Splish Splash

With our tax return money in the bank, we decided to treat the family to a mini excursion. We had talked about visiting a water park and spending the night, and we scored a great deal at Key Lime Cove in Gurnee (warning for those who click on the site--very loud Caribbean music plays). We visited some friends who live a few minutes away before we headed to the resort, and we had a great time meeting their new dog, Winston. As much as I'm not a dog person, Winston is a cutie.

We arrived at the resort about 2--check-in wasn't officially opening until 4, but they allowed visitors to start using the park at 1. We waited in line for ONE HOUR before we were allowed to do anything, which was plenty annoying, especially since we had already paid for our rooms. Luckily the kids were decent, which is more than I can say about myself! What I did like was that the room key was electronic and attached to our wrist bands.

We finally checked in, changed, and got down to the water park. The kids were overwhelmed with all that they could play on. There was a giant pineapple that drenched unsuspecting visitors with a thousand gallons of water. There was a lazy river right off a wave pool. There were water slide tunnels to slide down. And there was a smaller area for littler kids (Jeremy). We took the kids over to the pineapple first, and Jeremy went down a few slides. Riley was having fun exploring, but Phil had to follow closely behind.

The gigantic pineapple.

Slides for the adults, which we didn't get to experience.

Then we attempted the lazy river, which was difficult in itself to secure an inner tube for two. We all were able to float around a few times, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Before we knew it, we were getting hungry, so we headed back to the room for some food. Phil went to grab some grub, and the kids and I hung out in the room.

This is to prove that Phil was actually there.

It was while watching the news that I realized why the park was so packed on a Sunday evening: March 2 (Monday) was Casmir Pulaski Day, which meant a lot of school closings for Chicagoland. That explains why every middle-school-age child was at the water park!

After dinner, we went back to swim for a bit. We were hoping it would be enough to wear out the kids, and we were right. Riley slept in the queen pull-out bed, and Jeremy slept on the floor. The entire family was asleep by 9:30, which hasn't happened in eons in this house.

They can be such angels when sleeping.

It's enough to make you love them again.

To top it off, we all slept in until 8:15! The pool reopened at 9, so after a quick breakfast, we suited up and went back down. Although we could have stayed at the park until 8 pm (checkout was at 11, but we had full access to the park until 8), we felt we were pretty much dried out from the chlorine. I actually almost lost a contact in the pool when some kid accidentally splashed me, and I blinked and turned my head quickly. A fast walk to the bathroom to fish my contact out of the corner of my eye, and everything was fine.

Riley down one of the slides.

Jeremy's turn down the slide.

We were able to secure a life jacket for Riley, and she had a lot more fun in the deeper parts of the pool. But we all agreed that by 11, we were ready to hit the road. Especially since there were a good 2-3 inches of snow on the ground.

Riley with her jacket.

Coming up for air.

How Jeremy spent much of the time out of the pool.
He slipped one too many times not taking his time.

Overall, I think we're all glad we went, but the kids probably would've had more fun in 2-3 years. Jeremy said several times that kids pushed him. And we each had to have a child with us at all times, which was fine, but it made it hard to really enjoy yourself, say, by floating down the Lazy River by yourself.