Holy Waterslides, Batman!

Hard to believe just how big, how utterly humungazoid, Great Wolf Lodge actually is...

from the lobby with it's animatronic woodland creatures, to the arcade, to the waterpark, which was truly... well, huge!


The waterslides themselves are six stories high (and man, were my legs feeling the burn after a couple of hours of climbing!), and three of them are absolutely terrific - one, just like a rollercoaster, with a conveyor belt to pull you to each drop, another like a raft ride, and the third - my personal favourite - like a giant toilet -you shoot down a steep drop to find yourself going around and around in a huge bowl until, finally, you plop down another drop and finish in the lazy river. Just like a turd, as my children gleefully pointed out. Ahh, life with boys...

the view looking up at the slides from my post at our table, which was mercifully near the bar...

And I'm sorry, but there was nothing "lazy" about this river, which winds around the waterpark - the current was strong enough to rip the boys from their handholds on the wall...
But in a good way, of course...

so, we had a nice couple of days, did manage to get to Niagara Falls proper for a brief visit on the way home, and found ourselves back here by 2:30 Saturday afternoon, to two completely overjoyed dogs.

Then we noticed something odd about Maggie - her eyes, when she could open them, were white and filmed over. Even typing this makes me want to cry - I was convinced that she was going blind, and so rushed her over to the Emergency Clinic about 20 minutes away, after dropping the boys off at their dad's. After 4 1/2 hours, Maggie was diagnosed with an eye infection which can be idiopathic (no known cause), or can be a precursor to something more serious, for which bloodwork has been ordered.

The Emergency Clinic was a story in and of itself. Not a lot of people there, and I am still not sure why the wait was so very long, but in close quarters over a period of time, a group of obvious animal lovers can't help but bond. I met Ruby, an English Bulldog with a possibly dislocated hip. I met Darcy, a German Shepherd mix who had fallen on a piece of metal which was still lodged in his hip. A cat who had had surgery that morning in another town was dropped off in her little hospital bed, complete with IV, for observation. By far the saddest was a guy who came in with his cat, which was red and huge and had to be carried in a Tupperware bin, who was suffering from a urinary tract blockage. While we were waiting there, this poor cat, who had been in extreme pain since her arrival, died. Absolutely sad. As people and their animals were slowly seen and treated, there were heartfelt goodbyes and hopes for good luck. Absolutely an amazing experience. I think one of the most amazing things of all was Maggie, who sat quietly and patiently the whole time. Not a whimper, not a fidget. She looked up at me frequently as I spoke to her, eyes closed against the light, head resting on my knee. I am so impressed with her, I don't think I can articulate it properly. Generally, she is the nutty, wriggly one, but she proved herself to be a trouper bar none.

After two days of medicine and eye drops, her eyes look normal, no film, no white. She is nutty and wriggly and doing her best to make Charlie nuts. I am so thankful.


In other news, did anyone else see the IQ Test on CBC last night? I did it along with everyone in the audience, and must say I am pleasantly surprised... not that I put a lot of weight on the concept of an IQ score - my years of training in Psychology cured me of that - but it was kind of neat to score higher than the surgeons, who scored the highest of all the test groups - these included Tattoo Artists, Entertainers, Fitness Instructors, Mayors, Millionaires and Radio DJ's. I think you can still do the test, if you're interested...

and today, we are back to normal - sigh... holidays just never last long enough... when's Easter Break???