Early that morning, however, the guys called to tell us that they wouldn't be fishing that day. They were on their way to the boat when the Captain of their charter from Monday approached them. The Captain's son, Garrett (the Captain of the Tuesday charter for Jared and Dad) was having chest pain. The dad Captain knew Jared was a physician's assistant so he came to take Jared to his 19 year-old-son. Dutifully, Jared went to examine him and what started out as pain in his chest was fortunately nothing more serious than a debilitating back spasm. Which also meant there was no way he'd be skippering a fishing charter that day. It's a very physical job. So Jared announced they were on their way back to Anchorage and would be able to pick up his parents. That took some time pressure off of us gals with the kids and we were able to mosey on over to the water park at our leisure.
You know you're in Alaska when you read on the entrance door at the water park, located in the valley part of the Hillside: WARNING: Bears have been spotted recently in this vicinity. At least 5 bears (2 adult, 3 cubs). Alrighty then. Good to know.
The first thing I noticed when we walked in was the hot, humid air. That was good news. There's nothing worse than playing at an indoor aquatic center and freezing every time you get the wet parts of your body exposed to the air.
We got changed, put our stuff in a locker, and headed to a beach chair centrally located so that we could park Mr. Calvin in the stroller (who slept and was an angel the whole time!) Karcyn found the Pirate ship that had slides about her size that ended in the water. She had her life jacket on, but I decided to go down with her, not knowing how she'd do. She loves slides, but these were WATER slides. She loves water too, so I'm not sure what I was apprehensive about. I guess I just felt like it was a motherly duty to go with her first. Fortunately, the slides are padded for the first couple of feet at the bottom and I didn't scrape my bottumus along the floor of the pool area, like I was thinking I might. Karcyn was in 2 year-old-heaven. I went down with her one more time before setting her loose. The Pirate ship slides became her favorite thing. She'd still be going down them if we let her.
Jake went down with her a couple times for fun.
What a good big brother!
Grandma took the boys to go down the green, enclosed body slide. I waited and waited for them to come out, camera in hand, because the slide dumped them in a pool of water 3 feet deep right by our beach chair. Then I saw my mom and Cooper walking down the stairs towards me. She said he was too afraid to go. That was certainly okay. The lifeguard at the entry wouldn't let him wear his life jacket and sadly, my boys don't know how to swim yet (hopefully this winter will change that). So he bailed out, but Jake was in and I finally saw the slide spit him out. My mom went back up to try it and it spit her out, too. So then I had to try it. Mom watched the kids while I went. Holy Schnikey! That thing was DARK and FAST, throwing you every which way around this curve and that, which of course you couldn't anticipate and to top it off I got water shoved up my nose when I was dumped at the end to the point of burning my nasal passageways. Ugh. I told Cooper he was NOT missing anything.
Later on, Mom took Cooper up to the Master Blaster, a big water slide that traveled the entire length of the building. It required two people on an inner tube and life jackets were allowed. This water slide was more like a water-coaster. You were plunged down a dip at an angle that made your tummy flutter, then it pushed you back up and around and down some more dips. It went fast too, but at least you could see where you were going. Cooper enjoyed that one. We all did actually.
I asked Jake if he wanted me to take him on the Master Blaster. He said, "No, I'd rather go with Grandma. She's more experienced." I couldn't dispute that. After Jake went with Grandma, I went down separately with each boy. And let me tell you what--to get to the entrance of the Master Blaster, you had to climb up several flights of stairs to the tippy top of the building. It wasn't the height of the building that got me, but the stairs--they were soo steep. I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached the top. I thought I was conditioning myself by running. Guess not. In the end, the workout was worth it. That ride really is a blast.
When I joined my mom and the rest of the kids again, my mom told me to watch what Karcyn started doing. She walked over to the wave pool (which wasn't working that day) where it would gradually get deeper and deeper. She plowed into the water with no fear and just kept walking. She was almost to the point where she couldn't touch and I started to panic and ran after her (which isn't easy to do with water up to your shins or higher). That little stinker walked to the point of no return for her, where her life jacket picked her up and she would just float on her back. Seriously, no fear. What a funny girl. I hope this means she'll be a good little swimmer.
We ended the outing a few hours later with a pizza lunch upstairs in the balcony area and Grandma treated us to Dippin' Dots. Yummy! I don't care much for ice cream, except when it's in the milkshake form, but I sure dig those Dippin' Dots--especially banana split! I wonder if any local grocery store carries them...
We had a great afternoon doing what we think might have to be another family tradition when we go to Alaska. H2Oasis--what a catchy name.
2 comments:
Dippin' Dots are the bomb! Funny you mentioned it because I just saw them yesterday at Albertsons. They must have just started putting them in retail outlets.
Oh and that waterpark looks awesome!
We saw a show on waterparks a few weeks ago and this was one of them. Funny that a waterpark in Alaska makes a show like that. It sure looked awesome. I wish we had something like that close.
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