One Last Hurrah!

During our final trip to Ukraine Amber was out with my mom and received a gift from a family friend. The friend told Amber not to open the envelope until she got to the car and that the gift was for our whole family to enjoy. Inside the envelope was gift certificates to our local water slide park.

Our kids were through-the-roof excited. We only go to Sun Splash once a year because it is so expensive. And we would not have gone this year because of travel and vehicle expenses. This was the only chance they had to go.

We decided to go as a family the last Saturday before school started. This was our last hurrah before the new school year. The kids were all anxiously counting the days as they passed.

We had the best time.

Brad said, "This is the first time I have enjoyed coming here since high school. Having teenagers actually makes this enjoyable." It's true. We could ride the real slides this time and not just trade time in the kiddie pool. There was always someone to stay with the little boys so that we could split up and take the bigger kids on whatever interested us. The big kids actually enjoyed the more adventurous slides with us.

He may not like me sharing, but I want to remember this as the years pass: Justin was hilarious. We Americans grow up in an environment where everything is really reliably safe. Going to a water park and riding the slides and playing in the wave pool is not life-threatening (as long as you follow the rules). We learn to trust that even if it is scary, it is safe. Justin does not share this opinion.

Our first destination was the wave pool. Justin didn't want to go in. He quickly discovered that the wave pool is the most popular place to play and even his little baby brothers were completely safe. So he got in and started having fun. (Side note: I am wondering how he will feel about real waves at the beach. Can't wait to find out.)

Drew did NOT like having to wear a life vest in the wave pool. "But it's a pool and I can swim!" He didn't understand why they would make everyone under 48 inches wear one even when the waves weren't on.

That's a lot of Krinkes in the river...

Never trust dad while in an inner tube.

Lunch break.

Brad and Justin playing 'Jenga' with watermelon rinds.

This one makes me smile.

After riding his first slide, Justin went and got a life vest. He wore it the rest of the day. At one point he took it off to dry off and forgot to put it on before joining us for the next slide. He was noticeably worried and asked if he could go back to get it. Brad had to explain in Russian that it really was okay to ride the slide without it. He hesitated, but came along. This particular slide didn't even have a pool at the bottom. We chuckled a bit. After the slide Justin still went back to get his life vest.

Many times throughout the day Justin screamed down the slides. As the day went on he began to mock himself and scream dramatically rather than genuinely. But we all got a big kick out of his high-pitched death wail. Watching him experience things for the very first time is so fun. I love the way he embraces new experiences and environments. There were only two slides he just would not try. He mastered the rest of the park... in his life vest.

We are so grateful to good friends who know the value of family play time and chose to give us this wonderful gift. This was an excellent way to spend our last Saturday before school and soccer games begin.