a last minute trip to turtle cove

i had heard about turtle cove water park at the beginning of the summer and decided we would take the boys there at some point. i had all but forgotten about it when heather wood had told me that their family was going on friday and invited us to go with them. i didn't think i'd be able to, as i didn't think i could handle watching both of the boys at a water park (especially since i wasn't sure how it was set up.) so i decided to pass and see if dave could maybe get a day off of work so we could take a family trip there before school started. dave didn't think he would be able to take a day off and the more i looked into it, it seemed like the water park was going to close after labor day. so at the last minute, i called jessica to see if she might want to go with us and then called the woods to let them know we were in. after spending yesterday at the sprinkler park, hayden was still more than ready to spend another full day in the water! he was a bit bummed to find out that he was a bit too short to ride on the 2 big water slides that were there, but i let him know there were plenty of other things to keep him occupied. turtle cove is in belleville inside of a metro park. it has a really big sprinkler park type area with slides and things to climb up and a huge bucket that dumps a TON of water down onto the kids every few minutes. it also has a big pool area which isn't deeper than 3 1/2 feet and was perfect to let the little kids just splash in as we sat in it and watched. it also had the 2 big water slides as well as a lazy river. hayden loved the sprinkler park and jumped right in with the older kids by laying down under the giant bucket in order to have all of the water come crashing down on him. while he was playing around in there, talan kept busy by running around the edge of the sprinkler park in the little fountains. we eventually were able to get him to go down the slides which he loved as long as he didn't need to walk up the steps through the water raining down on him. we went in the lazy river several times which proved to be much harder than it looked. talan was in a life jacket and sat with him, but he refused to sit. so he stood on the tube with me holding him and him asking to get off the entire time. i remember when the lazy river was relaxing...this was the farthest thing from relaxing and was probably the most work i had to do during the day. at first talan was a bit scared of the pool but eventually he came to love it. he would jump off of the edge into our arms and have us spin him around. at one point i set him down (it was plenty shallow so he was able to stand up), turned to look at something and when i turned back around he was under water trying to get up. i grabbed him and pulled him up. he didn't really cry or even cough so i don't think he was under for more then a couple of seconds. but it was one of the scariest things i've ever had happen. it didn't seem to bother him and he went right back to playing in the water. i realized that when i put him down, he didn't stand, he just folded his legs up. so every time after that i always had to tell him and make sure he would just put his legs down and simply stand up. hayden had a great time at the end of the day throwing ella's goggles into the pool and having him and henry race to get them. we all had a GREAT time and the boys finally got a nice tan. we spent the whole day there but of course, hayden still whined when we said it was time to go. the boys, of course, fell asleep pretty much the second that we pulled out of the parking lot. we had such a great time and hope that next year we can go with jenn and rainah and also make a family trip and have dave take a day off of work to join us (i can't imagine what that place would be like on saturday!!!). we loved it and were so happy we got to hang with the wood family for the day as we milked summer just a little longer!

hayden wasted no time just jumping right in:
that is a lot of water:


hayden and ella going down one of the slides that hayden was actually big enough to ride:


talan jumping over the fountains:


cordelia:


the pool and water slide area:





hayden waiting for the water to be dumped on him:


the sprinkler park area:

the beginning of the lazy river:


talan kept splashing jessica wanting her to splash him back:
talan going down the slide...finally!:

talan practicing his drumming on the fountains:


can you believe baby gap didn't pick him as their newest model?!:
hayden having a hard time keeping his eyes open and talan striking a pose:

while having his picture taken by the turtle, hayden heard the bell which indicates the bucket is about to dump all of the water out. so he took off running saying, "sorry, mom...i gotta go.":