On this day of vacation, we all ended up EXTREMELY tired!
Everyone got up bright and early on this gorgeous Tuesday morning to head out to one of the many waterparks in Orlando. We chose Aquatica, and it was fantastic! There are three other waterparks (that I know of) in Orlando, but we all decided on Aquatica based on its price. It was about half the price of the others. Can't beat that! Of course it had a lot fewer slides than the rest, but that didn't seem to bother us!
One "Alyson Moody Fun Fact" is that I L-O-V-E waterparks! I think they are so much fun. Ian and I took a vacation (prior to kiddos) down to Orlando a few summers ago, and we spent one entire day at Wet N Wild. We still talk about how much fun we had there. I have always loved swimming, and while I don't like the crazy water slides that send you flying straight down on your bare back, I love pretty much everything else.
Ian and I had no idea what to expect this trip because of the kids. I honestly didn't think I was going to get to stay the whole day. I figured I'd have to go back to the house during lunch so the kids could take their naps. Boy was I wrong! Cayman had a BALL at Aquatica. They had a toddler section that had slides perfect for him! There was even a slide that he could ride with us - we had a 2-person float and he sat in the front (there was a bottom to his part of the float so it was more like a boat...he couldn't fall through the hole...does that make sense?) and one of us sat behind him. He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time! There were other slides he went down in the toddler area where he just sat on his bottom and went on down (except that our child refuses to sit on his bottom "in proper riding position" so he ended up going down on his belly, feet first.) They also had tons of fun fountains, which both kids loved. There were even slides perfect for Charis to ride down - (very small slides).
Aquatica is part of Sea World, so one of the slides they're most well-known for takes you through a large dolphin aquarium and for a (short) portion of the slide, you're enclosed in a glass tube going through the tank. The concept is awesome - the ride was not. (No biggie though - they had other great slides!) But Cayman and his cousins got to see the dolphins, and they loved them!
Other parts that Cayman (and Charis) loved about the waterpark - he rode the lazy river with us. Charis sat with Ian and Cayman sat with me in our little floats. On part of the river, you float through a tunnel. One side of the tunnel is a huge aquarium, filled with all kinds of different fish! The kids loved that. Charis was pointing and shouting. She loved it! (By the way - did I mention that they both stayed in life jackets the whole day? Unless we were at our chairs, they wore their vests all day long. We have never been able to get Cayman to wear a life jacket. It probably helped that his cousins had to wear them too!)
There was also a ride similar to the lazy river except that you didn't ride in a float....and the water flowed much more quickly. It was like floating down gentle rapids on your back without having to dodge rocks or tree stumps in the water! We took Cayman on this ride by himself (it was a little too crazy to take Charis on). I think he really enjoyed having Mommy and Daddy all to himself. He just laughed and laughed at us being silly together!
We took Cayman on a "big boy" ride too... I was a little nervous riding it, so I can only imagine what was going through that little brain of his! Ian, Graysan, Cayman and I all got in one of those huge rafts together to go down a really huge slide. Usually, those are my favorite slides - I love riding things with other people when y'all can all laugh together and have fun. But. This one was a little different than the other four-person slides I've ridden. We didn't realize it, but you're actually enclosed in a tunnel for a good portion of the ride. So you're in complete darkness...pitch black... Cayman sat down in the raft, held on tight to the handles behind him like the lifeguard showed him, crossed his legs, and then did not move a muscle the entire time. We started off down the slide, and at first, he was smiling. Maybe it was because he could see the rest of us laughing and having fun....maybe he was actually enjoying it. But then we started picking up speed. And going around turns. And going up fairly high on the walls. And then. There it was. The black hole speeding towards us. Just before we entered the tunnel, I quickly stole a glance at Cayman's face. He looked utterly petrified. I felt horrible! The whole time we were in the darkness, I just kept saying, "It's ok, Cayman! Mommy and Daddy are right here beside you. It's ok. There's nothing wrong!" He never uttered a word - not a scream - not a cry - nothing. Finally we shot out of the tunnel and into the pool at the bottom. Cayman looked relieved. He finally smiled once his feet were on dry ground. "I wanna do it again!!" were the first words out his mouth. I guess he liked it! I'm curious as to what he really would have done had we climbed all those steps again.... We didn't try it though.
Charis slept on the beach chairs with my mom for a very short time - 30-45 mins maybe? She was so tired, but there was just way too much going on for that nosy child to take a nap! She enjoyed splashing in the toddler area and the wave pool. She has no fear whatsoever in the water, which is a little scary. We definitely need to get that child into a swimming class because I seriously cannot count how many times this summer alone she's already been completely submerged underwater! Our sweet family kept giving us breaks so we could go ride big kid rides without the kids. Sometimes my mom took one or both of the kids. Other times their aunts and uncles took them to the toddler area or wave pool. And sometimes, I would watch them while Ian went off with everyone else or vice versa. We made our first trip to the waterpark work out well! Would it have been fun to be there and ride whatever we wanted to whenever we wanted to? Of course! But it was definitely priceless to see how much fun they had in the water, especially Cayman.
Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the end of the day. We got to the park around 9ish, and we were finally walking out to our van at 5:30! My sweet little Cayman, who hardly ever falls asleep anywhere but his bed, fell asleep in the STROLLER on the walk out to the van. He slept HARD the whole way home. He slept through us stopping for gas (they both wake up when we stop at stoplights, usually...if they're even able to fall asleep, that is!) He slept through us pulling into the driveway. He slept through us getting him out of his carseat. He slept through me carrying him to our bed (instead of upstairs to his). He slept through dinner. He slept through bathtime. He slept through us putting Charis to bed. He even slept through us putting ourselves to bed - and we all 3 slept in the same bed (for the first time EVER mind you...) That boy slept from 5:30pm until 6:30am. I think it's pretty safe to say he was worn out after a day at Aquatica! (Thankfully, when he woke up at 6:30, he was content to quietly watch cartoons in our bedroom so the rest of us could sleep. But of course he had to have a cereal bar since he skipped supper the night before!)
We had a great day at Aquatica. Unfortunately there aren't many pictures since I didn't want my camera to get ruined. But we had a really fun time!
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