Because Babies Grow Up

Hal Rogers Family Entertainment Center

Brent found us a really fun-looking water park in Williamsburg, Kentucky. We looked at different routes to get there and finally decided to let the Garmin decide for us. Right off it took us over the border into Kentucky and then way down a road we hadn’t been way down before. At least I hadn’t. Brent apparently had been this way once before and started telling me about how curvy and slow the drive was. The speed limit was 55 but I think I rarely went more than 35. We switch backed up and down two peaks! I was driving so that helped stave off motion sickness for me, but we were worried about Sammi the whole time. Fortunately, she fell asleep so I think that helped her tummy stay calm.

As we were driving we somehow crossed back into Tennessee. This mountainous, rural area is always full of surprises. We were enjoying the beautiful foliage, peering through the trees for wildlife when we came upon some roadkill. And there, so close I could almost reach my arm out the window and stroke its shimmering bald head was a vulture. But this was the prettiest vulture I’ve ever seen. In fact, Brent and I both commented that we didn’t know vultures could be that pretty. I so wish my camera turned on more quickly and that I could take pictures while driving. (I’ll refer you to this post for a reminder about the nature of multi-taskers) As I slowed and Brent tried to get the camera going, the vulture hopped back into the trees and disappeared from view. I looked long and hard, though, to get a detailed mental picture, but even that’s already faded. It was a beautiful bird; you’ll have to trust me on this one!

Sammi at the Splash Park

Elli at the Splash Park

We finally made it to the Kentucky Splash Water Park. We quickly found a place to park, unloaded the girls and made our way inside with our three Pepsi cans, which made our entrance fee for the whole family $30. This park has it ALL! There’s a wave pool, a lazy river, three single rider slide, two innertube rides for singles or doubles, and a rocking kids’ area. The whole family was entertained, until we heard thunder. Everyone was shooed out of the water. It started to sprinkle. I needed to nurse Elli anyway so we didn’t mind. A nice family celebrating a birthday invited us to join them under their covered pavilion. We were just getting settled in when the storm hit. The sky was dark, the rain was torrential and the wind was violent. We wrapped our towels around us and we were soaked almost instantly.

Brent and I wondered what to do. The girls were getting restless and we’d have to wait at least a half hour from the last thunder before we could go back in the water. The sky was clearing and the rain was calming down, but we didn’t know if we could entertain the girls for that long. We decided to pack up and go home. Brent took stuff and went to get the car for us. I took the girls inside and waited for Brent to pull up for us. We got in the car, dried ourselves off and started to head out. We got to the mouth of the parking lot where we were to turn onto the main road to head home. We looked at each other, the blue sky and decided to turn around and go back into the water park.

We are so glad we did! We got to go down the innertube slide with Sammi. We played in the waves. We floated the lazy river again. In short, we had a blast. It was a fun, fun day. Since I was pregnant with Sammi I’ve been wanting to go to a water park where I could go down water slides. I went down one here and it was a blast, but I found I enjoyed being with my kids and Brent more than the thrill of the slide. The park was fun and we’ll probably go again. Maybe even September 7th when they have $5 dollar admission for the Pack the Park promotion. Maybe we’ll see you there!