Let's talk waterparks in November

I can think of no better time to share more waterpark pictures with you than the week before Thanksgiving.

Right?

Right.

In August -- MERE DAYS AGO -- our friends Honor and Doug drove down from Chattanooga with their kids and met us at Splash Adventure in Birmingham for the day. Our friend Lisa and her family joined us, too ... Lisa, Honor and I were college roommates at Samford University, and we're so fortunate to have maintained our strong friendship!

As a matter of fact, if you've been paying attention to my Twitter and Instagram accounts this week, you know I was in Hilton Head with Honor for the past four days.

Between the three of us, we have nine kids. (Amelia, of course, refused to cooperate for this photograph, but she WAS with us this day.)

We arrived before the park opened that morning to get a prime spot under the umbrellas. Jake jumped right into the pool so the big green bucket would dump water on his head.

He was all alone out there, but he didn't care. He loved it!

He came out rubbing his eyes.

When I asked him if he was okay, though, he said -- in pure Jakey Style, "I'M GWATE!"

I'm pretty sure this is the only picture I got of Amelia all day long. She was glued to my side, which meant that once I put my camera down, my hands were pretty full with her. But at the very beginning of the day, she took a moment to dip her feet in the pool with Grayson.

We took advantage of the whole park for about four hours, and we hit "Wipeout" last, on our way out. It's an obstacle course you clip into for safety.

Doug and Honor even hopped on and did it!

I know I've said this before, but even though they're tethered, I still think this thing would make more sense if it were built over a pool. Not concrete. It just looks all kinds of wrong to me.

I don't know how many pictures I have of this group together over the last 11 years, but I've loved watching them grow and change. Such special kids, and so precious to me.