Summer 2023: Part III

After the VAF was over, we finally made it to Water World. I'd bought their stocking stuffer deal, which was good for admission for 4 people through the first weeks of June. Unfortunately our weather was so awful we never had a day that worked. I'd been told we could use the credit for the amount we'd paid and just pay the regular price at the front desk. At first they wanted to charge us the "at the gate" price, which was $15 more per person than regular price online, but I said that seemed a little unfair since we had purchased the stocking stuffer online, so we should at least get the online price. They didn't have access to the online price, so they didn't end up charging us any extra, which was nice. 

The previous year we went we arrived at opening, but Tyler had to use the bathroom right when we got in, and he was in there a good 20 minutes at least. This meant we missed the opening window for lower wait times and ended up waiting 90 minutes for our first slide - the Journey to the Center of the Earth dinosaur themed family slide. This time we were nearly at the parking lot when Tyler said he absolutely had to use the bathroom. I asked if they had one outside the gate, but they didn't, and we were at the end of an enormous line. Thankfully they let us in to use the bathroom, and we came back out before they'd actually opened. We waited the line for guest services and were able to get the passes taken care of before Oscar and Allison made it up to us, so Tyler's biological needs actually came in handy this time. 

We went on the dinosaur slide right away this time and fortunately had a much shorter line. It was still around 40 minutes, but that's a lot less than 90. By the time we were done with it, it certainly would have been 90 minutes.

After that we went to the other side of the park to do the water coasters. Tyler and I rode single rider on the yellow one then did it as a family with Oscar and Allison. Allison wasn't a big fan of it since it slammed her down at the end, but they had another green one, and she LOVED that one. While we waited for Oscar to get food in between the two coasters, the kids and I swam around in the small lazy river. We never made it in the main lazy river, so it was nice they had a smaller, kid friendly one too. 

After doing a few more slides in that area we took the skyride tram back up to the big wave pool. Allison hadn't liked it since the waves were so forceful she just kept getting pushed away from where she wanted to be. Fortunately we found a smaller wave pool close to the park exit, and she spent nearly an hour there. We also tried this game water slide that had been closed when we'd been here before. It was way too long and slow of a line for how short the slide was. It's supposed to correspond to buttons you press as you go, but I couldn't figure out if the buttons I was pressing were making any difference. 

Here we are on the Ancient Egyptian family slide. Last time we'd had to leave early because of lightning and rain that hadn't been in the forecast. This time there was some rain and ominous clouds, but they cleared up quickly, and we were able to stay until closing. Oscar and Tyler had changed since they'd finished up before we did, but Allison and I stayed in our suits in the car. We stopped off at an Outback Steakhouse on the way home, but their air conditioning made us freeze in our wet stuff. While we waited to be called to our table, I walked over to the nearby Kohls and bought us some dry clothes.

Kitties were cute and Allison had a crown put on one of her teeth. At first they weren't sure if the nitrous would work since she wasn't breathing it in through her nose and was panicking, but eventually she relaxed and was able to let it do its thing.

We got to see Marcus, Martha, and the oldest Anderson boys on their way back to Missouri. Marcus and Martha had stayed with the boys an extra week, then drove back home. We took them swimming the next morning, and Tyler and James jumped on the trampoline. Grandpa slept in the chair until the grandkids woke him up.

A few days later we took Tyler's friend Luke to Elitch's before they moved to Missouri, though a different area than where the Anderson family lives. 

The kids all loved Troika. I can only handle it once before getting sick. Allison was big enough to go by herself, but she still decided to find a stranger to ride with. 

Here they are on the teacups. The white roller coaster, Twister III, was finally open after being under refurbishment for the past few years. The boys liked it, but Allison and I thought it was way too shaky.

On the return trip from Missouri, Marcus and Martha brought Mary and Bonnie with them to spend the week with us. Marcus and Martha just stayed the night and part of the next day before continuing their drive back. On the morning they were there, the boys drove to the top of Pikes Peak.

While the girls went swimming. Martha ran into some people from her ward that are the parents of someone in my ward. They were in town taking care of their grandkids while their daughter and son-in-law were in Hawaii.

All the girls loved the water slide. That evening I purchased Mary a new swimsuit since the one she'd brought with her was super tight. 

Here are some lovely views from near our house.

I took the kids on the small hike above Helen Hunt falls. They weren't thrilled about how steep it was. 

Later that week we took the kids to mini golf and play at Lost Island. Mary and Tyler also tried the Ninja Course. 

We celebrated Bonnie's birthday on Sunday. We did everything we could to make it as good as possible since she was missing celebrating it with family at home. We even made her a cake and waffles according to her mom's recipes. I took Mary with me to Walmart a couple days before to help pick out gifts for her. She picked well. Bonnie seemed really happy with her gifts. 

The next day we all went up to Elith's. We had fun on the big slides in the water park before heading into the theme park. It was a super hot day, and the one food option in the water park had super long lines. The kids didn't want to leave the water park since it was so hot, so I had to explain that I couldn't leave four of them unsupervised while I went into the theme park to grab food for an undetermined amount of time. They'd been used to being at Worlds of Fun with us where we had Oscar available to help in these sorts of situations. Being the lone adult at the theme park is definitely much harder.

Most of the rides were too hot to ride, but we did do a few kid rides. All the kids enjoyed the kid coaster. They said it was much better than the one at Worlds of Fun. Thankfully there were no height issues here.

As opposed to some of the other kid rides that were really strict about height maximums. Mary, Tyler, and Bonnie were all right about 54 inches at the time. Bonnie, the youngest of the 3, was actually told she couldn't do the bumper cars. I feel like kid rides should have a 56 inch limit, not 54. All three were considered "adults" on the balloon, so Mary and Bonnie were able to go since the ride allows for up to 4 "adults," but Tyler was one too many. They're way too strict about height maximums here, which is why we didn't renew our Elitch season passes for 2024. On busy days the lines get long and slow, and we always just did kids rides once the regular lines got too long. Now that's not an option for Tyler anymore.

Allison made a new BFF on the jumpin' jack.

We returned to the water park for a bit, went back into the theme park to ride Kaleidoscape and get some more food, then the rain started coming down and we decided to drive home. It was by far the worst drive back from Denver I've ever made.  It would have been a great storm to watch, as Oscar was doing back at the house, but the rain was coming down so hard we couldn't hear any music on the speakers, could barely see out the windshield, and I had to grip tightly to the steering wheel the whole time all while knowing I had 4 children in the car I needed to keep safe. It was terrifying, and it kept teasing me that it was going to let up but didn't actually do so. I'd see clearer skies ahead, but by the time I arrived it was gray with heavy rain again. An hour and 15 minute drive took over two hours, and those two hours were awful. Thankfully there was a car in front of me when we got off the freeway, which was really helpful for visability the rest of the way home.

On Wednesday August 2nd Tyler and Allison started school and I flew the girls home. Back home there was more lightning and stormy weather. 

On Friday I went with Emily and some of the kids to the Kansas City Zoo before Emily dropped me back off at the airport. Joseph and I got to ride the sky ride over the Savannah area for the first time.