Agate Day 2
Category Archives: Water!
A friend’s pool party housewarming
2022 dual birthday pool party!
For as much as I take pictures of everything we do, I seemingly always let it slip on pool party day. At least I got one of both kids.
This one was from a friend.
And this was as we were packing up—Anna found a little grasshopper and put it on Katie.
The party was a big success again! All the kids love it! And it’s easy since we don’t have to clean the house.
Not so much with the splash pad.
I really thought Olive might like the splash pad so we waited for a hot day and… NOPE. She did not like it at all.
She did like to drink from the spray for about 3 seconds but that was it.
Great Wolf Lodge Surprises
Did you know that all Great Wolf Lodge waterparks are not the same?! I didn’t until this week.
Anna got a steal of a deal on a weekday suite so we took the kids for an overnight surprise before school starts again.
As broken-bodied adults, we were excited about the hot tub (and, to a lesser extent, the lazy river).
Until.
We learned that this particular GWL does not have a hot tub!! WHAAAAAT?! I know, right? Fail. Big BIG fail. Ughhhh.
And then we learned that the lazy river (among other things) wasn’t open because they were short-staffed.
GAHHHHHHHH!!!!! 0 for 2 does not make for a happy mom.
But the kids didn’t care. And they ended up opening the lazy river later in the day so Anna and I got to be floating blobs for two hours.
But the water wasn’t warm enough for me and the air temp felt too cold, too. I think maybe I’m too old for this.
After checkout, Anna and I managed to find a somewhat secluded couch to relax while the kids are back in the waterpark. We can actually stay until close (!) but I’m thinking we’ll just stay until lunch!
The kids got to go first!
And of course they loved it!
Kayaking for almost all of us!
Anna wanted to take a guided kayak tour at Starved Rock campground and invited us. I know my limits and Katie’s limits (after her kayak meltdown at Grannie and Papa’s earlier this summer) so I passed…but Tom and Owen went. They had a great time! (And I had a good time taking Katie shopping!)
And lunch!
Sunday morning slide!
Last time at Mark’s!
Last time the kids went swimming at Mark’s!
Owen swimming under the dock.
Last time in Mark’s hot tub.
The kids took us to the river!
A neighbor took the kids on a bike ride to the river the other day and that’s ALL they can talk about. They went back a time or two by themselves and really wanted to show us (mostly so we’d let them go by themselves once we saw how they could get there without traveling on the main road)…so we finally agreed.
First you ride through the church parking lot. At the far back corner there’s a strip of grass that you ride across which connects to a dead end neighborhood cul-de-sac. Then you ride up to the front and hop a curb and ride on some grass untill you reach the sidewalk then take that until you reach the next street and then you ride all the way to the end in another cul-de-sac where there’s a…creek. River is exaggerating a bit.
It is pretty back there… Can you see the kids? They are on their favorite rocks. Owen calls one of them his thinking rock.
Underneath is more fun… traipsing through the water in their rain boots.
This is exactly the kind of place I’d have loved to explore and play at as a kid so I get the fascination. I just wish they’d found it before we were ready to move. They’ll just have to explore the new neighborhood…
50 feet of slip and slide!
Friends bought the same slip and slide so we decided to have an outdoor playdate and hook them together. The kids stayed far enough apart for me to not worry too much.
Of course after a while it devolved into this game:
Getting the hang of the big slip and slide!
It took them a day but they finally have the hang of how to really maximize their runs! Now we need to make sure it doesn’t end at the fence!!
Katie’s such a good swimmer!
No one else showed up today so she had the instructor all to herself… She was done with her lesson when I challenged her to swim the length of the pool.
And showing off her mermaid moves…
Play time afterwards…
Six Flags, y’all.
So we decided to bring the kids today as a special treat and they were super duper excited but—as honestly expected—they didn’t want to go on one damn ride. So Tom walked around with them and I went on rides by my damn self. (I had to put my hair up because I knew it would get crazy on the rides.)
No waiting was the theme of the day. The first ride wasn’t even full. (When I posted this on Facebook, a few friends thought it said margarita hangover which I think is a much better name.)
None of the trains were even full.
This was the perfect day for this. You could literally walk up to most any ride and get right on. NO WAIT. Lather, rinse, repeat as often as you want to. Of course it would’ve been even better had I been able to ride with Tom. (And technically, we could have left the kids while we rode it—especially since there was really no wait—but I’m pretty sure Tom is an old fuddy duddy at this point and doesn’t really want to go on them anyway.)
I’ve started to lose count of all the rides that I’ve been on. But I have taken pictures. And I know my favorites. This is not one.
This. This was my favorite. New. Steel. Smooth as silk. Twists, turns, loops. It was a thing of beauty.
And then I finally caught up to where they had stopped to wait for a ride. This was the one that they decided they would go on. I’m so glad I spent $70 on a season pass for each of them for this. Granted, they did go on it about five times each…
I went on one more while we waited for them.
So, this teacup-style ride was one I was looking forward to because Owen and Katie had both gone on it before, they liked it, and said they would go on it again. Guess who decided they didn’t want to go on it?
So the only other ride that both of the kids agreed to go on? The carousel. HOW ARE THESE MY KIDS?! At least I know we’ll save money next year because there’s no way in hell I’m getting season passes again.
2nd Annual Back-to-school BBQ waterslide party!
We had so much fun last year we decided to do it again!!
The kids were very intrigued when Tom started using the blow torch on the ribs.
It took awhile but by the end of the night, some dads (and one mom—not me!) went down the slide. Which led us to wonder how on Earth these kids could do this non-stop… The adults got tired after just a few times. 😄
And then it was over…the cleanup aftermath. And we can’t wait until next year!!
Surprise! They delivered it early!!
We thought the slide was going to be delivered Saturday morning…so the kids were thrilled that it came early!
Owen’s bucket list: the raft!
Owen really wanted to go out to the raft in the middle of the harbor but Grannie and Papa were afraid to let him do it on his own because they wouldn’t be able to help him at all. I wouldn’t have had a problem with him going but they wanted to wait until Tom was there. Tom did agree to go out with him…even knowing full well that it was freezing cold water. So here is their experience.
Tom was ready to stop right here—that water is COLD—but he agreed, so…
We had one happy boy!!
And one cold daddy.
Who deserved a beer!
Time to kayak!
Papa and Grannie bought Katie a smaller kayak so she could do it herself…but for now she was still tethered to Grannie. Owen does really well in the bigger kayak!
Awesome birthday present from friends!
They got the kids a family day pass to another local water park so the kids are off on the slides and we’re about to get in the lazy river!!
Y’all. This visor is insane.
We all had a great time! But I’ve decided a lazy river needs adult beverages and no kids. 😜
Vacation house, we are in you.
The kids really wanted to get in the pool the minute we got to the house but I was a mean mom and made them look through the house first and then actually put their suitcases in a bedroom and not just leave them splayed open in the middle of the living room.
Watching intently as I opened the pool cover.
It’s like this pool house knew I was coming.
They might already be in the pool and I might have bought them an inflatable unicorn. 🦄💦
Ahhhhh.
We had a bit of time before everyone else got here. It was quite a steep journey to the water and fire pit.
Dinner tonight was shish kebabs from the Coes. They were delicious!
Back-to-school BBQ
It was our first major shindig at our new place…and we didn’t even think about turning it into a housewarming. Oh well.
We did 9 racks of ribs in the sous vide. Our sous vide container isn’t big enough so we had to jerry rig a Rubbermaid bin.
We rented a waterslide and invited about 60 people. We had a great turnout of about half…and the kids had an amazing time on the slide. I don’t think Owen got off for more than a minute to use the bathroom and five minutes to eat dinner—he started about noon and we pulled the plug about 9.
We were so busy with party prep and visiting with guests that I didn’t even take many pictures. I can’t believe I didn’t even take a pic of the food spread—I always take pics of the food!!
We set up a tent and picnic tables.
Tom had put up posts to hang our sunshades and lights from.
Tom prepped the ribs in the driveway.
The kids still sliding at 8:15!
A good time was had by all…and we decided to keep the slide another day because it was supposed to be another hot day and we only splurge like this every few years.
Kayaking with the kids!
While Katie was fishing, Owen went out in a kayak with Grannie!
He did really really well and had a blast!
Then of course Katie wanted to go. We told her next year she could go by herself but this year she had to sit with Grannie.
River kids
We had dinner at a friend’s house tonight…and she lives on the river so of course this happened. Katie didn’t love it (too cold and too many rocks) but Owen really liked it (though he may just have really enjoyed having a dog and another boy his age to play with).
When you get to the waterpark before it opens.
The weather cleared so a bunch of this happened.
I love that she’s not afraid.
When the AC is out, it’s water time.
Aquatic Center Fundraiser
Papa and Grannie took the kids to the local aquatic center for a school fundraiser while Tom and I went out for our anniversary. I sent them with our waterproof camera!
A quick visit to the splash pad
Friends invited us to the pool but then as can quickly happen with kids, behavior went downhill and they cancelled. We were already dressed for water so I took them to the splash pad. It worked out better, though, since we were awaiting the arrival of Grannie and Papa!
First time at the water park!
Our neighbors invited us to the water park and we eagerly accepted. Unfortunately I didn’t have my waterproof camera so missed being able to take pics of the little ones going down the kiddie slide and Owen going down the big water slide! This was the only pic I got of them—the other two were off playing in the grass.
Also unfortunately the day was cut short because of weather. Kind of. There were darkish clouds in the sky…
And apparently Katie has now turned into Maggie and completely freaks out at just the mere thought of dark clouds and potential rain so she was a hot mess crying to go home. I put it off as long as I could but when it actually started to sprinkle ever-so-slightly out was game over.
Katie and Gramma Jean’s Big Birthday Adventure
I told Gramma that for Katie’s birthday, instead of giving her stuff, to take her on an adventure. So she did.
In Gramma’s words:
For Katie’s 5th birthday this year, we went on an adventure! (Yes, in Grayling.) We played at three parks, went wading in the river (along some of the racers practicing), went to the grocery store for picnic lunch supplies [where Katie could pick anything she wanted—she got a Lunchable, strawberry yogurt covered pretzels, strawberries, cashews, and chocolate milk], threw stones in the river for a half hour, went for a 3-mile bike ride (yes, I fell), and had an ice cream cone at Wimpy’s. We were gone 7 hours and mom and dad were starting to worry! What great fun we had! Happy birthday Katie Bug!
Gramma says Katie could have pedaled for hours!
Gramma says: I am so glad Katie didn’t fall. We were too close to each other and her back wheel caught my front wheel.
