Most of Washington school districts have this dumb tradition called "Mid-winter Break." We have school for 6 or 7 weeks after Christmas, er, I mean "Winter Break" and then it is time for another week off, starting with Presidents' Day. Then 6 weeks after that it's "Spring Break." This is all good when you have the money and/or time to skip off to Hawaii like we did 3 years ago, but otherwise, it's a week to sit and watch it rain (or snow, as the case was this year). So when my good friend Michelle mentioned she was going to take her kids to Great Wolf Lodge, I asked how she felt about us tagging along with them. It turned out to be a fabulous idea, and the kids had a blast together, as did the moms. For all of us, this was our first time splurging on a trip to GWL. With 84 degree temps inside, and snow flurries out, it felt like a pretty good getaway, yet was only about a 75 minute drive from home.