Last weekend Dave and I went to water world in pre-celebration of my birthday. I like to begin celebrations as early as possible…and keep them going all month. I was a youngest child you see, and completely over adored the majority of my life. My mom did a great job making my birthday a very special occasion. So, I have a tendency to harbor really high and long lasting attention expectations from Dave around this time of year. Poor guy. He was born the day after Christmas and is lucky to get a birthday card from me after the mad Christmas rush. And yet this morning, a full day 5 days after we started celebrating my birthday, and a full day after my actual birthday, he wakes me up and says “Happy Birthday! What are you going to do on your special day?” What a keeper.So back to Water World. We tried rallying the troops and getting a big group to take the water park by storm with us. We have lots of nieces and nephews and felt their presence would some how legitimize our amusement park participation. But after several phone calls, it was back to just Dave and I. Which wasn’t so bad – especially considering the last time I was at water world with Dave, he wouldn’t let anyone stop to use the bathroom, or get a drink of water, or put on more sunscreen. Not to mention the required sprinting between attractions. He can be a real slave driver when it comes to fun.
Here are a few things I learned from our 6 hours at water world:
1. Water world should be another way to say “lots and lots of bare butts on display.” Everyone’s bum has their shining moment(s) of flapping in the wind before a crowd of hundreds – mine included. I’m sure you can imagine the state of my bathing suit after I did the ride pictured above. It was so humiliating laying at the bottom of that slide, with my swim suit bottoms around my neck, and the 16 year old life guard standing over me with a flotation device (just in case I started to drown in the 2 inches of water)…watching my every move as I tried to get my swim suit back into place. To make matters worse, usually the line forms at the end of the rides where all bathing suit “adjustments” take place. I can’t count the number of bums I had the privilege of pretending not to see while waiting in line.
2. Being an adult in a kid’s playground makes me instantly want to buy for myself everything my parents never would. When I normally would not desire the following items, with no real self control I heard myself shouting out: “Dave, I want pizza!” “Dave, I want funnel cake!” “Dave, I want Dippin Dots!” “Dave, I don’t feel so good.”
3. 50% of Americans have tattoos – you just can’t see them when their clothes are on. Some were cool, some were not so cool. We were astonished by the number of company logos – like a Nike swoosh, or the “fox” face. Is there a chance the random guy at water world was actually the designer of the Nike swoosh sign…or do you think he just really, really loves Nike? On second thought there are a couple companies I wouldn’t mind giving a shout out to. Maybe I could get a Ben and Jerry’s tattoo across my belly?
4. Dave doesn’t think I can swim. As we found a spot among the 10 year olds in the Thunder Bay wave pool he looked at me with concern and said “Well…I’m sure you know what you can handle. Just be careful.”
5. I still can't get over the fact that we spend a lifetime trying to keep covered. But when the mood strikes us, it is perfectly acceptable to put on the equivalent of underwear and run / bounce / flop around a water park with hundreds of strangers & children.
We had a fabulous time. I keep you posted on how we celebrate my birthday next weekend as well.
3 comments:
How fun, I love water world!
such a fabulous post! you capture dave's personality so well in your writing. i can just picture his look as he eyes you in the wave pool, doubting your ability to swim.
let's go to water world soon! maybe when oz is a tad older...
Carrie, you are a joy. I only wish I could've been there with you. D would rather get a bloody tongue licking 100 envelopes than accompany me to a water park. But with you and Dave, we could have a good time. My brother is the same way. He tries to convince his wife to hit Raging Waters with him every time they have a date night. They have a summer family pass and it's more about "getting his money's worth" than anything, but he also likes to snuggle up to her in a bathing suit without the kids around as often as he can. She would also rather lick 100 envelopes... In fact, she's the female equivalent to D and my bro is the male equivalent to me so we relate really well (ie: my brother and I stay up til 3am playing games while his wife and D are sawing logs.) But enough about me... just wanted you to know this was an excellent post! And Sara is a master blogger as well - you guys keep me in stitches. The pics are always so appropriate as well. Love it. (I promise that no future "comments" I post will ever be this long - just had to give a good one seeing as I was called out for not posting comments!)
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