Susan’s Journal

Water Park.

Posted by Susan on Aug 23rd, 2008

“Come on, Rain, just one picture. We’re not leaving until you let me take one picture.” That’s why they look so happy in this picture.

I love those white puffy things behind them, and I was so wrapped up in the whole get-it-over-with thing that I chopped them off. Nice, huh?

A few days ago, a friend from my church had given me three tickets to Hawaiian Falls. They were left over from a church group trip–exactly three–and they expired in a week. I’d love to take the kids, I told her. Thank you so much for thinking of me.

So we packed a picnic lunch, put on our swim suits, stopped at a gas station for drinks, and headed to the local water park. We got there about half an hour after it opened. We got good parking. We got three chairs in the shade and put our cooler, towels, and flip-flops there.

I have to tell you that this has got to be my favorite water park I have been to. The biggest reason? I went on just about every ride that was open. That’s not normal for me. The kids were excited to have me going on all the water rides with them, and honestly I got sick of climbing all the stairs before I got sick of going on all the rides.

We probably spent about half the day in the lazy river, in about four different stints. That’s how I got this sunburn I’m sporting. It’ll be gone in a day, though, and it was worth every minute of it.

Halfway through the day, we had a picnic lunch of peanut butter and jellies, chips, our new coolered drinks, and chocolate pudding. It was enough to quiet our tummies and send us back on our way again… to one more ride, and then Mommy can’t we go on the lazy river again?

I am so thankful to my friend for giving me those tickets. It was a real blessing. And I promise, the kids were much happer about the whole day than they look in this picture.

Comments(1)
Categories: kids
Tags: hawaiian falls, park, swimming, tickets, water park

24 hours away.

Posted by Susan on Aug 11th, 2008

There’s no time that I spend with the kids that isn’t a good time.

I had originally planned to pick up the kids at 5pm, but I txt’ed and asked if I could pick up the kids at 3 instead. The reply was "sure." Hooray! I picked them up; and with the car loaded down, we headed south.

I had really been looking forward to my time with the kids, and I had done my homework. I booked a relatively cheap hotel with an awesome pool, one mile away from our final destination. We checked in, splashed around in the pool for a couple hours (which was right outside our hotel room door), and then headed to dinner.

I had used my iPhone to see what was close by, and the yummiest thing nearby was Chili’s. When we got out to the car, we realized that chili’s was just a tenth of a mile away, so we just walked there. Both kids ate really good (as did I!) and we were off on our way again, this time to that final destination…

…the drive in!

We paid the $10 fir the three of us to see the movie (they only take cash) then found our perfect spot by screen 3. We saw the batman movie and the journey to the center of the earth movie. We took half a dozen trips to the snack bar, which was really cheap, and half a dozen trips to the restrooms. It was really beautiful outside, though pretty windy. I sat with two lawn chairs (one for my feet) and a blanket wrapped around me while the kids laid in the back of the car. I had backed into the spot and left the hatch up, which maybe I wouldn’t have normally done, but there was no one behind us. It was about 1:30 when the second movie was finally over. We spent a few minutes packing everything back in the car, then headed the one exit back to the hotel.

It’s about an hour and a half from our house, so rather than driving back gone at 2am, I thought the hotel room would be a great idea… And it was. There was a continental breakfast that was excellent–complete with Texas-shaped waffles–and a little while later we were back in the pool again.

I took today off work, and the kids have been so good. I love taking them places, having fun with ten, just enjoying our loves together. I hope when they’re twenty or so, one of them says, "Remember that time we went to the drive in and stayed in the hotel?"

Mobile post sent by kitykity using Utterz. Replies.