An Alabama Adventure

About 20 minutes from our house is a waterpark/amusement park named Alabama Adventure. The kids can't WAIT for it to open every year, and we usually set aside some funds for season passes because we go as often as we can.

I was slightly apprehensive about going last Saturday, because 1) I am woefully large these days; 2) it is woefully hot here, already; and 3) I am woefully short on energy right now, especially when it comes to tracking three small children through a large waterpark.

NONETHELESS.

I say "No" to a lot of things these days (most notably, last night when Nicholas asked me to come upstairs for the third time after bedtime and I said "No" because I was tired of the stairs. Just the stairs, Internet.) So I really wanted to say "Yes" to the waterpark if at all possible.

It was hard to get the boys to stand still for a picture in front of the Lazy River, but they acquiesced.

OMG, pardon the hair, but I had to share this picture of me and Jake. We were preparing to float the Lazy River, and he didn't want to be in the water, didn't want to be carried, but just wanted to float. While he looks uncomfortable, that's just because the sun was directly over his eyes. BELIEVE YOU ME, that kid was in hog heaven.

We were on the River for a total of about 45 minutes throughout the day, and every time he hopped on that float the exact same way and nestled into me, then closed his eyes and relaxed like a slug. A slug in a Lightning McQueen swimsuit.

I'm a big water slide person, but they won't let you ride any of them if you're pregnant. So I spent most of my time floating with Jake or watching him play in the little kids' area. I have to say, the Lazy River isn't at all a bad place to spend some time.

In between water slides, Nicholas, Nathaniel and Grayson came to join us.

When you get to a certain point on the River, you go into a tunnel that terminates at a waterfall. You can see Nathaniel and Nick heading straight for it in this shot.

If it were a nice mist, I'd be happy to go under it. But no. It's a migraine-inducing shock of heavy water that pounds your head. Not my thing. I stay to the left.

When you come back out the other side, it's back to the Lazy part.

When we weren't on the Lazy River, Jake was climbing up into the kids' slides about 100 times each and sliding down them.

Once he climbed up the green tube, he had a choice to make: yellow or orange slide down. Nine times out of 10, he chose orange.

And according to him, orange was "the funnest."

It took a while to convince him to do the larger of the little kids' slides, but once he started, it was non-stop "Again! Again!"

Nathaniel went down beside him several times.

But he was willing to go by himself once he got comfortable ... which was good, because he'd done it 100 times last summer, when he was only 2. I would have hated to have to come home and point out to him in pictures that he was too scared to do something he did last year with no trouble.

Nicholas, of course, spent much of his time on the "baby slide" trying to figure out how to give himself a "turbo boost," which included sweeping water forward as he slid down to give him more power.

I was very proud of myself for making it for SIX HOURS before needing to go home, lest I die. No one wants to die at a waterpark. Neveryoumind that I came home and slept for the following, oh, 14 hours.