Lost Lagoon

We headed to Sea World's water park, Lost Lagoon, early this morning as to beat the crowds.  We heard that sometimes it "reaches capacity" and they have to close the entrance until enough people exit the park to allow more people to come in.  When we arrived we were happy to see that we were near the front of the line of people waiting to get into the water park.

Everyone enjoyed our time at Lost Lagoon.  Again, Brody was disappointed that he wasn't tall enough to ride more rides, but he loved the slides he got to go on.  All the kids loved the wave pool.  Barrett laughed so hard each time a wave came and then he'd say, "Here it comes again!" as he saw the next one building in front of us.

The only real excitement of the day came when we first got there.  The park only allows "coast guard approved floatation devices".  Floaties are not coast guard approved.  So we deflated Barrett's floaties and he had to wear one of the life jackets provided by the park.  The bad thing is that the smallest life jacket was for 30-50 pound kids (Barrett's still in the 20's...which is the reason we have to use floaties at home...there aren't any life jackets small enough for him!)  I put the jacket on him and then followed everyone else into the lazy river.  As soon as I let go of Barrett, the life jacket was so thick and top heavy that it dumped him head first in the water (and he couldn't upright himself)!  I tried again (carefully placing him upright) and again it dunked him under.  After several attempts with the same horrifying result, I asked one of the lifeguards if I could put his floaties on him in addition to the life jacket.  She said yes and when I got the floaties on him too he floated happily down the river (looking like the kid from Christmas Story who couldn't put his arms down!)  Everything was fine until we got to the other side of the lazy river and a lifeguard blew her whistle at us and said "no floaties are allowed in the park!"  I tried to explain to her the reasoning and she said, "Well, if he can't swim, then he doesn't need to be in here!"  Excuse me?  What about all the hundreds of other toddlers that are in life jackets?  Can all of them swim?  So...she radioed in "I have a code 1019" and we waited 10 minutes for her supervisor to arrive.  I asked her supervisor if she would rather my child drown because they don't have a small enough "approved" flotation device for him....or would she rather me increase his safety by adding additional flotation devices (ie. floaties)?!  She finally said that it was ok for him to wear the floaties as long as he kept the life jacket on too.  We should have asked her to put that in writing and then hung it as a sign around Barrett's neck for all the other lifeguards that tried to correct us throughout the day!  The moral of the story?  Sometimes it's ok to break a rule (like allowing floaties) if it means saving a life!

I didn't take too many pictures at the water park (since my camera's not waterproof.  Also, notice the glow around the people in all the pictures?  I was using my little, purse-sized camera.  I'm not sure why it was taking such strange pictures?!)  I did, however, capture this picture of my boys as we were getting ready to eat lunch.  This is so typical.  Both of them have their mouths open...talking!!!  I tell ya, it's non-stop at our house!

Angela and Jayden ready to eat lunch.  Something about swimming makes everyone hungry!

By late afternoon everyone felt waterlogged and sunburned (ok...maybe not everyone.  Brody and Barrett were in no hurry to leave.  Maybe I should say "the adults felt waterlogged and sunburned".) and we decided to head back to the hotel.

Tonight was our turn to go out on a date while Mark & Angela babysit the kids.  We headed down to the Riverwalk and ate dinner a nice Italian restaurant that started with a P (I can't remember how to spell it!)  Then we spent a few hours just walking around the Riverwalk.  I showed Mike a few places I'd been with Junior & RaeAnn when we had a conference in San Antonio several years ago.  We also reminisced about our honeymoon (It was almost 11 years ago and we spent the first night in a hotel on the Riverwalk.)

As we we trying to find the lobby of the hotel we stayed at on the first night of our honeymoon (it's currently under major construction), we stumbled upon the Alamo!  Mike had never been to the Alamo, so even though it was closed, it was exciting to get to see such a great part of Texas history in person! 

We arrived back at the hotel to find both of our kids sleeping soundly in their beds.  What a nice treat!  Thanks Mark & Angela!