Trip to indoor WaterPark!

The other day we ventured a few hours East (and a tad bit North) to Des Moines, where there is a really fun hotel that just happens to have an awesome indoor Waterpark.  When I say "awesome", I mean perfectly appropriate for our group of toddlers.  Zero entry pools, various sizes of waterslides, hot-tub, etc...

A BIG thanks to my sister for inviting us Harnisch girls to tag-along on this quick little get-away.  We had such a great time...and believe it or not...the kids were (all.things.considered) very well-behaved  :-)

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All six of us piled into the Harnisch-family-truckster and set off! 

 This is McKenzie and Brook PRETENDING to sleep.  Thank goodness for technology...DVD's and leapsters helped make the trip down a little more bearable...luckily the ride home was quite the opposite, as all the kids slept pretty much the entire time!  The sound of Ally's snore was literally "music to my ears"...we did not hear a single peep from Macy, not even ONCE (I was getting a little worried to tell ya the truth).  You could say our little mini-vaca had successfully worn these little boogers out!  :-)

 Trying to get a picture of all the kids sitting still in front of the pool...

Yeah RIGHT!  This is the best I could do  :-)

 Macy figured out that the bear crawl is most effective when traveling on concrete surfaces.  Much easier on the knees!  She got quite good after a while  :-)

 The zero-entry was awesome!

 Little Miss Ally getting acquainted with the water...it didn't take long for her to warm-up to it!

 McKenzie's "swimming".

 Me and my Macy-girl swimming in the pool!

I love my little ballerina  :-)

 Shark-boy MUSCLES!

 slip-n-slidin'

 The kids had a ball climbing on and playing in the big pirate ship!

Brook, Lisa, Ally & Jim just after going down the BIG slides!

 I'm not sure who was having more fun splashing around in the water...the kids.  Or Lisa.  Pretty sure Lisa was!  What a cool Aunt  :-)

 That's quite the expression.

 twirling around  :-)

 I LOVE this pic of Lisa and Macy...SOOOO SWEET  :-)

 Swingin' her toes to & fro.

 She was diggin' it.

 And when she wasn't "diggin'it"...I planted her on a big blanky with more than enough crackers and cheerios.   She was very well occupied  :)  WHAT A GOOD BABY!!!  We could not be more lucky with this one  :-)

*****

After a few hours of swimming, we decided it would be a good idea to go rest in the hotel room before dinner-time.

 REST?  Did I say rest?  Not much resting took place, but a lot of bed-jumping did.

 Jumping on the furniture is NOT encouraged at home...but Lisa and I were pooped...and why the heck not.  Just this once.  whatever.  go for it  :-)

 It was actually quite entertaining.

 Brook got some good air - impressive.

 After dinner...Uncle Jim met up with us...we pony-tailed the girls hair and headed back to the pool for a few more hours of swim time!

Can you see Macy kissing herself in the mirror above??  HA!

 I think these girls think they are pretty hot-stuff.

 And they are.  I love how Macy is watching (idolizing perhaps) Ally here.

 My beauty.

 This messed up shot accidentally turned out kinda cool  :-)

 Ally, Lisa, Brook & Kenzie going down simultaneously.

 Brook made VERY good friends with this kid.  His name is Max. Max and his sister Holyn (not like the country she was quick to point out) are from Wisconsin.  You'd think they had been buddies FOREVER.  That is a unique quality that Brook has.  He is not one bit shy.  He will talk and make friends with anybody instantly!

What a great quality to have, keep with it Brook!
Life's too short not to make friends and really try to get to know people.  It really is fun meeting new people too.
There were a few other families enjoying the waterpark accommodations, but not too many as it was the middle of the week.  Which worked out quite nicely!  After a few minutes of small-talk chatter with one family, we learned that they live here in Elkhorn too.  Crazy SMALL world!  :-)

 Serenely chillin'.

 I was SOOO proud of my girl.  She just absolutely LOVED the water.  She was so brave.  Sat down in the ankle deep water.  And stood against to wall in waste deep ("her" waste deep) water.  What a hot-shot!

 Here's another look at how she got around.

 Swiftly I might add  :-)

 I'm not quite sure who's idea it was to give the kids ice cream at 9:45 at night?  Two hours well past their bed-time...but they certainly didn't seem to mind.  Us adults didn't seem to have any problems enjoying a few cocktails served from the pool-side bar before calling it a night either.

Despite my early concerns, I think the Spongebob Squarepant's sugar rush helped contribute to their HARD-CRASHES 20 minutes later.  All the kids slept wonderfully in their respective rooms/beds.  You can never be too sure how they'll handle sleeping in strange, unfamiliar places.  But it went off without a hitch.  Now McKenzie keeps bugging me about going back.

 Fun times...FUN times.  

Thanks again Cooke's for inviting us to come along and join in the fun!!!  We owe ya  :-)