Back when Hannah was firstborn and we were "living" in Florida with my parents, waiting for her arrival, my friend Joia came to visit and we took the kiddos to a local water park.
All the kids liked the park, but Isaac was hooked. Ever since that day, he has been begging to return to a water park.
Of course our rainy and cold little island home in the middle of the Atlantic ocean didn't have a water park, so we told him he'd have to wait until we returned to America.
Fast forward to June of this year. Back in America.
Isaac did not forget. He kept reminding us about his desire to go to another water park.
We found a small little water park by our house here. Nothing much, just a slide or two at the community pool. It sorta held Isaac over, but he kept reminding us that he wanted to go to another water park -- a real water park.
There is a huge water park about an hour from our house here in Tennessee. I looked it up online. Expensive! $34 for a day at a park! I think not.
But yesterday they were offering a deal for homeschool families. School was back in session so anyone who homeschooled could go to the park for half price.
Okay! No crowds and half price. I'm in.
I opted not to take the girls. I left them at home with Grama. This was very hard as Abigail absolutely LOVES the water. I just didn't know if I wanted to try to managed 3 kids on 1 at park I'd never been to. In retrospect, I think I could have managed, especially because I met another homeschool mom there so we had a second adult. In addition, it was so not crowded that I definitely could have managed it.
It was a FANTASTIC day for the boys and myself. Not only was it not crowded, but it was overcast as well -- not hot at all. Neither of my guys had ever been down a big water slide before. I took them down in a double tube the first time, and immediately they were both completely and utterly hooked. They absolutely LOVED it and were non-stop the rest of the day.
I was introduced to a childhood rite of passage and that is being tall enough for a ride. I witnessed countless children int he park fighting back tears as they were turned away from rides. The boys were easily able to slide the two mini slides pictured above. You only had to be 36" tall to ride those by yourself. But in order to ride the bigger slides, you had to be 48" tall. I don't know exactly how tall my boys are, but I think they are both hovering right in that range.
Apparently you can find some booth somewhere and get an "official measurement" which guarantees you do or don't ride the bigger slides. But Isaac and I decided to wing it. We went up to this big double slide, had him measured, found he was tall enough, and went for it. I decided to take Isaac first. I didn't want one of the boys to be able to ride and the other not, so knowing Isaac was a smidge shorter, we took off for a big ride.
The first thing we both said upon finishing this sheer drop ride was, "I do NOT want to do that one again." It was terrifying. But I was happy to see he was tall enough to ride the bigger rides. Knowing my "slightly shorter" boy was good to go, I told both boys they could now ride the bigger rides.
We headed up the steps for another ride (a dark tunnel -- not the drop ones!) Isaac was measured again, and this time told he was too short! Sidge was measured and given the go ahead. This was EXACTLY what I had been trying to avoid. Isaac was trying not to cry, but he was sad, and I felt terrible. The lady who had just measured him saw what happened and remeasured him with her stick. Tall enough she said! Ugh!
We all went down, and I was relieved when Isaac told me after that ride that he was going to stick with the smaller rides. At least he wouldn't have to face an uneven measuring stick on each ride! Sidge wanted to ride the harder ones again, but after one of his attempts, he had a little trouble swimming his huge tube to the side and the lifeguard waded into help him. We all decided that we could wait until next summer to do the bigger kid slides!
Isaac and I had a good talk afterwards. We talked about the fact that he would always be the big brother even though Sidge may get taller than him. He nodded and said, "It's like how you are taller than Joni even though she is 62?"
Exactly!
But honestly, my little brother is taller than me. JB's younger brother Ray is taller than him. I know this is not just an adopted thing that is going to happen. But I still felt so bad when Sidge was told he could ride. Isaac told the man, "But I'm older!"
Break my heart!
Speaking of being the older brother, Isaac has had a loose front tooth for a week now. No longer!
While riding a tube in the wave pool, the tube knocked his mouth and his front tooth popped out. Only problem? How do you get a tooth fairy to leave you the dollar you've been planning for to help purchase that new lego set you want when it is at the bottom of a wave pool? Well, you write her a letter:
Translation:
To Ms. Tooth Fairy,
My tooth fell into the wavepool at the waterpark.
Love,
Isaac K.
P.S. She decided to pay him $2 instead of the normal $1 for all the trouble!
No comments:
Post a Comment