Schlitterbahn!!!

Now that school is in session and the mandatory first day pics have been posted, let's continue on our vacation journey. While I'm under no illusion that y'all are hanging on to every detail of our trip, I also can't seem to find time for scrapbooking these days so the ol' blog is doing double duty. :-)

On Tuesday of our stay in Galveston, we headed to what is apparently Mecca for a 'tween girl named Taylor - Schlitterbahn!

Now, our family actually really likes waterparks and, in fact, any type of amusement park or attraction for that matter. However, I just have to share that my parents are sort of not Schlitterbahn fans. We went there ONCE, y'all, and it happened to be Girl Scout weekend. Our tubes were stolen, my stepdad ended up in the first aid station and my other dubbed it "the theme park built by Satan."

Well, that was a random memory but I always find it funny and think it when I'm zooming down slides and praying my swimsuit will make it back to an appropriate position before the ride comes to an end...

We got there as the gates opened and headed straight for the area we'd marked off on our trusty park map the night before. The Type A apple clearly doesn't fall far from the tree.

This was our view...

That sounds nice, doesn't it? The fact is that we spent the entire time playing HARD so we didn't spend much time there but it made my man feel better to know that we were set should we decide to relax for a bit.

The great thing about this day was that it was not crowded at all so we rode slides and water coasters and lazy/roaring/white water rivers to our hearts' content.

One really cool thing is that each of the river around the separate sections here connect to each other. One is truly a lazy river, one is white water rapids and the final one has giant waves like the one in New Braunfels. SO. MUCH. FUN!

You know, except for that one time when Dave went one way and let the child go the other and I got really irritated. Thank you, Lord, that I saw the girl :-)

Our first ride was the swirly green slide and it was fast and furious. In fact, I sort of had a hard time breathing in there. It was awesome in hindsight, though, as are most experiences of that type.

You'll notice that there are no photos of me in my polka dot swimsuit and I just want to make it clear that is not an oversight. If you actually thought you might get a glimpse of that, you've either a) not been reading here long b) are under the weather and have a bit of a fever or c) have lost you sweet little mind.

Tay and I tackled this giant white free fall and, while it was not life changing, I can assure you it was bathing suit altering. I went down first and the girl finally decided to come down a few minutes later. She had a few moments of indecision at the top but not wanting to walk all the way back down pushed her over the edge. Literally.

The funny thing is that both of us had the exact same thought right as we fell over the edge. Something along the lines of, "What did I get myself into? Why did I do this? Will I survive?"

After a few more coasters and some tube slides that she and Davey deemed their favorite part of the day, we decided it might be nice to have a snack.

After snacking and becoming a bit more water logged, we decided to head back to the condo for a bit of rest but not before photographing some of the more unique findings at the park.

Look below and you'll see how high the water rose in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Honestly, I was amazed at the boarded up condos and hotels, slabs of concrete where buildings used to be and businesses that still aren't up and running again. So sad, y'all...

We had to head down Seawall a bit further before hitting the condo, though, because there was a beach necessity we had not yet enjoyed.

The largest snow cones you've ever seen!!!

They were delightful. I could have done without my lips and tongue being blue for the next 36 hours (perhaps it was the sea air?) but, hey, you can't win 'em all.

We, of course, returned and I'll have you know that my man even left our cooler while we took our nap because he really didn't want to lose his spot. Davey don't play, friends.

We hit the river trilogy a few more times, cruised down the tube slides yet again and then decided to head back about an hour before the park closed. Why, you ask? Because we had a fun evening in store that included a large ship, something called shrimp kisses and a visit to a King. 

That little adventure needs its own post, though :-)