Memory Maker: Cowabunga Bay

Okay, I love water, the kids love water, we love swimming and slides, but I did NOT expect our time at Cowabunga Bay to be as much fun as it was. 

So our original plan for the day, was I'd take most of the day off and take the girls to the aquarium right after lunch. Then we'd head over to Cowabunga Bay and when Larry was done with work he'd get Pierce ready and meet us there. However, I decided that's just a lot of spending in one day, plus I JUST went to the aquarium for Cara's field trip back in May (and it's really not THAT exciting to go multiple times in a year, much less within a couple months apart, unless you have a membership or something), so I decided we'd just to the water park. I did already have most of the day off, so I used my extra time at home to do more decluttering (which was really nice) so at least I was productive, still.

I found out the park takes a mid day break and re-opens at 2:30 so I took ALL the kids with me right as the 2nd time frame opened up (and got front row parking, even!). I hadn't been on all the slides before, just one of the big ones and the one in the kiddie area, so I made it a goal to ride all the slides this time. They had this new Surfin' USA slide that you had to use a mat for, so I was excited to do that one. Gwen and Cara are both big enough to do all the slides on their own, so while I swam around with Lucy and Pierce, I told them they could go on their own to check out the slides, as long as they stuck together. We played a lot in the kiddie area and the lazy river (the kids love a lazy river haha). Pierce LOVED the slide in the kiddie area, he wanted to go on that over and over haha. 

The workers there are also SUPER nice. They helped Cara and Gwen find out where to get the mats for the Surfin' USA slide while they switched spots. They even offered to keep an eye on Lucy while I took Pierce on a bigger slide (because she didn't want to ride any slides, but I wanted to see if Pierce liked the bigger ones). They seriously made me want to go there again and again!

Larry showed up a little before 4 and we closed the park down (it closes at 6, not sure why so early, but we wanted to make sure Larry got his money's worth). Larry and I took turns going on the slides, the kids kept asking to go on slides with me, but that water is much colder than the lazy river so I'd trade off and convince them to let dad take them on some haha. 

We decided to head over to Cafe Rio for dinner, since it was close and we knew traffic would make it take forever to get home anyways. Unfortunately, the lights in that area are ridiculous and it took me WAY too long to figure out how to get there (I got so turned around). But, I figured it out and we were able to eat a yummy dinner (the girls discovered they really like their salads). 

Being there in the middle of the day when I should be at work really made it seem much more fun haha. I love taking time off work and doing fun things like this with the kids. I especially love that I could let the older girls go off on their own and I know they'll be okay. They are much more confident in the water and they know how to find me if they need something. Plus having lifeguards arounds made me feel better too.