Splashes at Kalahari

Usually I hate water parks. This was different. When we pulled into the Kalahari waterpark in Sandusky, Ohio this week I could tell it was no low budget, dingy, smelly waterpark. It was HUGE. It was clean. It was bright. It was fancy. And best of all, it was themed like an African safari. Kenya, the giant costumed walking elephant came out to greet us in the parking lot and had us laughing from that point forward. Since all the kids have gone back to school, we had this huge, exotic, indoor waterpark pretty much to ourselves for an entire day. The children were overjoyed just to jump and swim in the wave pool...until we dragged them over to the GIANT waterslides and they discovered the thrill of zipping through a tube on a big water donut, with their friends. The squeals and smiles were priceless. I wish I could bottle up Christopher's smile and his joy and keep it forever. He and I laughed and screamed and smiled all the way down the slides time after time. Childhood memories of the Emigrant Lake Waterslides came flashing through my head. I used to love them as a kid, but this was a million times better. I even tried the surfing ride several times. To my complete amazement and shock I was able to do a couple of flips and pretty cool tricks. Very impressive after my failed attempts at surfing in New Zealand in 2004.
The chef at the resort found out that Jackson wants to be a chef when he grows up and invited him back to the kitchen to watch him for awhile and ask questions. What a treat! The kid sported his paper chef's hat and got us all invited back for free ice cream sundaes at the end of the day. During the ice cream party we somehow landed our own personal DJ who found out what dance songs the kids know and played them for us. We all ended up on the stage having one big dance party by the end. Sometimes I'm amazed at myself when I realize I am in random public places dancing the macarena like a crazy woman, with a bunch of African children! Good day.