Schlitterbaun: Round Two
Back in May, my whole family met & Schlitterbaun Water Park in New Braunfels, TX, for our 2011 Family Vaykay. It was awesome but the weather on the 1st day was less than ideal. Because of this, the park gave us each a "bounce back" pass. So on Tuesday, night, we packed up our little family & headed back to New Braunfels.
We stayed in the same hotel so Nathan & Alexa were a little confused as to why Grandpa, Grandma & their aunts, uncle & cousins weren't there! We spent all day Wednesday & Thursday at the park having a great time! The kids did really well & it was a total blast to just relax & have fun together as a family.
There are a couple of experiences I want to record for journaling sake:
1. The downside of going with just our family is there was no way for Sam & I to ride the big rides. We were ok with that but decided on the first day to take a tube ride as a family. The majority of the ride was formally a lazy river so we figured it would be no problem. They have tubes there with netting (see lazy river picture above) that the kids can sit on & we figured Max would just sit on my lap. Then we found out Max had to be in his own tube... ok, no problem... the ride was going fine until we entered a tunnel & heard rushing water. We soon realized there was a BIG drop off. So as we approached, I made sure to hold on to Max's tube. The lifeguard at the top told me only one tube could go down at a time. I said, "So you seriously want me to send my baby down by himself?!?!" Well that was the rule so I went down first, then each of the 3 kids, then Sam. It did not go over well. The rest of the ride was a disaster for all. Needless to say, we didn't go on any more of those tube rides.
2. As we were packing up on the 2nd day to go home, the thought crossed my mind that everything had gone so well & even with 3 little ones, we'd been able to keep track of them & no one got lost. Well... on the way back to the car, we had to ride the bus to get back to the other part of the water park. The worker asked me to wait on the side of the roped off line with the stroller & cooler while Sam waited in line. As I stood there, a lady started talking to me & at the same time, I realized I had all 3 kids so I told Nathan to go with Daddy. Sam was only about 10 or 15 feet away & I assumed Nathan knew where he was. I was wrong. A bus or two came & filled & drove away before Sam was up in line to get on the next bus. At least 5 or 10 minutes had passed since I sent Nathan to him. When I looked at Sam & realized that he didn't have Nathan, I just cried out, "NOOOO!!!" Neither of us had seen our 2 year old little boy for 10 minutes! I was terrified! I went running into the gift shop & through the entrance where we had just been looking for him. He was no where. I ran back to the bus & Sam said Nathan might have gotten on one of the busses that had left. HORRIFYING! I asked them if they had any way to radio the other busses. No one seemed to know what to do. So I kept running around looking for him knowing that so much time had passed... he could be ANYWHERE. Then, finally, a man that was now in line for the bus said that he thought Nathan might be inside with a worker. So I ran in to find guest relations. As I was running around up there, I heard someone say, "Ma'am??" I turned around & there was Nathan in the arms of a worker. I was so relieved I burst into tears! They told me he was so sweet & so smart. That we had taught him well. He had been crying when they found him & said that he needed his Daddy & was very lost. I am so relieved & so GRATEFUL that he was found & safe. And I NEVER want to experience anything like that again!!!!
We stayed in the same hotel so Nathan & Alexa were a little confused as to why Grandpa, Grandma & their aunts, uncle & cousins weren't there! We spent all day Wednesday & Thursday at the park having a great time! The kids did really well & it was a total blast to just relax & have fun together as a family.
There are a couple of experiences I want to record for journaling sake:
1. The downside of going with just our family is there was no way for Sam & I to ride the big rides. We were ok with that but decided on the first day to take a tube ride as a family. The majority of the ride was formally a lazy river so we figured it would be no problem. They have tubes there with netting (see lazy river picture above) that the kids can sit on & we figured Max would just sit on my lap. Then we found out Max had to be in his own tube... ok, no problem... the ride was going fine until we entered a tunnel & heard rushing water. We soon realized there was a BIG drop off. So as we approached, I made sure to hold on to Max's tube. The lifeguard at the top told me only one tube could go down at a time. I said, "So you seriously want me to send my baby down by himself?!?!" Well that was the rule so I went down first, then each of the 3 kids, then Sam. It did not go over well. The rest of the ride was a disaster for all. Needless to say, we didn't go on any more of those tube rides.
2. As we were packing up on the 2nd day to go home, the thought crossed my mind that everything had gone so well & even with 3 little ones, we'd been able to keep track of them & no one got lost. Well... on the way back to the car, we had to ride the bus to get back to the other part of the water park. The worker asked me to wait on the side of the roped off line with the stroller & cooler while Sam waited in line. As I stood there, a lady started talking to me & at the same time, I realized I had all 3 kids so I told Nathan to go with Daddy. Sam was only about 10 or 15 feet away & I assumed Nathan knew where he was. I was wrong. A bus or two came & filled & drove away before Sam was up in line to get on the next bus. At least 5 or 10 minutes had passed since I sent Nathan to him. When I looked at Sam & realized that he didn't have Nathan, I just cried out, "NOOOO!!!" Neither of us had seen our 2 year old little boy for 10 minutes! I was terrified! I went running into the gift shop & through the entrance where we had just been looking for him. He was no where. I ran back to the bus & Sam said Nathan might have gotten on one of the busses that had left. HORRIFYING! I asked them if they had any way to radio the other busses. No one seemed to know what to do. So I kept running around looking for him knowing that so much time had passed... he could be ANYWHERE. Then, finally, a man that was now in line for the bus said that he thought Nathan might be inside with a worker. So I ran in to find guest relations. As I was running around up there, I heard someone say, "Ma'am??" I turned around & there was Nathan in the arms of a worker. I was so relieved I burst into tears! They told me he was so sweet & so smart. That we had taught him well. He had been crying when they found him & said that he needed his Daddy & was very lost. I am so relieved & so GRATEFUL that he was found & safe. And I NEVER want to experience anything like that again!!!!
Comments
I'm sorry you lost Nathan for a bit. That is every parent's nightmare!
I am loving looking back at your blog because it is so fun and amazing to see how fast your cute babies have grown into kids. It's pretty miraculous and great that you have documented it so well. No wonder Mom's seem to universally flip out over "how fast it all goes". I am so excited for it to start!