Yesterday we finally made it back to Sea World and experienced the Aquatica waterpark. We had so much fun. Last month one of my mission companions (Kim) reached out and told me that she was visiting our part of Texas and wanted to see us. They were planning on doing two days at Sea World and asked if we had passes to Aquatica. I told her we did and I was so excited that we would be able to join them while they were out here. Kim now lives in Hawaii with her husband and twins so I knew this meetup couldn't be passed up. Danny took the day off and we planned on having a waterpark day. It was our first time using our family pass there and the only thing that I was slightly worried about was the weather was projected to be 105°. I guess the waterpark is the best place to cool off on a day like that. Luckily the high only ended up being 101°. Our family got there right at opening (10:30am) which was great because we were able to find a nice shaded area right next to Mango Market for all of our stuff. I called Kim to ask where they were and unfortunately they hadn't left their place yet which was an almost two hour drive out of San Antonio so I knew our chances of spending the day together then went significantly down. I wasn't going to let that ruin our day though because we were just excited to be there. The kids and I had watched youtube videos of what to expect at Aquatica and so we were really excited to explore it all. Or at least as much as we could. After getting sunscreen on everybody (except me which I'm now paying the price for) we headed to Walkabout Waters. It's a mix of a splashpad and a huge playground. Hudson was a little nervous at first because their giant bucket of water was accurately described as a giant bucket of water. It was huge. Once he got over those initial nerves nothing stopped him the rest of the day. I was impressed with every single one of the kids but I kept going back to just how proud I specifically was of Hudson. He was my kid who last year wouldn't even get in the water and then this time he embraced all of it. I loved it so much. After playing in the Walkabout Waters we went to their wave pool (Big Surf Shores). Addie kept asking if she could have floaties on for this section but we encouraged her to step outside of her comfort zones and try to enjoy it without using floaties as a crutch. She's so close to becoming a swimmer and it's our big summer goal for her this year. Once she accepted the no floaties part she went all in and had so much fun. Even the boys were neck deep in water and were having a blast. For this part I actually did want Grant in a floatie but Danny felt like he didn't need it, it turned out that I needed to take our own advice about stepping out of our comfort zone and trust that he would be okay without it. Watching him in the water turned out to be one of my favorite parts. After the wave pool we headed to the Slippity Dippity and Zippity Zappity area. All five kids went down those slides. They loved it so much. Rylee and Quinn especially loved that they were able to swim in this pool area. I'm so grateful that these two little girls are so comfortable in the water at such a young age. We've never really had water babies before. Addie and Hudson were both so anxious around water especially as babies. Grant has always been a little fishy baby but we never were able to go often due to finances and Danny's busy grad school schedule. Having a pool in our own neighborhood as really been a blessing because Rylee and Quinn feel at ease in water with all the exposure they're getting. It's so fun to watch them (in their little floaties) actually paddle with their arms and kick their little feet. It's really cute how they are trying to swim all on their own. It's also really nice that they are this way because taking five kids to a water park or pool is not always easy and it would only be harder if we had clingy toddlers who didn't want to be in the water (like Addie and Hudson were haha). After this area we walked all the way over to their lazy river (Loggerhead Lane). I was surprised that this was not a short little ride. It actually was kind of long which was really fun. I'm used to shorter ones where you go around multiple times because you feel like it wasn't long enough. For this part we did put Grant in a floatie because he was under the height measurements. Addie and Hudson were tall enough that they could walk it with no problem but when Addie saw that Grant had a floatie she put one on herself. I was so surprised with Hudson once again. By this point I probably shouldn't be because of how fearless he has become but it still caught me in awe. He chose not to have a floatie on. I kept repeating "this is such a big deal" to Danny over and over at least twice in every section that we had explored. Just last year when we went on our family vacation to St. George Hudson hated the lazy river. He clung onto our necks so tight that it was borderline choking haha. My dad tried to take Hudson on the river and I finally took Hudson because he was holding onto his neck so tight. That boy was terrified and now here he is as if he's been comfortable his whole life. Like I've said I was so proud of him. Of all of them. By the time we were done with the lazy river I knew that Danny was done. He was getting hangry (hungry plus angry). We walked back to our area for some shade and snacks and that's when I saw that it was 2pm. We had played right through lunch and nap time. Danny was ready to go home. He told me "I'm not an all day kind of person. You are huh?". I totally am. I could have easily spent the rest of my day there with the three older kids. Unfortunately for me the toddlers agreed with their dad. They were perfectly fine the whole time until we sat down on our chairs. Fatigued and hunger hit them with full force. We decided to leave. I grabbed my phone and saw that Kim had finally arrived. While the kids were drying off I went and met up with Kim at the gate. I told them we were leaving but that they could have our spot. By then it was crowded and I don't think they would have been able to find a nice or shaded area for that matter. They were grateful and I was happy we were able to help them even though we weren't able to hang out. Even though we only got to see each other for ten minutes I'm really glad we did at all. Her twins are six years old and Hudson was really excited about that. They would have had so much fun together if our times had matched up. I guess we just need to go to Hawaii haha. I wish.
By the time we got to our car Quinn was screaming. She was so tired and so hot. Not every family outing is going to go smoothly and this one definitely didn't but still the majority of the time was near perfect. Some whining about floaties from Addie and Danny thinking we had already spent too much time were the only other annoyances so that's pretty good in my book. We stopped by McDonald's on our way home for some quick food which was needed because I think all the crying from Quinn really put Danny in a grumpy mood. After those two ate all was good again. The girls fell asleep so fast which was awesome because they had played so hard I knew they were exhausted.
We all can't wait to go back. The kids really want to try the slides next time. There was so much that we didn't do which seems crazy because it felt like we did so much haha. There's a ride that goes through a tunnel where you go under a stingray tank that we all want to do next time for sure. I was able to watch the stingrays for a bit when waiting for Kim's family to show up. Overall Aquatica is a super kid friendly park. Everything that we did do we were able to do with all seven of us. Next time we'll have to take turns with the twins if the older three want to do some rides with us but the good thing is that we know what to do with the little girls because there's so many options. I definitely want to go back. I'm so grateful for this family pass. It's already paid for itself with this being our third time at Sea World. I hope to still go many more times.
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