Day 1460. Today the kids turned 4 years old! At 3:32 (Tamarelle), 3:33 (Samuel) and 3:34 pm (Emmanuel). After Disneyland yesterday, I had another special day planned for them. Actually, I did not make it that special, as we've just had too much going on. We did not set an alarm this morning, so I was surprised, when I saw that it was already 8 am, when the first one woke up. But that was no surprise after yesterday. We only blew up the golden 4's we had after they were up, and Randy got the bag of birthday balloons out of the car. We also sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY to them. We had some of our food in the room for breakfast, and it was nice that we were able to take our time.
At 10:15 we left the room and walked to our car. The valet guy had to move a car that was blocking us in. Just before 10:30 we drove off, going just a few miles north; with the traffic it was 11 minutes. We had some trouble finding the parking lot for Knott's Soak City, but eventually we got there. It was nearly 11 am, when we finally got out of the car, minutes before the waterpark was opening.
Randy left the wheelchair in the car and carried Sammy. Together we went to the entrance, where there was a long line, first going through security, and then going in, but it was moving fast. We got a locker so that Randy could put his valuables in, and it wasn't cheap. Then we walked into the actual park and chose a bed that was available, where we put our stuff. Next we had to redeem our coupon for unlimited drinks. The kids, especially Tammy, were already eager to go play. We got a big, plastic cup that is reusable and that we get to keep and were told we could refill it every 15 minutes. When we wanted to refill it before leaving at 4:30, it was already closed.
It was finally time to get wet. We went right to the first tower with water everywhere that was near our bed. The kids were eager to go down the simple slides. But America is not Austria. When we got to the slide, the lady there had a measuring stick and said that Tammy was too small. You had to be 42 inches, and she was only 41. And kids in the lap were not allowed at all. The disappointment was great. And it had only been a pretty simple slide. In Austria they have gone down much bigger slides - in my lap.
We went to the next attraction, a big pool that had waves every 5 minutes. Even though they had their swim rings, they were required to put a life jacket on. Then we finally got to go into water. It wasn't deep at all, but slowly got deeper, just like in the ocean. Then the waves came, and the kids were loving it. We went deeper in, so that the waves were just moving us up and down, which was fun.
After a while we got out of the water. It was after noon, so we decided to go have something to eat. Emmy wanted pizza, and the restaurant we had seen coming in happened to only have pizza. We bought two slices of the expensive pizza and sat down at a table to eat. We needed some sunshine, as Tammy had been cold since coming out of the water and was crying or fussing. We sat down, and soon all the food was gone. It was pretty good.
Today there was not going to be a nap, as the park already closed at 6 pm. They had to push through the afternoon tiredness. And so we went to the next part of the park we hadn't gone to yet, which was a kids' playground in the water. There were finally a few slides for smaller kids that they were allowed to go slide down, but there were not big enough for our kids, so they only went down a few times, as they were boring. Then they were playing with all the other stuff around there, lots of places that water was coming out of. I was trying to keep track where Emmy and Tammy were at all times, which was really hard, as they went out of sight sometimes, which was a little unsettling. Randy had Sammy and took him to the different things.
After some time we decided to move on to the next attraction. They had a "slow river" that was going round and round, and most people on it were sitting in tubes. They had lots of them that you could get at the entrance, when other people were getting out. We went in, but the tubes were too big for the kids. We then went round 3 times and had lots of fun with each other.
After we got back out, we returned to the waves. They were having fun, but they were also clearly tired. Tammy said she wanted to sleep, and so did Sammy. So we got back out of the water and walked to our bed. The sun was burning down really hot, hotter than at noon, and we needed to find some beds in the shade, which I did. Then I put the kids down on them to sleep. However, they were not falling asleep and soon said they wanted to go back into the water. Oh well.
And so we went back into the wave pool and had some more fun there. After some time we decided that it was time to go home, even though it wasn't 6 pm yet. We walked back to our beds. Emmy said he wanted to go back to the first attraction from the beginning, the tower where there was water everywhere, but Tammy didn't want to go. So I went with Emmy, while the others stayed on our beds. Emmy especially enjoyed the water cannons. After some time we returned to the others and got ready to leave the park.
We got our stuff out of the locker, and I took Emmy and Tammy to the changing room with me, where we all got dressed. Then we left the park. By the time we drove off it was after 5:30 pm after all. There was a little bit of traffic, so that it took us 15 minutes to get back to the hotel. We walked to our room and left again a few minutes later to walk to the Denny's right there to have dinner.
We got a nice booth, and the waiter brought us the menus. The kids' menus we had already seen at a Denny's in another state were laminated, so no coloring allowed. And we had not brought their tablets with us so that they were quite restless and constantly moving, especially given how tired they were. It was somewhat aggravating. But it was great to get a decent meal. They ate some, and we took the rest with us for breakfast/dinner tomorrow.
By 7:30 we were back in our room, and I was ready to put them to bed. However, they really wanted to go swimming and kept asking for it. I only considered it because it was their birthday and finally gave in. And so after a day at the waterpark, we put our swim suits back on to go downstairs to the pool. We went straight into the hot tub and enjoyed the hot water. However, my skin was pretty red from the sun today, so that my skin was burning, when the hot water touched it. Soon the kids wanted to go into the regular pool and simply jumped into it. Tammy and Emmy kept climbing back out and jumping in together, then they'd come back to us, and then go jump again. I was watching them with hawk eyes from the hottub. You couldn't tell they were tired at all, as hard as they were playing. Then Sammy wanted to join in the fun and also go in the regular pool. Even though I did not want to, I had no choice but to go into the other (cold) pool with him. I asked him whether he wanted to jump as well (let himself fall from a sitting position on the edge into the water), but he said that he wanted to swim. And then he swam across the pool into the deep section, and then back again. He was doing great, and he was having so much fun. He then wanted to jump, and then he wanted to do it together with his sister, which he did. He kept calling her, wanting her to stay with him and play with him, which she does very well.
Even though they were having so much fun, I was starting to get cold and wanted to get into the hot water one last time. Sammy wasn't too happy, but he did not have a fit, thank God. After a few minutes in the hot water, we all got out and returned to our room. It was time to get them to bed, which took until 9 pm. Emmy said that now he was not afraid to sleep on top of the bunk any more and went up there together with Tammy. They were all in bed, when he suddenly spoke up saying he wanted to be on the bottom with Sammy. I had expected for that to happen. After some time on the bottom he asked to go sleep in our bed, which I said no to. Tammy and Sammy were long asleep before he finally also fell asleep.
I had already turned my computer on to download the pictures and write my report. Now it's 11:30, and my eyes keep falling shut. Last night it was 4 am before I finally got to fall asleep. Randy has already been asleep for a while, so it's time for me to join him.
