Cowabunga Bay for Last Day of Summer Break

I feel like we've done a good job getting out this week and enjoying the last few moments of summer vacation. Today we put the cherry on top with a day at Cowabunga Bay.

Originally I thought we'd go on Wednesday, but after two full days of sun at Bear Lake on Monday and Tuesday, Abi and Lily got so sunburned that I thought they needed a few days to recover. Plus that way I was able to get some chores out of them and held Cowabunga Bay as a carrot reward to keep them working. We went today and I made sure that the new skin on their noses stayed coated in lots of sunblock.

We had a lot of fun, just like last year. Only this year I left the complaining teenager at home and took our cousins. We had enough tickets for them cause Corey and Ethan didn't come either. I did it all by myself again!! Go me, a mom taking 11 kids to Cowabunga Bay, do I get an award for that or anything? I like when I do activities that leave me impressing myself. Last year was the first time I'd ever done an activity like that, taking all of the kids out on my own without Corey, and now I feel like I do it a lot, so I'm getting better! Of course I couldn't have done it without the older kids being such good helpers. Wes was the best of that group.

Abi and my nieces were great helpers too! Rhyan with Daniel and Owen in the kids cove

They loved the slide!

At the top of that slide were little holes with water bubbling out, Daniel would put his hand over it and try to hold it like he was catching a frog. I'll tell you a funny thing about that in a minute. Mel with Daniel -

Alix and Abi admiring Peter

We had fun and then stood in a long line to order pizza, fries, and frozen grapes for lunch.

Everyone got enough to eat and were ready with energy to go have more fun.

...except it looks like Peter is still hungry. No pizza for Peter? Sorry baby, so sad for you.

He munched on a few fries and then I nursed him while Daniel finished off the fries.

It was super busy and crowded. Note to self: next time don't wait until the last weekend of summer. There were no chairs, but thankfully we brought a few of our own, so that was good. We moved our chairs to wherever there was an open spot with shade. After taking care of Peter and letting Daniel have a little bit of a rest, we went back over to Kids Cove. Natalie did the waterslide alone and felt excited that she did it all by herself.

Daniel relaxing in the shallow pool - 

Ahh, nice to take a little break.

He did pretty good considering he hadn't had a nap.

So I stayed there and watched Peter and Daniel play in the water and Natalie go down the slide. Wes and Abi and Lily and I all checked in with each other throughout the day to see who had who of the little kids. They braved the lines and went down the slides, did laps in the lazy river, and played in the pool. It was a little stressful to have them all in different parts and to not be able to see them all, but I was trusting that they would be careful and safe.

Around 5:00, Daniel went on top of the slide where the bubbling water was. He cupped it in his hands over it like before, and layed down on his hand for a pillow, and fell asleep...

I thought it was really funny. I just let him get in a nap. A few other parents checked on him too, wondering if he was okay and whose kid he was. "He's mine..." I'd say from the side as I held Peter. 

None of the toddlers walking over him thought that anything was out of the ordinary. They all just kept going about their slide business, Daniel kept napping.

Eventually Wes came to check on me, and he took Peter while I got Daniel off the slide and we moved over by the pool. 

It was only open for another 30 minutes, so thankfully it was less crowded as people started to leave so we found a chair in the shade by the pool. How was your power nap, Daniel?

Overall, great afternoon. This Get Out Pass is a good thing for us, if we keep renewing it, I think Cowabunga Bay will be a annual summer tradition.