Kalahari

I'm back!  Sorry for the delay between posts (we were enjoying some family time this past week).

On Wednesday, Mate and I packed the girls up and headed out for a night at Kalahari followed by a couple of days in Toledo.  Can I just say that even when packing light, there was a lot of stuff we had to bring.  After dragging everything and everyone up to our room, we headed straight for the water park.  Mia and Ava spent quite a while enjoying the toddler area before heading over to the wave pool.  Ava and her daddy enjoyed jumping in the waves, while Mia and I splashed in the shallow end.  We were two for two with activities, so we moved on to the lazy river.  I had to forgo this adventure to stay with Eliana, but Mate was super-dad and squeezed onto a raft with both older girls.  I was able to get periodic peeks of the trio dodging waterfalls and floating happily around the park.  Unfortunately, I wasn't much help getting the girls off the raft because Eliana was in my arms.  Despite Mate's best efforts, the current was a little forceful and the girls flopped off the raft.  Their life jackets kept them above water, but they definitely did not like being splashed in the face.  That was basically the end of our water park fun.  We endured more than a few minutes of whining and lying down in the middle of high-traffic areas before calling it quits.  It was fun while it lasted. 

Mia LOVED the swings

Ava "swimming"

Our girls

A change of clothes and some pizza for dinner had us all ready for more adventures.  The older girls spent the next hour or so having the time of their lives at the indoor playground.  The Tree Top play area was the highlight of our trip.  I joined the girls first, while Mate hung out with Eliana.  I didn't know exactly what to expect, but this place was AMAZING.  Mia and Ava were giddy with excitement.  I followed their lead happily, until they disappeared down the slides.  It was always Mia, followed by Ava, followed by me.  Each slide was bigger and faster than the last.  I couldn't believe that my little 2 year olds survived, let alone enjoyed themselves.  I was sure I'd get to the bottom and have injured or terrified kids waiting for me.  To my surprise, I was always met with smiles and laughter.  I had to switch places with Mate so he could validate that these slides were one step away from being like a Cedar Point roller coaster.  He wasn't quite as impressed by their size and speed, but maybe that's because he actually likes thrill rides.  Admittedly, I was praying the girls wouldn't lead me back to a few of the slides that made it feel like my stomach was in my throat (I hate that feeling).

Waiting for our pizza

Hungry ladies

Since Mate didn't validate my feelings about the enormity of these slides, I took a picture to share with my faithful readers. 

Our evening ended (or just began depending on how you look at things) with some games and a treat. We thought we'd be taking exhausted kids back to the room, but instead we enjoyed endured a couple of hours of restlessness.  At first, it was cute and we did our best to stifle our laughter as Ava continually shushed everyone (she was the only one talking).   However, it quickly became clear that a small miracle was going to have to occur in order to calm these kiddos down.  Sometime around 11 p.m., everyone was sleeping.  Not exactly the way we wanted our day to end, but we survived.

A little  family competition

Yum!

Like anything with toddlers, this was an exhausting adventure. Our weekend trip continued in Toledo, but more on that later . . .