I LOVE vacation!  But really… who doesn’t, right?

It is something that we’ve always managed to plan for since our first year of marriage. I would say it’s definitely a priority to us.  Something important enough to invest time and money into.  I think even more so now as the kids are getting older and may actually have some long lasting memories of vacations we take.

The best part about our Romantic Pigeon Forge Getaway was taking our kiddos to the Indoor Waterpark. 

Isn’t there something so satisfying in delighting the little ones that call you mommy?

They were a little. bit. excited. 

Can you tell??

There was a way we could’ve walked to the waterpark staying indoors, but we could cut about 10 minutes off the walk just by being willing to go a short ways outside!   It was chilly… especially on the way back… but it was worth it.  They had a weird rule about towels.  Instead of giving you pool towels in your room, they boasted that towels would be provided at the pool.  The only catch they don’t share so readily being you weren’t supposed to take them from the pool. 

Say what?  So now we have to walk outside in the mountain March air with no towel??

Weird.

It was really nice and warm inside though with windows everywhere making it even sunny. They actually warned you to wear sunscreen!

I made the wild ones stop and pose for a picture before they could jump in for some fun.  You can tell I was seriously cramping Wade’s style.

This was the wave pool, obviously. And they were very serious about their waves.  Every time the alarm sounded indicating that the waves were about to start, people came pouring in from everywhere to take part in the madness.

Haylee LOVED the waves!

Wade did too, I think.  Holding onto the raft made him a bit more secure in the wild waves, which was good.

There was a nifty playground area with lots of capabilities for getting yourself and others around you soaked.  A kid’s dream.  That big bucket at the top there? A warning bell would go off periodically before a deluge of water would rain down on whoever was brave enough to be standing underneath.  Another of Haylee’s favorites.

I was really surprised at the cutest little Toddler Area they had too.  I didn’t get a picture somehow, but I found this really bad one online.  :)

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It was very shallow with some swings hanging from a “tree” to the right and an actual waterslide in the center. 

There were three BIG waterslides too, one of which Haylee was tall enough {and brave enough} to go on all by herself!  

Wah! When did she get so grown up??

She ended up going over and over and over since there wasn’t much of a line, though that did mean she was going up all those flights of stairs {carrying her raft} over and over too!

Uh, no thanks.

Poor Wade was too small for all the Big Slides, much to his great disappointment, so he spent some time waiting on big sis.   :(

I think an annoying part of being a parent is feeling equal angst over one child being big enough to ride something by herself and your other child not being big enough to get to ride at all.  :)

The purple and yellow slides are the ones Haylee was riding solo…

This oddly shaped slide was definitely the Scary Slide of the bunch.  You sit in a four person tube and are basically dropped into the cone.  You then careen back and forth from side to side until you finally make your way through the hole at the bottom. 

It was scary, but very fun too if you like scary fun. :)

That was the last thing we rode before leaving the waterpark.  We like to go out on a Bang!

While we were splashing and sliding to our heart’s content, Davis Man was hanging with Nana! 

We were so thankful that she agreed to come with us for two of our nights.  It made the navigating the waterpark so much easier and, of course, also gave us the chance to go out for dinner alone! 

The two older kiddos actually went back home with her on Friday after lunch, leaving us with just Davis for our last night away. 

I guess we are considered “uncultured” because we just have the best times in good old Pigeon Forge and Myrtle Beach. 

Hmmm… I think that could be a  line from “You might be a redneck…”

I can just hear Jeff Foxworthy saying… “You might be a redneck if your ultimate vacation is Pigeon Forge or Myrtle Beach.” 

Ha ha!

Where is your favorite Vacation Spot?  Maybe we can try to expand our horizons!  :)