Independence Surprise

Can you guess where we spent the Fourth of July?? This might give you a pretty big hint:

Someone told us the park is pretty empty on the fourth. I feel like it was average busy in the morning and afternoon, but by early evening most folks were headed to BBQs and family gatherings, and you could walk onto many of the rides. So overall, not a bad choice of days to go.

We always do our ritual sunscreen slathering and stashing of the cooler and then it's off to the rides.

June requested the Odysea so we could get a little wet. (Although by the end of the day we would find other rides that would fit that bill even better.)

Pearl was digging going on the big rides like her sisters.

Because there are still some littles that don't fit the height requirements, there were times that people had to wait. I was impressed that the girls were fairly patient most of the day.

We brought a plethora of snacks. This may seem boring to list them all, but I am putting them on here so I can remember later and perhaps they might spark an idea for you.

Doritos
Applesauce cups (don't forget spoons, and if you do (like us) a straw might work for you)
Grapes
Peanut Butter and Jam sandwiches
Beef Jerky
Sliced turkey
Fig newtons (or any type of cookie)
Dry cereal (we choose froot loops)
Muffins
Go-gurts (frozen so they can thaw on the trip there)
Craisins
Yoo-hoo drinks
Capri-Suns
Water
Hard-boiled eggs

The eggs were a new one. I was surprised that most of the girls really liked them. Daisy, who doesn't even eat scrambled eggs at home ate hers, minus the yolk of course.

Oh, and don't forget to bring some wipes, especially if you choose chips like Doritos. Everything you have will be orange.

I recommend aqua socks for Lagoon A Beach .

June was required to wear some because she sliced open her foot only days earlier and I wanted to keep it as clean as possible. But the whole time I was there, my feet were burning on the ground or being scraped by the rough floor of the lazy river. I told June I was frankly jealous that she had aqua socks, and she pointed out, would I like the pain in her foot as well? Well....no.

Another purchase that I am thrilled about is rash guards, or swim shirts. I took the kids swimming a few weeks back and managed to get a sunburn. (And yes, we used sun screen. I think the trick is to reapply.) Since I use sun screen every year and I still inevitably get a sunburn, we decided to try a new method.

The kids were digging the new shirts. I didn't find mine uncomfortable or restrictive. I actually think my swim shirt is my new best friend in the water. (Spoiler alert: no one got a sunburn, except Tyler and he didn't have a shirt. Guess I need to go buy another.)

We had a blast at the water park. We got our overpriced tubes and played on the slides. I love that I have kids old enough to play on the slides with me. Robyn and I would race down the waterfall slide. I kept hoping she would fall off so I could catch up. No dice. At least you get 'free' drinks when you turn your tubes back in. Everyone can appreciate that.

The girls have picked up on the raise-your-hands-on-rides-because-obviously-you-are-braver-if-you-do-so routine. (I've never understood that.) The older girls would demonstrate.

And Pearl would dutifully follow along.

Here's another one, and I think this photo might win 'Happiest Smile of the Day.'

It is rare to find a ride that holds all the kids at once, but we got this photo at the dragonfly that almost accomplished five in one shot. (Too bad I didn't bring the wide angle lens.)

We had put off the big rides until later in the day. Ivory was having problems with her height. She was just shy of the 46" mark. The hairs of her head would brush it, but the ride attendees were not bending well. I felt bad because we were headed over to all the big rides that she STILL couldn't go on. Sure enough, at The Spider, she was too short.

Dad took her to The Wild Mouse, and they let her on there under Dad's special supervision. Were the height boards shorter, or had she grown in the 100 yards between rides? Then off to Wicked. They let her on no problem. She was in heaven. These four are living it up.

Then on Colossus. She went through like a dream. I was starting to think that she must have grown half an inch, or perfected her knack of surreptitiously tip-toeing. So I told her we were going back to The Spider, but we weren't going to measure her. She was just going to walk on like she owned the place. Worked like a charm.

And lest you worry about Daisy and Pearl who still didn't fit the height bill, we still found plenty to entertain them. Can you see them there with Dad?

They also loved the carousel. Daisy is clearly loving her ride on the magical dragon.

And I think Pearl enjoyed her swan even after she realized it didn't move like the other animals.

Tyler wandered off with the littles at one point, and we others kept eyeing Cliffhanger. It was broken last time we visited, so we hadn't seen it in action. From our viewing, it appeared to be a frightening ride that got you super wet while hanging you upsidedown. How can you say no to that?? June, Robyn, and I left a very frowny Ivory sitting on the bench. (You had to be 50" here and no amount of tip-toeing would get Ivory in that range.)

After that, we decided that we were wet enough that we should just head over to the Rattlesnake River Rapids. (Also closed last time we visited.) I have been on many different rapids. You can plan on getting wet, but depending on the type of water features (waterfalls, spouts, dips) you may end up getting drenched. This was one of those latter rides. We were all soaked at the end. (Except maybe Pearl who was shielded by a sacrificing Dad.) The girls immediately wanted to go again, and since there was NO WAIT, we jumped on again. Tyler decided he would sit it out with Pearl, and he snapped a picture as we went by.

Ah, really soaked...that was us. We stopped in Pioneer village to empty out shoes and dry socks under the air blowers, but my feet still squished the rest of the evening. We saw a peahen leading her three little chicks around the village. This is me probably telling my kids to keep their distance, but you can already see Robyn thinking she is going to catch or pet one. They were pretty cute.

Tyler must have found the Dad later, because I found this beautiful picture on my camera.

Three brave souls decided to take on one more water ride.

And then, we just slogged our sloshy selves towards the entrance. It was evening anyway and the kids had had a great day. We stripped the kids down, wrapped them in towels and watched fireworks bloom through the valley all the way home.

I would officially call that a success for the holiday. Oh, and as an added point of interest, Robyn pointed out that she wore the exact same outfit the last time we went to Lagoon. I checked and she was right. (Her pants have been converted to shorts, but they are the same pants.) Not only that, but she wore the same shirt to Bounce back. I promise...she does have other clothes.