I have a bad case of the end of winter blahs. I am stressed out, maxed out, at the end of my rope, exhausted, overtaxed, tense; to say the least.
We had a family overnight to an indoor water park and a children’s museum. I guess our kiddlets are still too young for that sort of thing. They really enjoyed the children’s museum, and the ice cream cones afterwards, and then we traveled on to the water park. After dinner in the hotel restaurant (during which Aviana loudly pointed out that some woman was underdressed for the weather), we went to check out the pool area.
We did not know there would be a huge bucket loudly dumping water all over the 0′ depth entry pool, and in a really unfortunate case of timing, it dumped when we’d been there 1.2 minutes and Brielle was walking into the water by herself. She was pretty much ruined for the rest of the trip and would not leave our arms until about 20 minutes before we were leaving the next day. Aviana was really brave though, and even went down the waterslide with her dada. She only wanted to play in the fountains and 2″ of water, but that was ok. Kevin and I both had the opportunity to go down the huge waterslides, which honestly, scared me a little.
I’m really irritated by the huge dumping bucket. Why does anyone even think that is fun? It’s too loud and not one of the bigger kids even took advantage of it the entire time we were there.
OF COURSE, the girls were completely off schedule –even though they are not on that rigid of a schedule–and were whiny and prone to tantrums for the next two days. I’m reservedly optimistic that today will be a better day. And, can I just point out?, there is no where to escape in a hotel room when your child is up at 5:25 a.m.!
It’s just frustrating–and disappointing– that I went to all the work of packing and trying to make sure everyone had everything we needed (Kevin pointed out things we didn’t have) and all the work in general it is for a young family of four to get out the door, and Kevin spent all the money on the food and lodging and it totally wasn’t worth it.
This coming weekend I am going to Chicago with four friends. I’m really hoping no one will have any tantrums or have to sit in time out or be up at the crack of dawn.
Aww, many big (((hugs))), honey! I know the frustrations of bending over backwards to try and make a trip ‘perfect,’ only to have everyone critique pretty much everything. They don’t mean it, I promise! We always tried to do too much, too early when our older two were younger. You do get better at it, and your kids get better at it, too. Especially ones who are being as well-taught as yours. 🙂
You know, you should move to Texas!! I think we’ve already had our last freeze for the year, although I’m waiting a few more weeks to put out my frost-sensitive plants. Or at least bring those adorable girls down for a visit … Here’s hoping you get a nice warm snap soon!!!
~Brea
Sorry the trip didn’t work out to well. Sounds like you were at Wasserbahn. We love to go there, but I think the girls are growing out of that water park. Kristen loves the bucket and usually runs when she hears the dinging that warn of the bucket dropping. she has to be right underneath it. I have great pictures of her getting soaked there. Did you do the family package so that the meals were included? That is our favorite way to go. Next time trying meeting up with another family and if the girls see the other kids having a blast maybe they will be more willing to try it.
It does get easier traveling with the kids as they get older, but not sure if the tantrums ever go away. I have given up trying to make the vacations perfect, I now do two things, if the kids want to “waste” their time doing something they could back at home, I let them, and I make sure we do something that I want to do. They still have tantrums, but it seems overall everyone is happy and it does not seem like a waste of money.