White Water

White Water is such a fun place to be. We've only been twice in the 8+ years we've lived here, but both times I've asked myself...."Why don't we come here more often?"

Oh yeah, cause it's expensive. But no mind....we went yesterday and a good time was had by all. It was sunny. It was hot. But the water was wonderful and the rides......pretty great. I must say, though, that the highlight was the Tornado. The line looked menacing, but in reality it wasn't. In fact, the park as whole was not as crowded as I was expecting, for the last 'official' day of summer. We had no trouble finding multiple chairs in a row to lay our towels and we waited no longer than 30 minutes start to finish for a ride.

We decided on a couple of rides that we would go boys on one and girls on another. The Tornado was one of these rides. The boys went first and we girls had a good laugh watching them try and get that huge 4-man tube up the stairs. They did well once they figured out how to work together. We girls were two groups behind the boys. This was our first time riding the Tornado and wow.....we'll be riding that again someday. It was great. I must say, when we went up into the funnel part of the ride, I was convinced we were going to flip, we went so high. But we didn't. We came down laughing and ready to head to the next thrill.

My boys had a couple of moments where they didn't want to wait in line......they wanted to head straight for the Atlanta Ocean. Why, I'm not sure. It's just a wave pool, but the adults and Julia won out and we waited in the lines we were in and then headed to the wave pool.

The one downside was the end......No, not because we had to leave. But because we couldn't. At 4:20, Chelsie began to round up the kiddoes from Little Squirt's Island. One by one they came out for a sip of Diet Coke and to hear that we were leaving. One by one....each boy was on board with what was going on. The girl.........not so much. For those of you who know Julia, you know she can be 'all that' and has a ton of personality, to say the least. For those that don't know her....well, there's no way I can describe her and give her any justice. She is a joy. A doll. A pain in the neck. Our sunshine. Our hormonal mess. A flake. A flirt. A tease. A perfect mix of her three brothers. A chip off the old block in her mother. The apple of her daddy's eye. The Queen Mother, as my father calls her. A diva. The only granddaughter for my parents. She loves to learn new things, but thinks she knows everything. A brat. And just plain wonderful.

When Julia was told it was time to go, she decided we would 'wait right out here' for us while we finished gathering up the boys. By the time, we made our way out of the Island, not 10 seconds later, she had taken off in the direction of Captain Kid's Cove. Daniel, being the oldest and because he can run faster than I can, was sent after her. We waited for a bit but they never showed. Chelsie and I decided I would head back to the chairs to gather the stuff and she would head over to gather Daniel and Julia. As I was finishing up folding the towels and gathering shirts and flipflops, up walks Chelsie......alone. Shaking her head, she tells me she couldn't find them. Most parents would probably flip their lids in fear. For some reason, with my kids, I'm not like that. They have shown themselves in so many situations to be able to handle different things and handle them well. They have been approached by kids at school to do the wrong thing and haven't. They don't talk to strangers. I've watched them ignore people who say HI to them because they don't know them. They have been trained in self-defense.

Does that mean I don't worry about them? Absolutely not. I am very careful with my kids. I just don't hover over them and watch their every move. So, when Chelsie said she couldn't find them.....I knew where Julia was. She wasn't lost or stolen. She was playing somewhere. We decided to go two different directions to the exit in hopes of coming across the two kids. We didn't find them right away. Neither of the adults found Julia........Josh did. And sure enough, I was right. She was in the Wave Pool.......living it up. Having a great time. Daniel was nowhere to be found. I made my way toward her and she saw me. We mothers have 'the look'.....you know the one. And she got it. And she hung her head knowing she was dead meat. She got a good scolding and I seriously considered spanking her right there, but figured there were way too many people who would take what was once considered good parenting, and twist it into abuse. She knew she was in trouble. She got the message. Now off to find Daniel.

Within 30 seconds he walked up. He told me he chased Julia toward Captain Kid's Cove but she got away via the Suwanee river. He had gone around again trying to find her, but couldn't. He's such a great big brother. He was as frustrated as I was as he knows his role as the oldest.

This took 30 minutes. 30 minutes. I had promised Chelsie we would have her back to my house between 5 and 5:30, so she could head to a commitment she had and so Noah could go to his Open House with his teacher. Now, none of this would happen, which did not make me happy. Chelsie and Noah were OK with it. I was not.

But all in all, it was a good day. We ate dinner on the way home, so no cooking for me last night, which is always a blessing. Today, we're cleaning and cleaning and cleaning and doing some laundry and going and finishing up getting what the kids need for school. It'll be a long and busy day. But I ain't complaining. I've got my human babies.....and my feline babies. Just missin' the husband, but he'll be home in 5 weeks.