly rigourous poking and prodding session below the equator.

Sue: Owen, are you doing that because it's itchy, or because it hurts, or just because it feels good?

Owen: Well, it's not itchy and it doesn't hurt.