Spring Break

Over spring break at the end of March we took a mini vacation to the Tundra Lodge, where the kids enjoyed three days at the indoor water park.  They have been to pools and they've been to pools with a simple slide, but never to a water park with extra fun features like those at Tundra Lodge.  They had a blast of course.

Cartoons were a highlight, especially for Karl.  He would have preferred more time watching cartoons to swimming, I think.  Here he and Lena are enjoying vacation Pop Tarts while glued to the tube.

Clare was at a perfect age to fully experience this water park.  She could do the big slides by herself (minimum height requirement was 48" to go solo), she was tall enough to push herself easily around the lazy river, and she enjoyed these floating lily pads in the activity pool.

This little kiddie pool was great for Lena although Nora really liked it too.  It was 1 foot deep and had a slide and water features like fountains and an adjustable sprinkler that kids could control themselves.  The water got gradually shallower toward one end, like a beach.  Lena just loved it.

Here's Lena, trying to splash me. Nora and Karl are in the background, dangling their feet in the hot tub.

The kiddie pool slide.  Nora had a great time on this.  Lena needed me to ride down with her a few times before she got used to it.

"Moosejaw Mountain": a playground dripping with water and an unpredictable fountain.

Lena, Nora and I spent a lot of time on the Lazy River.  It was a good place to go when the kids got a little tired and just needed to chill for a bit.

Warming up in the hot tub.  There was also a really nice outdoor hot tub but we didn't think to bring the camera out there.

Clare coming out of one of the water slides.

Matt and Karl after coming down the water slide.  There were single tubes and double tubes so we were able to take our "too short" little kids on the slide.

Starting to get tired.  Three days is a lot of swimming!

I was very proud of Clare for trying the water slide, which is three stories high and a little scary at first glance.  Its saving grace was the tube, which meant that Clare never had a rush of water up her nose or in her eyes at the bottom.  She's much better at dunking under the water now but it still scares her to get water up her nose.  With the mandatory tube, she went down the water slides countless times.

These two had a great time together on the Lazy River.  It's so fun to go on vacation and see your kids laughing and getting along and having a blast together instead of fighting and bickering.

Do you think Lena is having fun?

Craft time.  Kids crafts were from 4 to 6 pm and by the second night they didn't mind a little break from swimming.

Making pinwheels and coffee filter butterflies.

All in all, it was a perfect vacation.  Two nights was just right for our young crew; by the third day the kids lasted about an hour and a half in the pool before they were tired and ready to go home. Clare probably could have stayed all week except that the heavy exposure to chlorine combined with chafing from the tubes was bothering her sensitive skin.  We all ended up with some level of skin irritation, making me grateful for Lake Superior swimming in the summer time.

We ended the trip with happy meals at McDonald's, something we rarely do.  The kids thought that was pretty special and actually ate their fast food (another rarity) because they were so hungry from swimming.  On our four hour drive home, Matt and I were grateful we'd vacationed in WI, not FL, when Nora asked for the third time in a tired and whiny voice: "how much longer til we get home?"