Santa's gift

Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures from the waterpark but truth be told...we were having too much fun and I really didn't take too many pictures. In fact, the only pictures I have are from my phone!

We honestly had such a great time. The kids all had a blast, well...two out of three (more on that later) and it was just awesome to spend some time with the kids without any distractions or time restraints.

We headed to Dubuque around two o'clock Christmas Day afternoon, checked in and immediately went down to the waterpark. We were thrilled to see that the park was pretty much all to ourselves. If I had to guess there was probably only another fifty people there and only half of them were in the water! It took Ella awhile to warm up to the environment and I still laugh at her spastic reaction each and every time the huge water bucket filled up and spilled out! She freaked! We all rode on the intertubes on the lazy river, we all played in the kiddie pool and we all went down a slide. Granted, Ella went screaming the entire way, but, nonetheless. ;-) I just HAD to take her down one. Josh and Lauren waited for us at the end and laughed because they could hear her scream the entire way down. Her little fingers were clawed into my thighs and I just couldn't help but chuckle. She still remembers the color of the slide and will tell you that she did NOT like it. Oh well.

We ended up eating pizza for our Christmas Day meal and the kids were pumped that we got to eat right in the waterpark. Oh, it's the little things in life, right?





The kids got along so well the entire time. It was just...well, perfect. I also had two realizations while we were there. My first was that I realize how much of my time is taken by Josh and Lauren and, in turn, taken away from Ella. Josh has homework every night, Lauren has...well, her issues, and Ella is well....the third child. (I'm pretty sure we can just print out this portion of the blog for her future therapy sessions.) I stayed with her in the kiddie pool while Dustin was taking his turn with the older two and I realized that I don't feel like I know her as well as the other two. Now I understand that is because she's just younger, that she doesn't have the daily demands of homework and/or activities and that she's just not as vocal as the other two about requiring my attention. Whatever the reason is...it kind of made me sad. So I enjoyed my time with her. And I know she enjoyed her time with me. I was reminded why it is so important to make time for one-on-one time with your children. And I have now made that one of my 2012 resolutions.




The other realization that I had was that I am now "that mom". "That mom" who is just a big kid playing with her kids. Who will go down a slide with her kids fifty times because it's just too much fun, run around a huge waterpark and wait for five minutes while the big bucket fills up with water just so she can get it dumped on her, carry a double intertube up a zillion stairs for the 20 second ride down through a dark tube and go to bed exhausted because she had as much fun as her kids. More importantly....WITH her kids. I would NEVER have been able to keep up with them 97 pounds ago. And so when we all collapsed into bed that night I had a little moment of happiness for myself. I like THIS mom a whole lot more than I liked the mom I was two years ago. And I think my kids agree.