Water Country USA

Still playing catch up from July- July 4th was a fun weekend for us.  Besides the beach and fireworks at Busch Gardens, we visited Water Country USA for the first time (included as part of our season passes to Busch).  Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as crowded as we expected it to be on a holiday weekend.   In fact, it was less busy than it was on our other visits. We arrived when it opened and left mid afternoon when the kids started to get tired. Since then, we've been back twice, the last trip being this past weekend.  

One of our favorite sections, and the one we usually visit first, is Cow-a-Bunga.

Featuring a cow on water skis (wait, is this Chick-fil-a?),
this area is just the right size for little ones. The pool is shallow (foot to two feet deep)
 and there's plenty of room for kids to roam around and play in the sprinklers.

While it seems to us as one of the best attractions for kids,
it's never been crowded at all. 

There are three slides (perfect for racing).

That's Daniel at the bottom under all that water.
He loves to get his face wet and make a big splash.
If it doesn't happen naturally, then he purposefully dips his head under.

On our first visit Anabella wore a life vest at Cow-a-Bunga, but the
second and third times she did not.  Some sections require one, though this one doesn't.
The water isn't quite to their knees (though it is deeper at the bottom of the slides).
(We had four adults, in addition to the many lifeguards, so we
were comfortable letting them be comfortable without one- and Daniel definitely preferred not wearing one)

This picture is from our first trip there.
For the longest time we were the first
family in this section.
Just us and the water-skiing cows- wait, is that Daddy trying to ski?!
(Daddy, you are not a cow. And, you don't have skis.) 

Ever since swimming lessons, Anabella loves to
walk on her hands in the water. She does it at our neighborhood pool
and the bathtub. Here, she had plenty of space to swim around!

The back float is another favorite-
 loves to have her entire body submerged in the water.

Look at her swim!

To captain this boat, you must not mind being sprayed with water.
(not a problem for Captain Dan)

This "scaled down" water slide was the perfect size
to enjoy as a first ride, with an adult, of course. 

On our first trip, PaPa must have gone down 20 times with
Anabella, who just couldn't get enough! 

Let's do it AGAIN, PaPa! 

Can you tell she loves it?

Another section we enjoyed was the Kritter Korral, aptly named for all the "kritter" shaped water slides. (No skunks here, though. Only water critters.)

This two foot pool area was fun for floating around and bumping rafts.

I don't think Daniel has ever found a slide he doesn't like.

Only, he has to be reminded of the rules every now and then.
Here he is coming down on his back (first and last time- he does listen
once he's "reminded"). Let me tell you, those lifeguards don't miss a beat.
(we had four sets of eyes anyway, but it was nice to know they were
watching carefully as well) 

He liked this "big" slide best of all.

Despite being smaller than most of the kids climbing up with him, he had no fear climbing up or coming down, and even landed on his feet at the bottom!

Next stop:  Rock and Roll Island.

This was not marketed as a "kid friendly" attraction, so it was not on our agenda for our first trip there. It was on the second trip that we discovered it, as we overheard another family talking about a "lazy river" for kids.  

Here we are floating down the lazy river.

Wait a minute, how'd he get his own float?!

While I may look like I'm working, the current really did all the work.
I just felt more comfortable riding with the kids, and with a raft made for
two, well, there wasn't much more for me to do besides hold on tight!

While the lazy river was our reason for first visiting Rock-n-Roll Island, this slide is what took us back on our third trip there.

Don't you think that slide looks a little big for 3 year olds?!! 

I have to admit I didn't think this slide was a good idea at first. Not at all. In fact, I thought for sure he'd be too short for it. Secretly hoped he'd be too short for it. But, apparently he wasn't, and before I knew it he had bravely ascended the stairs with PaPa, ready to take on the "big slide."  MaMa, Belle, Daddy and I eagerly waited in wonder at the bottom of the slide to "catch" his reaction.  

"Again," he blubbered as he popped up from under the water and ran (he needed lots of reminders not to run) back towards the stairs for another ride. 

Oh my.  

Dan Credle, Fearless Fish.

We had to limit the amount of times he came down the slide for
fear he'd wear himself out too much.  He may be fearless,
but he is still only 3 years old.  

On July 4th weekend, we went to Surfer's Bay, a huge wave pool, much like the beach as it gets deeper the farther out you walk.  The waves start every 10 minutes and last for 8 minutes.  We had fun hanging out in the shallow end (towards the "shore") while waiting for the waves to start, and while the waves weren't too strong considering it was so shallow, the kids didn't love it like they did other attractions. We left shortly after that as they were starting to get cranky, so I'm not sure if it was just bad timing or if they really didn't like it. We'll need to try it again to know for sure.  

Last trip, MaMa and PaPa offered to take the kids back to their house when they got tired in order to give us some time to explore some of the more "grown up" attractions Water Country has to offer. While Chip had tried a few water slides here and there, we were both looking forward to being big kids and checking out the park for ourselves (in other words we were planning to spend the afternoon floating down the Hubba Hubba Highway- the "grown up" lazy river!). Though, unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, and we ended up spending our afternoon searching for a parking spot at the Williamsbug Outlets along with the other thousand displaced Water Country-ers.    

Next year, Daddy, next year! 

It's the first time it's rained during any of our trips, and while we were sad to miss out on our own afternoon of water park fun, we were glad it worked out that the kids got to have their fun- and three times at that! Plus, we needed to do some shopping to get Daddy some new work clothes anyway.  And, after we found our parking spot at the outlet mall, we did enjoy a nice afternoon of shopping (kid-free and tax-free- can't beat that!).

(**I really can't believe how people swarm like bees for tax free shopping- it's a savings of 5%! Five percent, people (at least I think that's our tax rate). And, it seems to me like the sales weren't as good- for example, Children's Place offered a 10% coupon instead of the usual 20%. I walked in and then out when I saw the line extended to the back of the store. Oh my. I'm glad we were there to shop for Chip and not the kids.  Note to self- never plan a shopping trip during tax free weekend again. For a five percent savings, it's not worth it. We would have paid someone $5 for a parking spot! It was worse than Black Friday, and I'm not joking. Same way on Sunday when I ran to Target to pick up a few things- the school supply section- nuts!) 

Thank you, MaMa and PaPa for our Christmas present- the gift that keeps giving!