Gale Family Vacaton Part 2 - The Waterpark

The night after the Circus.

I grew up going to waterparks. I love the water. I do however have some pride, and hurdling myself down a slide and landing non-delicately in the water with everyone watching has lost its appeal over the years. But, I have to give my children the same opportunities I had growing up and Max has been in swimming lessons for the last year and a half and is no longer scared of the water. We went out to the Cherry Valley Lodge water park. We got a suite which consisted of a separate bedroom with a king bed and a couch bed in the main room. The room itself could be described as tired. I could see it's potential which reached it's height probably 10 years ago. But it was something that I wouldn't care if the kids ran around and played with things. The landscaping was amazing. I enjoyed that. We checked in at 11:00 am and changed into our suits. I then describe the next part as the "GLORY WALK" through the hotel in my swim suit cover up to the waterpark. Thank goodness I had a cover up! When we got our wristbands on and went in, it was a bit overwhelming. So much to do and where to start. We found a table to put our belongings on for the day and then hit the lazy river. Max loved it, Jackson was unsure. The water was plenty warm, just a bit swift for the little dude. I was stopped by the Lifeguards that I had to be in the tube not on it. That was a bit challenging as the hole in the tube was smaller than Max's mommy. But the good thing about water is it is slippery and somehow I got in there. I wanted to be the mom who had cool hair while she played at the park, but no such luck. I have short hair and when it gets wet, it is man hair. So I just stiffened my upper lip and walked with pride around the place. My kids loved it. In the little kid area, there was a zero entry pool that was about 1.5 feet deep. They had a dual slide that was about 10 feet long. I seriously believe that no child has gone down that slide more than Max did that day. It was HOURS of sliding down the kiddy slide. The funny thing was Jackson. He was very nervous. One of us took him to the top and the other stood at the bottom to catch him. The tricky part was whoever went to the top had to go down the slide after him. That was exciting for big mamma to go down the kiddy waterslide. Once he went down he was hooked. So Eldon and I took turns and it was fun. The nice thing was that they lowered the hot tub temperature so that the kids could get in it. It was one of those indoor/outdoor kind where you could go in and out. Jack liked that the best. After about 4 hours we were STARVING and EXHAUSTED. We ate a small lunch played a bit more and then went back to the room for a nap. All four of us were out for 2.5 hours. We got dressed, and then went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was good, but looming over us was Max saying "Mom I want to go back to the waterpark." In order to avoid going back the next day, we put on our wet suits and tromped back to the water park. We did the lazy river again and the kiddy slides, the hot tub. I don't know if exhausted is enough of a word to describe how we felt that night. I kept waiting for the kids to crash. I hear they do that when they play like this. We got everyone's pj's on and turned on the TV. Wouldn't you know that High School Musical 2 was on. Max has been dying to watch it. He's 4. I don't get it, but we pulled out the couch bed and got them all settled and we all watched. Max waited to the last song before he shut his eyes. They both slept well, but Jackson was up at 6:30. The kid needs to be slapped! We were on vacation!!! We packed up and went to Cracker Barrell for breakfast. YUMMY!

My boys watching High School Musical 2.

Overall it was a great weekend. We spent quality time together. That was the goal. I am happy to say that I was considered a fun mom. That's what I have always been going for.