Sunday, February 5, 2012
Last day of our mini-vacay. Ayize and I were determined to make it count!
Morning java run to the 'Bucks, where I also grabbed breakfast for the kids - Ayize chose himself a fancy schmancy cheese danish, and I snagged butter croissants for Brianna and Nathan.
Driving back to the hotel, I narrowly avoided Death by Dinosaurs...
Back at the hotel, we all chowed down, then headed out for a swim.
En route, we passed this view of a wintry giant forest floor as we walked along the skyway, which delighted Ayize.
Return to the Wild Waterdome, where we joined forces en masse. Good morning, Kayla Bayla!
Awestruck, for the second time in two days. A major wave pool fan.
Practicing his wave jumping skills despite the calm seas.
Splashing me yet again (this game just never gets old).
Brianna on the treehouse slide.
Cranking up the waterworks.
Nathan on the toddler slide. He enjoyed sitting up there so much that he actually had no interest in sliding down!
Kayla followed suit, very happy (until she landed in the waters below, which were the perfect depth for a major face splash).
Ayize in the house! Hut, hut!
=)
Nathan was inspired by Ayize's earlier water ministrations, but was a little frustrated that the steering wheel was a little too hard for baby hands to crank.
Wowed by his own ability to walk under this water pipe...
...and then delighted with himself!
Back to his beloved beaver.
Mom, help me...this one-foot-tall slide is overwhelming! LOL
(Actually, I think she was just anticipating another big face-splash at the bottom.)
The tree house slide had random trickles of water shooting out every which way, which Ayize totally dug.
The waveman cometh!
Daryle and Kai on the high seas.
Quick clip of the two seafarers!
Ayize so wanting to be out there with them.
Longing...
Here we go!
It was nearly ten o'clock. Checkout was at eleven, so we took this quick group shot...
...and then disbanded. We all returned to our respective rooms to shower, pack up our cars, check out, and play in the Timberland Play Park before departure. Only Ayize and I, who kept a plastic bag filled with dry clothes, planned on swimming again later, so we were also meeting there to say our goodbyes.
Last look around our room before leaving. Thank you, Room 568, for being such a wonderfully-cozy haven between bouts of watery fun! Ayize will (and already does) miss you sorely, and you will be the topic of many wistful conversations to come, I'm sure.
Off to the Play Park we went, he and I in swim gear for more post-park water fun.
First thing he wanted to do was shoot some balls around. He used one of the tree trunk shooters, while I was entranced by this open-mouthed skunk.
Ayize and Kai teamed forces and ended up playing together for over an hour. They totally conquered the entire structure. It was awesome to behold!
Down the corkscrew slide, hand in hand they went...
...and up and over everything in their path!
Cheese!
Brianna heading topside.
Nathan, making his slide desires clearly known.
Suddenly, as I climbed around shooting photos of the kids, I found myself looking through the netting at THIS. So...Ayize had been telling the truth about a giant, black, scary slide!
This is a view of it looking down, not even from the top. And it was polished to a high shine inside, and super-duper fast, as I was about to discover.
Ayize joined me for a joint slide!
Then the kids discovered this other super-speedy slide from the day before, and went down hand in hand...
...though Kai's pants lended themselves to a much higher speed than Ayize's swim trunks could achieve!
Always gotta take the hard way...
All good things must come to an end, so we finally rounded up the kidlets. We said sad goodbyes to Tamara and the kids. Then the Stricklands used up the last of their arcade tokens on this super-fun bowling game. Daryle gave pointers to Kayla during Round Two because her first ball had gone flying out into orbit in the greater galaxy! LOL
Ayize was digging this, and I stole the moment to take this quick, covert family portrait.
Now I'm right on track! Thanks, Dad!
Kai, bowling like a pro.
Big goodbye hugs. Kai is always an amazing "big sis" to Ayize, and I don't think I had the chance to properly tell her so on the trip.
So...THANK YOU, KAI!!! It means so much to Ayize! He's still talking about how you guys did the "tubes and tunnels" together at the hotel!
Glowing as we depart.
Next stop: the Wild West waterpark, where we got in line to do the Bumper Boats.
Choosing our vessel.
This was the one!
Checking out the pedals.
Hands on the controls and eager to go.
The view I got, in the rare moments when I was brave enough to peek out from beneath our protective towel!
Driving like a crazy person and nailing everyone in sight, laughing all the while. That's my boy!
More blue and orange waterslide action!
This is the view from up on high of our beloved hot tub, as I awaited Ayize's return post-slide. You can see more clearly how the tub is divided into an indoor and an outdoor portion. That break in the wall has long rubber strips hanging down from it that you have to push through to go outside - helps to keep the cold air out and the warm air in. When the park shuts the outdoor area down at night, they drop a corrugated door down to completely seal the partition. Very cool design!
Wheeeeeeeee...
Again, Mom? Again?? Please?
We discovered a smaller (though still very fun) green slide on the other side of this seemingly-endless structure, so that was how we ended our water fun - a bunch of trips down that (we could even go together on this one, which we did for max speed), until we were too cold to slide any more!
We hit the locker room, showered and dressed, and went upstairs to the Thirsty Buffalo Tavern's big-view balcony with slices of pizza and a cookie from the small vendor downstairs. The Buffalo peeps were totally cool with us doing that, and even surprised us with big fancy glasses of lemon-slice water! I definitely felt the service at the entire resort was five-star, even down to the bartenders. Such an awesome place, I hope we make it back there sometime.
Ayize went to town on both slices of pizza (he left me a few bites of each, generous though he is).
Then he made short work of his cookie. Though first he broke it into pieces, which he artfully arranged, and told me it was a flying bird. Okay, I can see that...
;-)
While he chomped, I snapped this shot of The Black Hole Adventure's signage. Cowboy in boxers in space? How did I not notice that the first time around??
Why I call it "the big-view balcony".
Finished our food, turned on our heels, and sadly, we were off.
We walked out into the bracing cold to our beloved Car-o-line and hopped in. We only made one stop, and that was at the gas station in town to fuel up for the long drive. We also grabbed some total junk food, which is my dirty little road trip secret to staying alert: a little bag of Fritos and a Hershey's bar with almonds. I know, I know! But I only buy and nosh on this kind of crap when I'm solo at the wheel with little sleep! Sheesh...
Then off we went, for one of the most pleasant long drives in my memory.
We were super sad to leave - he kept saying he wanted to live at the hotel forever! - but at the same time, you can only be sad for so long when you're heading to your beloved, cozy home where THIS...
...awaits you!
Though we received some bad news upon returning home as well: our beloved petsitter broke some bones in her hand while we were away. Dina, we thank you for all your wonderful pet care, even despite your injury, and as you know, WE LOVE YA! Get well soon!!!
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