Vacation 8: Schlitterbahn Day 3 & Travel Home

Today was our last day of vacation! 

The morning started off with some tickle monsters with Papa:

And then Papa stayed at the house to give a friend who lives in the area a call, while the rest of us piled on a tram to go swimming.

Luckily for the girls us the kid area was opened earlier than usual! wahoo!! so the kids were able to get into the water immediately to play.

big slide!

big slides make big splashes!

Then Lulu kept Emma while Bryan and I took Clara up to the "big" slides to ride the Wolfe Pack with her! She was so stoked!! 

Watching the other riders go down

 She was so incredibly patient while waiting for our turn - I was really proud of her. 

Then I attempted to get some photos with the water camera of her riding her first "water roller coaster" while we were on it... with limited success. That's hard to do!! Especially since my right hand was clutching Clara's hand on the strap.

She's cracking up at all the big swishes and splashes and zooms

whoaaaaa!!!

 She loved it and immediately asked to go again. We told her next time :)

Awkward family photo at the bottom

 Getting wet at the bottom of the ride with Daddy:

While we took Clara up on the big slide, Lulu took super good care of Emma. (Thank you!!)

And Emma remembered how I did the clam ride with her the day before when it was just me. I would put her on the second to the top step while she climbed the rest of the way up and sat down and waited for me while I ran around to catch her. She knew to wait too!! Lulu said that Emma did the exact same thing for her on the shoe ride! Way to go Emma Lou!!

After a little more play time it was time to load up and head back to the house so we could check out by noon. The lack of protesting from the little ones leads me to believe that they were okay with a respite from fun :)

Helping us load up the car

 These girls were pooped and just wanted to be held and needed to be asleep in the car!

Side note: Clara held her pee and poop the entire ride home! whoa! way to go, Clara!

Unfortunately, we all needed to go to the bathroom when we got home and we realized we had been locked out of our house! oh no!!!

Luckily the window I sometimes open to hear the girls play outside while I make dinner was unlocked (not usually a good thing, and something I rarely forget to do, but it certainly worked out this time!!!)

Daddy letting us in

 Clara wore a pull up in the car so I honestly figured she had already gone, so I told her that Mommy and Daddy needed the downstairs bathrooms, but she could use the toddler potty or run upstairs if she needed to go, so she did! haha!

She actually couldn't bring herself to go in the little potty, luckily for Emma who climbed into it after Clara tried (phew), but Clara used the big kid potty immediately after me and peed and pooped! I'm so impressed she held it!!

Watching Clara go potty

Deciding on a better view

(The joys of siblings, haha)

Both kids were had a wonderful time on the trip, but were also excited to see all of their favorite things at home. 

(Look at the way Emma picks up the stroller in the below picture!)

Getting help with putting Baby in the stroller

 I bet it's nice for them to feel like the mommy after being the kids all weekend long.

After lots of playing and a snack, we needed to go pick up Maverick!

It was pouring down rain so Clara wanted us to be super prepared with an umbrella and colors.

While I took Clara to get Maverick, Bryan took Emma to get the water camera pictures developed. Neither one of them made it the whole way without falling asleep. (Emma took a nap in the car on the way home from New Braunfels, but Clara didn't.)

 As much fun as Maverick had, I think he was also happy to be headed home.

And the girls were ready for bed too.

We had a wonderful time!! I know we'll go back next year. These girls love to swim and splash!! (But I think I may take the next 24 hours at least to remain dry... we'll see :)

Vacation 7: Schlitterbahn Day 2 (Post-Lunch)

You may notice that I labeled Day 2 with lunch as an indicator and not nap time... and that's because Clara was EXTREMELY opposed to a nap, and I was afraid of a repeat from Sunday when she was so upset about a nap that she didn't fall asleep until 4 and then slept until 5:30, and then didn't go to bed until 10:30(!!!!!) So, like the rookie Mom I still sometimes prove myself to be, I allowed her to skip a nap with the premise that there would be a much earlier and more reasonable bedtime. I know, I know, we all make bad decisions every now and then.

So, anyway, after the fun in the swimming pool we headed back to the house. Emma was still snoozing and so was Daddy :) so we attempted to quietly get lunch ready without waking anyone up. Of course that only lasted about 10 minutes because Emma is a LIGHT sleeper. Emma falls asleep quickly but wakes up easily, Clara takes forever to fall asleep but sleeps very soundly. Anyway, so since everyone was now up we decided to have a picnic outside on the patio.

PB&J, taquitos, goldfish & yogurt - a little something for everyone! 

Emma was so wise and knew to put on more sunscreen when her bathing suit was back on:

Side note: Despite multiple sun screen applications, I got a little sunburned!! not much, but on my shoulders a little on my back. 

We first went back to the old park, because Emma enjoyed the Car Wash and Root Beer Float slide so much.

Unfortunately, on the way over there, Clara rubbed sun screen in her eyes :( 

It felt like an exact repeat from last year, except a different park, a different first aid station and a different eye wash center. Thank you Lulu for taking care of it!!!! Thank you so much!!

While Lulu took Clara to the first aid station, Bryan and I took Emma to the (formerly Hanzel and Gretel, now puppy? park) that she likes so much!

Root Beer Float Slide

 Going through the car wash!

Favorite part - the drying strips :)

It's hilarious how much she likes that thing!

We didn't play too long before we wanted to go check on Clara. We didn't find Lulu or Clara, but we did find Papa:

Afraid we would miss Lulu and Clara if we went in search of them, we decided to stick to Pollywog Pond and figured they would see us when they got back (which is exactly what happened)

Such a tame slide after all the other fun ones!!

Clara went down the big slide several times, and then she asked for the "Optapus" slides, and we figured since it was our last afternoon at the park, we may as well do what the kiddos wanted to do most!

So we waded out of Pollywog Pond, packed up the stroller and kids and went to catch the tram. Papa went back for a siesta while we went to go play some more.

I honestly probably have these pictures out of order because they are a mixture of my phone, Lulu's phone and a water camera, but I'll do my best.

"Yay, Optapus!"

Emma checking out some water with Lulu while Clara goes down the slide 

Clara climbs up while Emma goes with Daddy to explore the submarine

(Confession: these submarine pictures were from the day before when just she and I were there, but I forgot them on that post, and don't have any from when Bryan and Emma explored, so I'm leaving them here :)

Captain Emma driving

Checking things out

This one was from the day before too - Emma going down the big seashell and rock slide like Clara:

Day before on ducks

Also day before on a duck

Okay! Back to the correct day with pictures (sorry!!)

Emma did some exploring inside the pirate ship:

While both girls did lots of sliding!

A snack and water break:

Emma resting while Lulu took Clara to go play on the ducks:

 Laying down & playing with Lulu's water shoe, silly girl

Playing hide and seek (can anyone spot the give away hand?)

More cheeses:

And then, especially since Clara didn't get a nap, it was time to head back.

Sleepy baby girl

Resting on Lulu

 Emma was super tired and wanted to be home and NOT on the tram where she couldn't walk freely, so we let her explore the wheels on the stroller which made her very happy indeed.

When we got back the girls did some resting while the adults showered.

Papa & Lulu headed out for dinner, and Bryan and I ordered pizza for us and the girls. While we waited on pizza, the girls watched Frozen and pretty much ran in circles.

I think both Bryan and I were equally grateful once we had finished bathing and changing the children so we could put them to bed.

I actually laid down with Clara hoping that would help her fall asleep, with intentions of sneaking out when she did fall asleep to play Ticket to Ride with Bryan... but I fell asleep too. Oh well.

I think we all needed a good night's sleep after so many days of playing hard! 

One last morning of Schlitterbahn before it was time to head home.