What's a vacation without a few snags? Our trip got off to a rocky start (see the post on "The Layover") and ended a little rocky as well -- we got to our car in long term parking only to discover a dead car battery! We also had a bit of a problem once we got to Chula Vista resort actually finding the family: driving instructions which included drive behind the water park and "go forward" would have been great in the daylight, but not so great at midnight. But once we all got up Saturday morning, we had a great time!
About 30 members of Rocky's family were there. 6 of the 7 children, most of the grandkids and 2 of the great-grandkids of Mike and Bonnie all hung out with little to no drama the entire time. The drama usually involved Grandma Bonnie, Aunt Tammy or Aunt Shelly looking for some of the younger girls who would wander off to go down waterslides alone.
Aunt Shelly was the great organizer and even managed to come up with menus for all of our meals which were eaten in one of the 3 condos we rented. Each condo was 3 bedrooms/baths with an almost fully stocked kitchen. Shelly made up room assignments and with all the bedrooms and pull out sofas and a couple of cots, I'm pretty sure no one had to sleep on the floor.
The waterpark was a blast! Shelly rented a cabana for the family for the main 2 days we were there and it was really nice to have a central location to head to when we needed a break or a snack (as we snuck in snacks!) I do still think it was a bit odd to have TVs in the cabana (the cabana next to ours had the Cartoon Network on), but I guess to each their own. Plus, I do realize if we had been there during football season, ours probably would have been on as well.
Maggie LOVED the park and even went down a few slides by herself. The first trip down, Rocky got "in trouble" as he went down with her, but it only took that one trip for her to want to go by herself. Aunt Shelly helped catch Maggie. Maggie told me "Aunt Shelly is a good catcher. And you are a good stepper." We also got "in trouble" for Maggie wearing her water shoes and Rocky wearing his sandles -- though he was allowed to hold them on the way down the slide. Because, yeah, that's safer.
Sunday afternoon, Rocky and I had some time to ourselves while Maggie napped and we enjoyed a few trips down the slides both indoor and outdoor until a storm blew through and they closed the outdoor park. Of course at that point the indoor park was teeming with people and we just don't have the patience to deal with the long lines for a 15 second ride and we headed back to the condo. After the storm passed, several people headed back to the park as there were no lines outside.
Maggie had a great time with her cousins and playing "Grandpa Mike games." It was nice to hang out with the family and just enjoy each others company. Maggie was very sad to leave Monday afternoon and told us "I just want to play with my cousins." It took very little to set her off at that point and she became upset that our rental car was red as she wanted a pink car as "pink is for girls". She traveled very well the trip home, slept on the flight to Denver and we read "Horton Hears a Who" a couple of times on the flight home to Billings. We didn't have any troubles with our flights home and arrived in Billings on time. We were all tired and Maggie really wanted to see Otis and our pink car. Once again, she was upset that our car is not pink -- even though it is Daddy's car.
We think Maggie has a bit of the traveling bug now, though it may be a while before we take another trip like that. Rocky brought along his good camera and is working on pictures today. I'll add a link to pictures once he's done.
And I did try a new wine on this trip. Saturday afternoon, Rocky and I went out to get some wine and some better beer. He found a local Wisconsin beer (which we all agreed tasted like Miller Lite with a different label), he also picked up a 12 pack of Leinenkugels. I picked up a bottle of Wollersheim Winery Blushing Rose. It was a sweet rose and nice to have with supper. I also purchased a bottle of Yellowtale Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio. I like the Yellowtale wines as they are predictable and affordable. I always know I will enjoy a bottle of Yellowtale.
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