The Chronicles of South Padre, Part 4

At home, for instance on a weekend, it is like pulling teeth to get all four of us dressed and out of the house in the morning. It takes planning - it takes careful execution - it takes strategy. But the mornings on the beach we leisurely woke up, got dressed and headed out for our adventures. No fuss. No planning. In fact, on this particular morning, we made it to the front door of Schlitterbahn Water Park 5 minutes before they even opened! Yay! By the way, these pictures were taken with a waterproof disposable camera, which is why they look like they're from 1992.

Gabriel was awesome! He rode all of the rides. Absolutely fearless, he is. It was so fun watching him all excited when we got to the front of the line then shouting "woohoo" on the way down.

Ethan significantly enjoyed the park more when we were all together than when we split up - we split up most of the time we were there. It made me realize that even though we have always been a family, we become more and more cohesive as time goes on.

Excellent core workout: walk upstream in the lazy river. Or I guess any river will do.

As far as the park is concerned, it is a must see for anyone planning a trip to SPI. When you arrive, you get into a tube and essentially never have to get out of it. There is a lazy river and a conveyor belt that takes you to each water slide. Speaking of water slide, there are uphill water slides too! This is THE coolest amusement park I have ever had the privilege of entering. Speaking of privilege, our tickets were courtesy of relatives of acquaintances of my MIL/FIL and we are soooooo soooooo soooooo grateful for them. We might not have gone otherwise, because usually amusement parks aren't as kid-friendly as this one is, so we often wonder if it is worth the money. We will soon try the one in New Braunfels and maybe buy a season pass! (we have Seaworld passes too, so this may turn into the summer of fun!)

We stayed at the park for 5 hours but it felt like one hour - SO MUCH FUN!

When we got home, the boys fell asleep right away for a good long nap. B suggested we play Scrabble Express on the balcony. I was elated! B rarely plays games like that with me but I LOVE to play! I was like an annoying little kid, "really? you want to play with me? oh goody!" I insisted on having a glass of wine despite B's warnings that the tannins would make me sleepy. Well, after I lost (after all, I want him to play with me again one day, wink wink) B went down to the beach to catch some waves so I decided to read. After 4 pages sleep overcame me - just as B said it would. I had a fantastic nap! I love vacation!

That evening was spent in the condo. We made chicken enchiladas and watched the Spurs lose to the Lakers.