Vanneste Family Blog: Spring Break: Wrapping It Up

Tuesday morning, we decided to head to the Wild West waterpark. It looked super fun on the website, but was a bit of a bust for our family. The little kid area wasn't very big or much fun (both Q and D would get stuck on the slide every time) and the big structure had all kinds of ancillary spray - so Q was NOT interested. It was also kind of cold in there, which made it less comfortable when you did get hit by all the spray.

It wasn't a total waste, of course. We enjoyed watching the big bucket fill up and dump on people (Bugs went under it once), Dec found his favorite slide of the trip and killed it going down by myself, and Fiona and I tested out the outdoor hot tub. While it was definitely not Quinn's favorite place, she did a great job of sitting in a chair and watching everyone. She was a trooper and didn't complain about the lack of things she could enjoy. After a little over an hour, we headed back to the room to make lunch. Cheryl, Coop, and Hannah weren't far behind us. The kids had fun playing with maps of the resort and listening to music while we got the food ready. It was so much fun to watch them interact and circle the places on their maps that we had been.

We all felt the need to get outside for fresh air after rest so found a little park nearby. Because of the several days of rain prior, it was really muddy. Mike and Brad were trying to jump over a huge mud hole and Brad shorted it, getting his shoe stuck in the mud. At that point, Cheryl and I realized that we had brought even more children than we originally thought (hahaha!). We ordered pizza for an early dinner and were back at the WaterDome for our final Dells hurrah as everyone else was just leaving to eat. Yay for less crowded and short lines!

Lazy river family selfie

We had the best time and it was the perfect way to end our waterpark experience. All the kids were loving the wave pool that night and Quinn was super brave as she ventured out deeper and deeper in the waves. Declan suddenly realized he knew how to swim (with a life jacket) and only wanted to be in the deep water so he could work on his skills. Fiona took a few more trips down the tube slide. And we even snuck in a few loops on the lazy river!

It was the perfect length for our trip. We fit in tons of fun ... but by the time we tucked the kids in that night, the four adults were completely exhausted. I texted my sister that we needed help - because we were all too tired to get up and get the beer from the fridge!

Enjoying the wave pool

Wednesday morning, we got up, packed up, briefly watched the firefighters at work as the hotel across the road was on fire! (but didn't watch too long ... because people with vivid imaginations whom we don't need to be terrified that our house will burn down), and headed home. While shocked that not a one of them slept on the drive, they were all really good. So we didn't really care. And rumor has it that Cheryl's spring break lines up with the kids' break again next year ...

**One very funny story from the trip. The kids were all sitting at the table and it came up in conversation that Cheryl is a Kindergarten teacher (Bugs knew this, but it still blew her mind). Then the boys talked about how Brad takes pictures of people to see if they are healthy (radiology). And the girls said that Mike fixes computers. When I asked the kids what I did, there was a really reeeeallly long pause. Finally Bugs said, "Make money." So there you have it.