Grand Harbor Resort/SS Swim Party ~ March 2011

Friday afternoon was a tough time for the kids.  Violet had gotten home from preschool (she got to bring the snack and be the leader, one of her FAVORITE days!) and the waiting began until we could leave to go to the waterpark.  I was busy packing up stuff and loading the van while trying to juggle all three kids and keep them out of trouble and stop fighting.  They asked me probably a hundred times when we were leaving, and tried helping pack but only made things go slower for me.  I don't have a lot of patience for letting them help when I'm in a hurry.  They just couldn't wait to leave, and knew that when daddy was done working we would pack up the van and start driving.  Daddy came up late, and that frustrated Miss Violet to no end.  I kept Calvin awake and didn't put him down for a nap so we could leave on time.
Once we finally left (4:30...our original goal was to leave by 3:30) all three kids fell asleep almost instantly.  It made for a relaxing drive to Dubuque, although Dave was working on his computer the whole time.  I drove and he worked.  We drove through Wendy's to get supper before arriving and once we got up to our hotel room, we ate quick and of course, changed into suits and got right down to the waterpark.  Josh and Carrie arrived only an hour after us.  We ate quickly in our room and headed for the water.

I didn't get a chance to snap any pics while in the waterpark since I was carrying Vanessa everywhere and at times, handed her off to Dave so I could go play with the older kids.  Violet was all ready to go on anything on her own with no help (she wore a life jacket the whole time) and even knew to wait for the lifeguard's signal before going down the slide.  I went down the slides with Calvin a couple times, and his third trip up he asked to go himself.  He also wore a life jacket the entire time but was never left alone.  I thought he could handle going down the slide himself, so I pushed him down and let him go.  He loved it!  I could tell he was pretty proud of himself too.   He went down again himself, and ended up turned sideways, almost backwards at the end of the slide that I think freaked him out a little...but either way...he had fun and was happy.  Once J&C arrived, all the kids were scattered everywhere and had tons of fun.  By 9 pm we decided to call it quits and head back to our room. 

Our plan for the night was to let the kids sleep together in the queen size pull out bed.  They have rarely slept in the same room together and have never shared a bed to sleep in before, so we didn't know how well it was going to go over.  They were both super hungry after swimming so I made them some instant mac and cheese using the microwave in the room and both ate it quickly.  Dave and I got the kids rinsed off and ready for bed as soon as we could.  It was quite frenzied most of the time, as they were excited to be AT a hotel, climbing on everything, gawking at things they saw out the window (we had a river view, they saw birds, trains, boats...) and jumping everywhere.  I was nursing Vanessa at times and couldn't help with the other two.  Dave got them tucked in bed, we gave them a little dose of melatonin to help get to sleep, and it seemed to help a lot.  Even though they were excited to be in the same bed, they did go to sleep pretty good after about an hour of poking and giggling.  Dave and Josh used the opportunity to hang out together downstairs in the hotel lobby for awhile.  Carrie and I chatted (via computer chat!) in our own hotel rooms and went to bed before the brothers were done talking.

I felt a little like Mama Rowena Saturday morning.  I had brought breakfast items (two kids of cereal, milk, yogurt, muffins) for our family and had enough for J&C too.  I invited them over to our room for breakfast once we were all up (kids woke up at 7!) and they came over to eat by 8 am.  Of course the waterpark was the main attraction - they suited up and went right down to the pool as soon as they could.  We all went down together, but Carrie and I went back up to the hotel rooms after an hour to put the little ones down for naps.  Vanessa fell asleep, I got a shower.  I got stories that both kids went down the slides on their own and everybody played well together. 

We went to a local pub restaurant for lunch - called the Shot Tower Inn.  We ordered a pepperoni pizza and the kids ate chicken fingers.  It was crazy in there too, very full of people, and between all of us, drinks were spilled and food was splattered.  I'm sure we just added to the chaos. 

Josh and Carrie and family decided to head back home and cut their visit short since a couple of them were just getting over the stomach flu.  We drove back home and all three kids ...again...slept the entire way.  It was an exhausting but very fun two days. 

On our way back, we talked about going to the Sunday School's Swim party that was scheduled for Saturday at 4:30.  The entire pool at Holmes middle school was reserved.  We figured...might as well...more swimming, we're already equipped, let's just do it!  So we swam for another 2 hours.  The kids were pretty excited when we found out where we were going...seemed like an extension of their water-filled weekend.  Violet got very brave and decided to go off the diving board.  At first she just stood on the end of the board and slowly walked off and let her life jacket float her to the top.  On her fourth attempt, she boldly walked up, and RAN off the board making a big splash!  The life guard then informed us that she had to pass some type of swimming test to be able to go off the boards.  Oh well....that was the end of the diving boards but she had fun.  Pizza was served, we all enjoyed that (even though we just ate it for lunch) and I liked how I didn't have to do anything for supper.  There was so much pizza left over, we took a full pepperoni pizza home with us.  We got the kids to bed as soon as possible, they got in bed at 7:30 and didn't fall asleep until around 8.  We didn't even bother bathing them, that didn't happen until Monday before lunch. :P

We just arrived, must jump on bed!

 and climb on the window sills!

 All tuckered out...and their first time ever sharing a bed.

 Having breakfast Saturday morning

 Violet gave Austin some Dr. Suess books for his 6th birthday, he was busy reading them. :)

 daddy holding a very tired Nessie

The luggage cart was the "train" 

 Calvin in the little pool at Holmes on Sat evening...he looked a little spaced out.  Probably tired!

 Violet didn't stop swimming.  She got a sore spot on her leg from the life jacket strap!

Violet's fourth jump off the board

And a nice Sunday afternoon snooze on the couch...