Water Park Weekend

For the past few years, John has been campaigning for a trip to a water park. Way back when we were a family of three, we visited a wonderful indoor water park in Geneva, Wisconsin. We have fabulous memories of that outing (John and I had a walled off room to ourselves and Bryce slept on a pull-out couch near a fireplace ... Bryce got a huge goose egg on the back of his head from one of the slides ... then, he placed his knuckles up against the glass of the fireplace and burned them, which led to a half hour stint with his hand dipped in the ice bucket ... once he finally slept, I enjoyed our bathroom's hot tub).

However, I haven't been able to match his enthusiasm for the idea. Last year, I managed to put him off. This year, I went along with his plans and he scheduled us for a two night visit to Big Splash Adventure in Southern Indiana. We selected this past weekend because the boys were supposed to have Friday and Monday off from school for a short winter break. However, due to the four snow days we had during our wicked ice storm, those days had been reinstated into the calendar.

As the dates crept closer, the dog's bacterial infection returned and I began to worry that we would lose our deposit because we couldn't take the dog to the kennel, as planned. Thankfully, an expensive visit to a vet (plus more medications) and we were assured that he was all clear to spend a few days at a kennel.

The deadline for cancellation came and went. Friday morning Trevor awoke with a high fever. I kept him home from school. Once he was doped up with acetaminophen, he seemed his normal self, so I made the executive decision to take him to the water park in spite of his obvious illness (what would you do, if faced with the loss of a couple hundred dollars deposit?).

It turned out fine. He did continue to run a high fever (usually at night), but the meds soon brought it down. It may have even worked in our favor because both nights, he was sound asleep by 8 p.m. and it slowed him down a bit during the day.

Apart from some frustration with the noise level in the hallways (I don't know if they could manufacture doors that slam louder than these doors! Plus, one group of adults decided they would take their party to the hall), we had a wonderful time.

The food was magnificent. The weekend package came with a free breakfast buffet and the spread was amazing - eggs, biscuits & gravy, sausage, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, french toast sticks, cereals, yogurts, fruit ... all of it delicious.

Our suite included a king size bed (which I shared with Trevor, due to his fevers and illness) and a small cubby hole room with two bunk beds and a television. When the boys weren't swimming they were hanging out in the room, plugged into their electronic amusements.




At first, I must say, I found the stimulation level of the water park to be overwhelming. It was impossible to keep an eye on both Trevor and Sean, since they ran off in opposite directions. I worried that one would drown while I was looking for the other one. When John and Bryce joined us there (they had been unloading the van), John reminded me not to worry so much about Trevor because he knows his limits and can swim to a certain extent. From that point on, I focused on keeping track of Sean and my anxiety level diminished.

Thankfully, Sean chose one favorite slide and remained in the same area for the most part.





Trevor's favorite place to be was in the lazy river.




He did go down a few of the bigger slides with Daddy and Bryce, but mostly just wanted to float in an inner tube. The final morning (the only time I remembered to bring my camera along - thus the empty look), Trevor convinced me to go down the biggest slide (one I called "The Big Flush") with him on a double inner tube. It was a blast!





Of course, the fun and frolicking didn't help Trevor's illness. He ended up missing three more days of school as it all settled into a horrible cough. Plus, Sean began running fevers on Monday. Yippee! We've survived another week of illness and one late start (due to another round of snow - which I don't really mind because things were starting to look ugly and the new layer was just enough to return the world to a pretty glimmer).

To pamper myself a little, and to follow another Pippi-esque adventure, I snagged a deal for half fare massages and invited an old friend (who happens to live on the other side of Indy) to go with me. One of these days soon, I'll be leaving the boys behind, forgetting all about the snow and the illness, the whining and the curse of too much television, trading it all in for an hour long massage and a reunion with an old friend. I'm guessing it will be even better than the weekend at the water park.