Wings & Waves Waterpark

(The 3 boys had a sleepover at Nana and Grandpas the night before we went to the wavepool--Abbie joined us in the AM)

You read it right...yesterday tons of fun was had at the Wings and Waves Waterpark, which is the newest addition to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon. This glorious waterpark opened this June and has been a huge success from day one. I for one LOVE waterparks so when I heard that my parents were going to take the 3 boys (Keegan, Chandler and Hayden) and Abbie to the new attraction within the Aviation & Space Museum I was more than game. Lucky for me I had an "excuse" to go in a frolick about the entire day because if your child is 10 and under they must be accompanied by a swimming adult...not just an adult in the building. Keegan is 13 so he just needs a chaperone within the building, but the other three are 10, 9 and 7so they had to have an adult chaperone with them swimming alongside them the entire time for safety. So I had to bite the bullet, and much to my dismay I had to accompany the kids at the waterpark all day long....uugh what a drag. ;) While the 5 of us more than enjoyed ourselves in the wavepool, 4 HUGE slides, the "vortex" pool, the play structure, and the interactive water museum my parents took the opportunity to just hang out, eat some lunch (before we joined them, after a wavepool test run) and spend the majority of the day outside reading. We probably spent about 6 hrs just frolicking about the waterpark and really enjoying the day having lots of fun with eachother.
The kids were all so excited to try all of the slides and we successfully went on every one of them. We would have loved to have tried them more than once, but the lines were just a bit too long to wait in more than once. Although the lines and wait for each slide were a bit long the slide itself was very long and provided some serious fun that made the wait well worth it. In addition to enjoying the slides the kids also loved the wavepool. Abbie wore a life jacket despite being able to swim because the water throughout the park was very strong and she is a skinny little thing. Not to mention I prefer to prevent something like drowning in a wavepool. Chandler, Hayden and Keegan loved riding the waves down the pool and we all enjoyed the play structure. It had 2 smaller slides and a lot of water guns and buckets to get people wet with, would dump over, spilling 300 gallons of water on top of everything and everyone below it. Very Fun! All in all we had an AMAZING DAY and hope to visit the waterpark again sooner than later. The only downfall to the waterpark experience is the price...it is a little spendy if you ask me. It costs $30.00 if you are 42'inches or more and $25.00 if you are under 42' inches. Another weird aspect is the unnecessary (if you ask me) charge for the adults or other people who came to the facility but are not swimming. It costs $10.00 for you to pretty much sit at a table and watch your family/friends enjoy the pools and slides. I read on the website that they do this becaue there is no way for them to distingish between someone just sitting on the side or somene who paid and is there to swim. I guess I understand but I think that they can charge a smidge less oh well, such is life. Below are some pictures from the day as well as the link to the
water park,
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum/Wings & Waves Waterpark:
http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/waterpark/attractions/

Man Overboard!

Now don't be too alarmed at the title of this post because no one actually went over board, but I can assure you that there were a few occasions when I thought that this may be a possibility.
Last week my dad and I decided to take my mom and the 3 boys on a boating trip on Detroit Lake that weekend. We decided on a glorious Saturday at the lake and we were all very excited to have a fun filled and relaxing day...or so we thought.
The day started off a little shakey because as we picked up the boys from their house there was a bit of a drizle in the air and darker clouds then we wanted or were planning on. So needless to say we had to send some prayers up to ensure a dry day at the lake.
We made it to the lake and we all got out of the truck and the boys put on their awesome neon colored life jackets while I helped my dad launch the boat into the water. I hadn't really ever done that so I wasn't too familiar with the process--luckily the boat and trailer made the process pretty easy. After the boat was launched my dad proceeded to drive away with the trailer--however the rope decided to stay attached and about took me to the ground. Fortunately the rope flew off just in time and spared me an embaressing moment and injury, So the 5 of us got onto the boat and went to find a nice spot to park it so we could get comfy and relax...or so I thought.

Now I LOVE the idea of going on the boat and having a nice relaxing day on the lake with my family, but the moment that darn boat motor starts up I immediately feel myself starting to internally freak out. I have no idea why or what triggered my fear of boats but it is definitely apparent. I have tried to figure out why it freaks me out so much, but I can't figure it out. I can swim, I have never had a near drowning accident, I have never fallen off a boat, and I've never been attacked by something in the water...so pretty much all I can conclude is I am just afraid for literally no reason whatsoever. Perhaps I will get over it if I am to go on the boat more often....eeek that idea scares me. Moving on...once we finally all got onto the boat and got on our seats my dad started on our voyage to find the perfect spot.The boys had a great time, but I can confidently say that my mom and I were not too excited about the insanely choppy water that day. If I were unable to see I would have thought that we were in the ocean. The water was flying over the boat and eventhough the boat had a cover over the top and sides for protection we still got splashed quite a lot. The boys were soaking wet and I tried my best to hide under a towel to prevent getting completely soaked and also to shield my eyes so I wouldn't feel like I was dying so much.
After a while we finally found a spot and parked the boat and I made egg salad sandwiches for the whole crew...delicious. About 5 minutes passed and Keegan announced that he needed to go to the bathroom. Soooo we brought the anchor up and made the short journey to the bathroom that is literally in th emiddle of the lake. Whoever thought of this idea was a genious and is my best friend. Thank you for realizing that girls cannot go to the bathroom off the side of a boat nor can we really go in the woods too successfully. One false move and the rest of the day can become very uncomfortable. So we all hit the bathroom, loaded back onto the boat and made our way back to our spot. We threw the anchor out again and the boys got off the boat and went searching for salamanders on the shore. Then after about 10 minutes chandler came back and announced that he now had to go to the bathroom. Mother of pearl we couldnt even go 5 minutes without a bathroom break--oh to be a Melton. We found out that he had to go to the bathroom when we suddenly realized that we were floating away from our spot near the shore and saw the rope in Chandlers hand where he decided to take it upon himself to untie us, and fail to inform his brothers that he was doing so, so that they could actually get on the boat. When we looked over at the middle of the lake bathroom we saw that the line was HUGE and we convinced him to just suck it up and go to the bathroom on the designated potty bucket that we brought on the boat for emergencies. I assured him that I would shield him from the public with a giant beach towel and no one would ever know. Long story short--Success!
After about 30 minutes of relaxation on the boat we decided that it was time for us to go (yes we were barely even there) because the boys had to get back home for a BBQ that had been planned with their friends and parents and siblings for months prior. So we had a very short adventure, but adventure nonetheless and packed up the boat, got it back onto the trailer, took another potty break (we would hate to go more than 3 minutes between bathroom breaks) loaded into the bar and started heading back home. I was EXHAUSTED so I instantly fell asleep after I got comfy in the back seat and took a nice little snooze until I was woken up for an ice cream break in Mill City at Papa Al's. The boys went with chocolate milkshakes except for chandler who went the ice cream cone route (mint choc. chip) and I went with a deliciou scoop of Black Licorice on a waffle cone...mmm. It was delicious. After we made it home we took the boys home, unloaded the boat and I again crashed on the couch for a much needed rest/nap. I already get tired very easily, but the sun especially exhausts me in a hot second...it zaps me dry. So despite having panic attacks for no reason, numerous bathroom breaks, and enduring ocean like waters on a lake it was overall a fun day hanging out with the parents and my nephews. Below are some pictures from our day!

So much to do...so little time

I realized that I have not updated this pretty darn new blog of mine for quite some time. Thank you to my friend Heather for bringing this to my attention. What a darn slacker I am. I will try to cover as much as I can without typing a novel...we shall see.
I have officially been home for around 37 days...aka just over 1 month. I feel like I have been home much longer than that because I have done so much and have felt ever so busy. Since being home I have done/been involved with the following:

-Cousin Claire got married on June 25th when I first arrived in June--glorious wedding and fun fun party!

Claire and I just before the BEAUTIFUL bride made her way down the aisle to get married!

-Many slumber parties and time spent with my nieces and nephews--gotta love movie nights and days at the park or swimming pool.

-A trip to the beach with Katie and Ross where we went on a very fun and beautiful hike. Wasn't a fan of the 3 gardender snakes I saw--eek I hate them!

-St. Paul Rodeo--oh how I have missed you! I think I ate my weight in kettle corn, dippin dots, curly fries and diet coke. The night was finished off with a glorious display of oddles of fireworks!



-Fourth of July with the kids! A fun day with--bbq at home, roasting mallows and making smores, and lighting fireworks in the street. The kids were so excited for the fireworks then we light them an realize that all they really do is screech obnoxious sounds and light up a bit that would at most give someone a seizure because of the strobe effects.

-My dad and I bought Sydney (Peanut) a pretty exclusive swimming pool at Fred Meyer. You too can be the proud owner of this for a mere 15 dollars...its pretty stellar and has the potential to provide hours upon hours of fun!

-Emergency vet appointment with my dog Joe...long story short he had a bone stuck near the back of his jaw which made it a little tricky to breath normal. He would be just fine and dandy then realize that he had the bone stuck in the back of his throat and went loco and would become sooo freaked out! For those of you who may not know--do NOT give dogs (especially labs) bones...they crush them like its going outta style and apparently lodge in their jaws, which is the least of ones worries when you consider the other possibilities. Joe is happy to have the bone removed. ]

-Some glorious days at the pool with my Nana at her apartment pool (who knew?). We have had a fun fun time and much to my suprise and joy I got my Nana in the pool to swim, which she hasn't done for at least 10 years. We laughed so hard and about wet ourselves while doing this. ( One example: it was sunblock applying time and she literally looked like a mime--such a WHITE face.) Needless to say she will not be getting a face burn. We had a wonderful time and laughed very very hard!

-Fun filled trip to the carousel with Nana, Marissa, Abigial and Sydney, followed by some serious playing at the park!



So although I have been back home less than 2 months I have been very busy and have gotten to do many fun things and have gone on a few adventures as well. It has been simply wonderful hanging out with my nieces and nephes as well, but I more than miss my Vargas nieces, nephews and family...boohoo.