Kala had to work on Thursday and wouldn't get home until after 4:00, so we decided I would take the boys down to the water park hotel earlier and she would come down from work.  I spent a big chunk of the morning getting everything ready.  We were only going away overnight, but there was so much to get together!  Swimming stuff, toiletries, various medications for various family members, and food.  Our room would have a mini-fridge in it, so I decided to bring lots of snack foods, all of which had to be packed in bags or the cooler.  The boys helped, but they were as helpful as you might expect from kids who have never spent the night at a hotel before.  (The last time we did any hotel time was when we adopted Sasha and Maksim and spent a night in Amsterdam on the way home.  Only Sasha remembers it, and just barely.)

Loaded everything into the van and headed off.  Dundee isn't that far away, and we arrived easily.  Got us checked in, a process that fascinated the boys, and then drove around to a door close to ours to unload.  The boys seemed impressed that I knew we could get a cart for our stuff.  Found our room easily enough.  It was a family suite--king bed and two bunk beds.  Huh.  I thought it would have four bunks.  I called down for a rollaway, and one eventually arrived.  Whew!

Got everything unpacked.  By now the boys were dancing with the need to hit the water park.  We suited up and headed down.

The park was NOISY.  Seriously.  The loudness of it hit like a physical wall.  And it was extremely crowded.  The lazy river was packed so fully, you could barely wedge yourself in.  Floaty tubes were at such a premium that any time someone abandoned one, it was snatched up almost before it hit the ground.

The boys loved it.  They rushed around from attraction to attraction (though Aran had to be extracted from the lazy river, where he seemed bent on spending the entire time).  The two slides had long lines, but they went quickly.

I started getting a migraine headache, unfortunately.  The noise of the place didn't help.  I took Mackie up to the room for a snack and I downed some meds, which blunted it, at least.

The crowd thinned out around 4:00, though all the chairs and benches were still draped with towels and beach bags.  I absolutely love it when people put their towels on public chairs and walk away.  It means I always have a place to sit.

Kala arrived, and there was more swimming and sliding and splashing.  At last it was time for supper, and we dashed through the now-chilly corridors to our room.