waterpark part one

Part One SOOOOO. I am SO excited about our recent trip I just HAD to start blogging again! Our family has had two foster children in our house for seven and a half months. We love them SO much but we needed a break to reset, refresh, and to spend time with JUST the five of us. We were going to go to Gulf Shores, Alabama but that was really expensive. Plus it is far away and there is staff or MRSA in the ocean. While I normally do not let my kids miss one minute of school, this is the only weekend we had available until August 2015. So they missed part of Friday and Monday. Im sure they werent missed! We decided to go to the Wilderness waterpark in the Smoky Mountains. It is a little under 4 hours from our house! We arrived on Friday about 4:00 pm. We went up to our room and I was FLOORED at the space. It was called a deluxe suite but it slept 11. It was actually 2 rooms with an adjoining door. It had a full kitchen and 2 full bathrooms. It also had 3 televisions and a balcony. Here are some photos. Room #1 Room #1 Room #1 Room #2 Room #2 Room #2 Please excuse our mess! I just wanted to make sure I snapped some photos. So room #1 had the full kitchen, a double murphy bed, one TV, and a pull out couch. Room #2 had the twin over full bunk, a double bed, two TVs, and the balcony. Because I am sick of everybody, I wanted my own bed! Nate and Isaac slept in room #1 and watched sports on the TV. The remainder of us slept in room 2. But I had my own space and it was lovely. One main complaint is people running in the hallways. I am sure this is an issue at any hotel but I mean it was midnight and I still could hear people banging all around. It was terrible and because of THAT, I didnt sleep all that well. The Wilderness has two different hotels you can stay in. Stone Hill Lodge is across a rather busy street. The rooms are smaller and less expensive. You need to take a little tram over to where the waterparks are. It probably isnt that bad. Many people drove over to the River Lodge. This really really made my husband and I angry. Because people were driving over to the waterpark instead of taking the bus, we had NO WHERE to park! They said that we had parking passes because we stayed at the River Lodge and it was policed, but I can tell you it wasn't. That was super annoying. We stayed in River Lodge. While it was more expensive, for us it was totally worth it! It was so nice to just put on our swimsuits and go down the elevator to get to the waterparks! Also there were two restaurants inside River Lodge and a few snack shacks. I am not sure if there was any eating facilities in the Stone Hill. When we first got there, it was super nice out so we decided to go to the outdoor water park first. They just put up a new thrill ride called The Wall. My kids were super excited about it! THE WALL So As Ike and I were walking to the very top and I could see the beautiful mountains in the background I started to think I didnt want to go on The Wall. It was scary and there is nothing holding you in. But I thought...The things you do for your kids! The wall was only a tiny bit scary and I actually really enjoyed it! Well, I have a rule in my family. If you are tall enough for a ride, you must ride it. Luke, our middle was exactly 48 inches. I pulled him out of the lazy river and said, "Come on son. Its time to ride The Wall" Shockingly, he just came with me. Its like he knew not to put up a fight. He was scared as we scaled those steps together. I told him to pray about it if he was nervous and said it is ten seconds of your life. When we were done, he simply said that we wouldnt ride it again. In the mean time, my husband Nate took Isaac and Libby on these racing slides. I was afraid for her but she didnt seem to mind. You lay head first on a thin blue mat with interior handles and race the people on the other slides. This was a favorite of my family. HINT- The heaviest person wins. While we were outdoors, the only other option was a smallish wave pool with an AWESOME lazy river. The only thing that bugged me to no end was the following: There were signs everywhere that you MUST stay in a tube while in the lazy river. No walking and no swimming. Except people kept swimming!?!? It infuriated me. Finally I asked a life guard and they said yes, everyone should be in a tube and then they shrugged. So.......yeah. Also when we signed in, they made us sign a paper that said we will stay with our kids the entire time we are there if they are under 12. I saw countless kids under 12 all alone. It was not safe and it annoyed me. At one point in the lazy river, I saw a little girl about 7. She was all alone and had fallen off her tube. She was screaming and crying. She was in a life jacket but could not swim. Countless adults passed her. I finally jumped off my tube and helped her to safety. I half expected John Quinones from 20/20 to pop out and tell me I was on "What Would You Do"? 15 minutes later I saw the girl wandering still looking for her mom. It made me sad. The other cool thing is that the hotel gives you towel keys. You get one per person. You go to the pool, turn in your keys and get as many towels as keys. You can exchange them as much as you want and then when you are done with the pool for the day, you turn in your final towels and get your keys back! If you do not turn in your pool keys at check out, they charge you a whopping $25 per pool key! Stay tuned for more tomorrow!!!!