Splash Lagoon Visit

Since both Brandon and his Dad harvested bucks in archery season last year, when it came time for the first day of rifle they decided to make the most of the day by planning a steelhead fishing trip in Erie, PA instead.  Gigi, the kids, and I got wrangled up in the plans somehow and we turned the whole thing into an excuse to visit Splash Lagoon.  HAH.

We made the trip to northern PA early Sunday morning and the two guys headed straight for the stream with our cousin Kevin to get their lines wet.  They had a great day of fishing, albeit really cold, and got in some memorable father/son time too.

While the guys were busy with their 'reindeer games' (as we call their outdoor adventures), Gigi, the kids and I stopped for a quick breakfast and indoor playground jaunt at McDonalds (woohoo) and then got checked into the hotel quickly before scampering over to Splash Lagoon. 

 We got hotel rooms at the Comfort Inn which actually adjoins to the water park, which was really nice considering we didn't need to worry about finding parking and also with the three kids and all their supplies - it was easy to let the kids lead the way in the walkways connecting the building and park.  I think walking through the long hallways was actually Violet's favorite part of the trip!  She thought it was so funny and she was such a big girl! 

 

After a long afternoon swimming and sliding, we took the kids back to the hotel room for a little while to rest, eat snacks, and jump on the beds until the boys got back from fishing.  So after we got the fishing scoop and the kids back into swimsuits - we headed back over to Splash Lagoon for awhile with the whole group!

Since it was Gemma's first time sliding on any of the 'big kid' slides, she became the slide cheerleader, congratulating our group for going down any big slides.  She and Grey were both brave and even tried some of the dark slides (and liked them!)

Gigi even went down a 'big kid' slide at the coaxing and persuasion of Grey and Gem.  To which Gigi said upon sliding:  "This is what I'd do for these grandbabies!  Waterslides at fifty plus years old!" Such lucky kids!

Then finally, it was back to our room for showers, pizza ordered-in, and falling to sleep with Disney movies playing on tv.  We were all pooped (no one more than first trimester pregnant momma! hah)

The next morning, we said goodbye to Gigi and Pappy who were headed back to home early while just our family spent another morning at Splash Lagoon to make full use of our hotel/park passes that we had through our booking.  The kids were pretty pooped from the day before (and a little cranky), but we got in some swimming, sliding, and a stop in the arcade one last time before packing up around lunchtime.

We try to plan our departures around kid sleepy times of the day, but we weren't quick enough on the draw for Miss Violet!  After a day and a half of Splash Lagoon fun, she was snoozing in her car seat before we even got out of the parking lot, so she spent lunch (at Smokey Bones, yum!) fast asleep.  The other two hung on for about an hour into the three hour drive before falling asleep too.

By the time we got home, Marco and the note from Santa was awaiting us and we dove right into the madness of the Christmas season - so it was a perfect little getaway before the end of the year!