A Grand Little Get Away

Kiliegh's birthday is three days after Vada's heart surgery making celebrating it on the actual day some what difficult. With Justin's work schedule (M,T and Ffor one week then S, Su one week and then W, Th the next and every two weeks alternating from nights to days) and the girls visitations with their bio's the only time that we could all be together to celebrate her actual birthday was this last weekend. So we decided to go out of town  and to do something new. We didn't go far from home, but far enough to seem away from our everyday "norm".  We went to Dubuque Iowa, which is only about an hour and a half away.

Our destination was a place called Grand Harbor. Known for it's indoor water park and restaurant Tony Roma's it offered everything we needed to relax, have fun and celebrate Kiliegh turning 8.

We arrived at 1PM on Friday. After checking in we had a light lunch and then we headed straight to the pool.

Every hotel trip needs to have the beds inspected. The girls take pride in doing so.

Notice the french fry that Vada left on my shoulder. Often, I walk around with all kinds of things on one or both shoulders not noticing until later when I am home. I think its part of the criteria for being a mother.

The Family before heading to the pool

The water park area was an enclosed portion of the Hotel and very humid as well as very busy.After waiting about twenty minutes I decided that I didn't want to leave my camera in those conditions. Plus, I wanted to swim and not worry about leaving it unattended. This was the only picture that I was able to get.

Vada looks as if she is melting but really she is just a very tired girl.

We stayed all afternoon and until around 6 PM when we finally decided to get some dinner. After diner we were too tired to go back into the pool so we went up to our room. Jasmine had been to an over night skate party the night before and had slept very little. All of the running around and swimming had tired Kiliegh out completely and she had actually stated that she wanted to go to sleep. Justin had worked his normal 12 hour shift the day before and my nights are all screwed up with Miss V waking up two to there times to nurse and I think also because of her teeth. So, getting some much needed rest was welcomed by all.

Vada and I slept on the floor which was a B-A-D choice on my behalf. I hurt in the morning!

On Saturday we woke up, packed and then checked out of the hotel by 10 AM. We had decided to skip breakfast so we could get a head start on our day.Which later became a mistake, because we were all starving! Our next stop was at  The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquiarum. Which, by the way is right next door to the hotel.

Kiliegh was so excited to finally be able to see a real live seahorse.

My sweet husband..., wishing that he could catch one this big!

How could I refuse?

There were many different water exhibits.

They had these lily pads on an amphibian exhibit and look... a pretty little flower bloomed on this one.

There were caves to climb in, on and through.

There were two different gift shops which were all too fun to play in.

There was a lot of hands on things for the children and for the young at heart. Besides Jasmine who had gone with our church, it was a first time experience for us.It was nice to get away together. To not over think things, together. To play, laugh and enjoy each others company all together. In our family getting everyone together all at the same time is a difficult process, but one well worth the wait!