Water fun!

Yesterday, Hannah and I spent the afternoon with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew at Kalahari Resorts in Wisconsin Dells. Hannah had never been to a waterpark before, but after a short time, was having a blast. Despite being a lifeguard at Noah's Art during my college years, it had been a while since I'd been to one too.

Perhaps I'm just getting old - or it was the rocky first ride I took - but my body is telling me this hurts much more than it used to. I woke up today feeling like I'd been hit by a truck - sore head, sore neck, sore back... The first ride I went on, the Swahili Swirl, you plummet down an enclosed tube into a vortex shaped bowl which you spin around in before being dumped into a deep pool below. Ethan, my nephew, calls it the toilet bowl ride. I launched myself into the tube and as I came out into the vortex, smacked the back of my head up on the top rim (probably because I don't weigh enough to stay further down in the bowl when coming out of the tube). Completely disorientated, I did a spectacular flop into the water below and came up trying to see and remain conscious. I managed to get out of the pool, and as soon as I did, my sister threw me a towel to stop up my newly-acquired bloody nose. Not exactly sure how that happened, as I'd hit the back of my head (albeit, hard).

I'm beginning to think I am simply clumsy. About an hour later, my nephew had talked me into going on the Screaming Hyena, in which you stand in an enclosed tube and the floor drops out from below, leaving you plummeting nearly vertical 25 miles per hour to the ground below. I walked away from this one with a gigantic bruise on my right shoulder blade. (Ethan walked down, so at least I can say I was braver than a nine-year-old!). After that, I stuck to playing with Hannah in the kiddie pools and lounging in the hot tubs!

It took Hannah the better part of the afternoon to feel comfortable going down the kiddie slides, but she was having a blast once she figure it out. One thing I loved about this place is that life jackets were required for children under 48-inches tall.

There are lot more areas to explore here, and I'm sure we'll be back soon. I awoke this morning to Hannah asking if we could go back - today! She clearly loved it - as did I. I'm again reminded how wonderful it is to see something through your child's eyes for the first time.