Saturday, April 6, 2013

Spring Break Part 2: Water Park

Josie *really* wanted to go to the beach for Spring Break. For lots of reasons, that just wasn't practical.  After our dear friends invited us to Madison, Wisconsin for a visit, it didn't take long for us to find a compromise. We had heard about the Wisconsin Dells - mecca of indoor waterparks - but took our friends' advice and headed instead to the beautiful Blue Harbor Resort on Lake Michigan in Sheboygan. Adding the scenic views of the lake to the luxury of an indoor watermark made for the perfect balance. Add in an aquarium-themed suite, and well, suffice it to say the kids weren't wishing for the beach anymore.    

So, after Easter in Chicago, we hit the road and climbed north for what was 2 days and 1 night of more fun than I could possibly capture in words, so I'll go with pictures.

Josie is really excited about maps and geography right now, so it kind of blew her mind to see our journey on the map:


Bea got just enough of a nap in:

Josie found lots of creative ways to entertain herself (and us):


 We arrived, and we were all very impressed with the accommodations and the view!!


The waterpark kinda blew all of our minds!

1000 gallons of water dropped from this ship every five minutes...


That's too much water," thinks Josie.  She's right, but Lou ends up being daring enough to stand under it twice before we left.  (Gotta love Louie!)

Who doesn't love a Lazy River?


By the end of the first day, Josie had summoned up the courage to tackle even the twistiest and turniest and tubiest of slides.  We were SO proud of her, but not at all surprised, because she's a total thrill-seeker! These are the ones we took turns racing her on - Josie on blue, one of us on green. 


After hours of sliding, splashing and soaking - we headed back to the room and ordered pizza then hung out for awhile and relaxed before hitting the arcade.


Ever since her last haircut, Bea's obsessed with blowdrying her hair.


I love these pure "sister" moments in the top bunk.



Trying to get a family photo ended up being a funny little game during the week, this one is in the reflection of the elevator.

 Glitter tattoo time!

The arcade was SO fun. We finally gave in and told Josie that arcades do in fact exist outside of Wisconsin water parks.  I think I see another arcade trip in our near future. Josie and Bea both got in on the ticket-seeking action!







We capped off the night with an Icee round in the beautiful lobby!


Such a gorgeous resort!
 The girls fell asleep watching a DVD on the little TV in their special bunk bed room (which they thought was the coolest thing ever). Actually, this was officially Bea's first time sleeping in a "big girl bed."

We woke up to the most beautiful sunrise over the lake. There is just something really peaceful about waking up next to the water.



Then, back to the waterpark!!!

These giant tube slides were so fun, but we couldn't believe they weren't too much for Josie. And poor Bea was so sad she had to wait at the bottom. Lou & I took turns with Josie sailing down these in giant tubes. The crazy thing (besides how fast it whipped us around) was the fact that they went outside then through the dark after drenching you with water.  Surprisingly, Josie came out smiling with an enthusiastic "again." I'm pretty sure I silently mouthed a four letter word to Lou as we shot out the tunnel!

This is the tube from the slides above. Josie rode in the front each time, and Lou & I took turns in the back.

Here's where it shot you out after going through the tunnels that came in from outside.


The girls took turns going down these slides about a million times.  (And ha, Lou & I took a few trips down them too before they started blowing the whistle at us to let us know they were for kids only!)  The whole iphone + water everywhere combination didn't lend itself to very many action shots, but you'll have to trust me. You've never seen a happier 2 year old in your life than Bea shooting down these slides and into our loving arms (even if other parents looked at us like we were nuts every time, not knowing she'd already done it a dozen times).  Being parents is really fun. Being these girls' parents is the most unbelievable blessing on the planet.  They are such happy, joy-filled, spirited children!
For a sense of scale, she the little gal standing at the top of the blue one. 


In fact, I think Bea actually grew up a ton this week. "Baby Bea" is fading fast, my friends. And it is this realization that, waterpark or no, spending as much time as possible with these girls, just soaking them up, is the most important thing we can do...

...Because for every "help me" these days, there are countless "I can do it by myselfs."


After one last time through each part of the waterpark, we bundled up for a very important walk on the beach of the lake.  It was chilly, but the girls were so thrilled with the prospect of even dipping a pinky finger into the "lotion" (that's lake + ocean if you're wondering) and definitely wanted to collect some "treasures."

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the gentle waves were lapping, and we were blissing out on quality family time!













We collected treasures, made plans to return, then packed the car for set course for Madison.  What a spring break road trip this was turning out to be!