Great Wolf Lodge

Ok. I know it was almost a week ago but we have been recovering from a rather strange weekend. Last Thursday, the family was going to enjoy a one-night vacation. Thanks to a very generous Christmas present, we were going to spend a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. This resort has a spectacular indoor waterpark that the kids had always wanted to check out. The kids didn't have school on Friday so we had some time after arriving Thursday evening to use the park & then we could stay & use the park all day Friday even though we had to be checked out of our room by 11 am.
The kids had been looking forward to this ever since Christmas. Stephen counted down everyday for at least the 2 weeks prior to leaving. I wasn't sure that the kids were going to explode in the van waiting for Mark to get us registered and find out where our room was. We simply threw everything in the room & changed into our suits and hit the park.
It is really something! There is a fort for climbing through. There are all sorts of water activities along the way. On top of the fort is a giant bucket that is constantly filling. It actually tips over and spills 1,000 gallons of water every 5 minutes. There is a warning bell when it is about to go over. It was interesting to watch because when the bell rings everyone runs right to where it will dump so they can get soaked. There are also 5 different waterslides, 2 are body slides that you reach from the fort & 3 are tube slides that you go up a seperate set of stairs to reach. These slides are 3-4 stories tall so we definitely got in our stair climbing. They have single & double tubes for 2 slides and the third slide uses triple tubes. The air temp is 84 degrees and the water is all plenty warm. There are also other water activities & pools. They even have 2 hot tubs: 1 for families & 1 for adults only. Joshua was even tall enough that he could do everything he wanted to without having to convince someone to go with him. IT WAS A WONDERFUL TIME!
Like I said we spent several hours there on Thursday evening then went down just after checking out around 10am on Friday morning. I was scheduled to work Friday night so we planned to leave there by 7pm to have plenty of time to get home so I could work. Our plans were changed, however.
Not 5 minutes after giving the kids a 30 minute warning that they were going to have to get out, showered, & dressed, Joshua gave us all quite a scare. I went down a slide in a single tube & Mark & Joshua was following me down in a double. Well, something happened & as they were coming down the slide, Joshua slipped through the hole of the tube too far. He was pinned with his neck between Mark's legs and the tube. Mark did what he could to get him back up but there isn't much you can do while in a winding tube with water splashing all around and carrying you down it. Mark jumped off the tube the second they splashed into the pool and scooped Joshua up. At the pool edge, he set Joshua on his feet & I found a chair a few feet away for Joshua to sit down on. Joshua just couldn't settle down. He was crying and just really upset. I went and got towels and grabbed a floor supervisor. Joshua was to the point that he wasn't responding to our questions. He got to the point where he couldn't catch his breath. By this time, we had the other attention of 2 other supervisors. Now his hands were turning inward in a very strange way and his feet were turning purple. They put oxygen on him but still couldn't get him to slow down his breathing or stop the crying. We finally had them call for an ambulance (I wasn't about to transport him ourselves when there was a possible neck injury.)
Mark ended up riding in the ambulance with Joshua while I got dressed and Rachel & Stephen loaded up our van. Rachel and Stephen did great at getting dressed and loading the van so that we could get to the hospital. Actually, we beat the ambulance because the EMT's took the time to put on a neck brace and put him on a backboard before putting him on the gurney and wheeling him to the ambulance. Rachel was impressed that I knew how to get to the hospital without any problems. But since it is the same place that Mom was for her heart attack & surgery as well as having to take Joshua there probably about 4 years ago when we were at Lake Ann.
Joshua had settle down and was looking pretty good by the time I got to his room at the ER of Munson. The doctor's ordered a full set of xrays. The final verdict was that he had a neck sprain. All bones were fine. When people sprain the neck muscle, the muscles have a tendency to continue having spasms. So we believe that the spasms were either hurting Joshua and/or scaring him to the point that he hyperventilated. He was released about 9:30pm and doctors said that it would be ok for him to ride home that night.
I had already called in because I didn't want to wait to late to call and had no clue as to how long we might be or if they were going to even release him that night. Turns out that I could have gone to work but only been an hour late because we got home about 12midnight. But then again, I was also exhausted & it didn't have to due just with the busy day that we had had. I was just very much emotionally drained. That drainage continued for all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I felt as though I had worked even though I hadn't.
Joshua has been doing very well & is pretty much over it now. He was taking ibuprofen at least twice a day until Tuesday when he was able to go down to once. Then on Wednesday, he didn't have any. I kept him out of gym for Monday but let him do it Wednesday. He is really anxious to get back to playing basketball. He was rather disappointed that he didn't get to do it on Saturday after we got home but he also admitted that he didn't feel up to it either.
So that was our mini winter vacation. It came to a close rather unexpectedly but we really did have a GREAT time other than that.
Well, my time is about up for now. We have cleaning to do & lunches to pack before we get our residents up and finish up our shift.