Last Thursday, I attended my first official Dining In, which turned out to be a comedy show all night.  Marines are hilarious.  Nick had the best line of the night, and to shorten a long story, ended with "... And when I wear a bow tie and cowboy boots, thats all I wear."  The whole room erupted in laughter.  I was so proud.

I knew about this function a full month ahead of time, but still waited until the last minute to order some dresses online.  When I found the perfect dress, but needed to overnight a smaller size from Bluefly, I was so disappointed when I opened the box to find a brown men's Burberry shirt.  I've never had a company "cross-ship" something before and my beautiful dress was laying in someone's NY house.  So at the last minute, I pulled out this old bridesmaid dress and wouldn't you know?  Should have gone with this choice the whole time.

After a late night, we woke up super early on Friday to head to Charlotte, NC to Great Wolf Lodge.  Nick took some leave and we decided a mini vacation was on the books to get out of Jacksonville for a bit.  When Audrey was one, we visited the GWL in Williamsburg and knew what an amazing place this was for kids.  And again, we had such a great time.  Making memories.  I love living my life with this in mind.

And just like last time, Nick and I had a skee-ball shootout in the arcade.

Ethan had a blast playing in the fountains and Audrey was brave on all the rides.  Just a mere inch taller and she could have gone on all of them.  Nick was trying to be the uber careful and responsible parent by having her wear her most "cushioned" shoes to gain that extra inch, but the lifeguards were too smart.  Next year.

After a full day at the water park, we came back to the room where Ethan tried to have his first taste of Cheetos by grabbing the bag and dumping them on the bed.  Those little baby hands are super fast.

If you have small kids, I would highly recommend this place!  I mean, even Nick (in the green shorts) couldn't pull himself away from the big bucket of dumping water.

Blurry, but a family photo nonetheless.

We were literally pulling away from the parking lot when I saw the front of GWL and quickly decided that would be the perfect family photo op.  Nick, the good sport he is, smiled a tight smile and found another parking space, unloaded the kids, and smiled for this picture.

We arrived back to Jville late Sunday night, just in time for Audrey to get a good night's rest for a full week of VBS.  I volunteered in the craft room and actually had a lot of fun helping the kids.  If we were going to be here next year, I would sign her up again in a heartbeat and plan on doing VBS wherever we are stationed next.  This was the last day when the kids performed their songs.  I could have cried as I sat there with Ethan and we swayed to these beautiful Christian songs these sweet kids were singing.  

Gearing up for a wild Fourth of July weekend with Nick's family, that should be even more entertaining with Tropical Storm Arthur approaching.  Stay tuned!