Vacation Recap Day 3

Day 3 of vacation: Wednesday, June 27, 2007
So - of course this day had to be it's own stand-alone day. For one, it was the craziest day on vacation and for two, it was my daughter, Chloe's, 7th birthday!

For her "gift", we decided to spend the day at the new attraction at Hershey Park called, The Boardwalk. This place is the world's largest water play structure in the world... or so they tell us, and we decided to be there on a day that would prove to be the most challenging day on our trip.

The day started out perfect. Slept in a little later than normal... ate a Pay Day (from the night before) for breakfast... nice weather... it was going to be a great day!

At around 10:30 a.m. we arrived at Hershey Park. Did I mention that The Boardwalk is located in the very center of Hershey Park? Trying to wade through thousands of people to find the water in smoldering temperatures well past 95 degrees was and IS NOT my idea of a good time. I'll admit, I'm a baby. I just wanted to BE IN THE WATER for heavens sake. It felt like it was taking days to get there.

FINALLY - we arrived at the water park. Ooh - now I was getting excited. You would have thought it was my birthday or something!

We decided to rent one of those lockers. You know - the tiny ones that used to cost something like $.25 at Cedar Point (at least that's what I remember the cost being not too long ago!) Once we arrived, there were only small ones left. That was fine, I thought. I can shove everything in to fit! BUT THE COST OF THIS TINY BOX WAS $13!!! I was blown away! You've got to be kidding me? Everything in my bag, including the bag itself, wasn't worth $13. I'd have been better off risking someone ripping me off! For goodness sakes! BUT - we got a locker anyway - didn't really have a choice in the matter, I guess.

After putting everything away, we headed for the water park! Let me just tell you. If you EVER get the chance to go out to Hershey - - VISIT THE BOARDWALK! It's worth every penny you pay for the tickets to get in! TRUST me! A little overwhelming at first (there's just so much to see!) but it's a FLAMING good time! I've never laughed so hard in my whole life. And slides! Those slides were something else! I went down 3 different ones. I have to admit, I was a little nervous at first. I mean, could parents really go down slides? Was I too big to get in? Would I look silly? I was on vacation for crying out loud - WHO CARES! I went for it and I'm glad I did. I felt 7 all over again.

Well into the fun, clouds started forming in the sky and you could tell a storm was a brewing. BUMMER! I was one disappointed mama, let me just tell you right now! Because of the storm and the thunder, everyone had to be escorted out of The Boardwalk. They called it a level 2 storm - which, I later learned, is just fancy wording for a storm including thunder and lightning. We were told, by Pennsylvania residents, to wait it out for a half hour and the storm would blow over... evidently, they always did.

So - we waited. Great idea I had - - let's wait underneath this nice little tree. The key word here being "little". Needless to say - it didn't even COME CLOSE to keeping us dry. At one point Chloe decided to forget about trying to stay dry and she proceeded to dance in the rain! It was wonderful - and definitely a highlight of our whole trip. There is just something magical about dancing in the rain. We should all learn by the children and dance in the rain more often!

After waiting it out under the tree for about an hour, the rain finally stopped and people started to emerge from their coverings. It was like time stood still when it rained and everything stopped. Once the rain ended... it was as if a button had been turned back on and everything was up and running as normal. ALL EXCEPT for the water park! The rules for safety at The Boardwalk say that the park will only resume once the storm has passed and has completely ended 30 miles in any direction. We decided to stand back in line to wait for the park to re-open. This was like waiting for paint to dry! Talk about exhausting - - and HOT!! ARRGH! You could actually see people dropping like flies from the line. It was getting too hot for the little ones to sit out in the blazing sun much longer. Chloe managed to make herself a little hut on the cement with 2 damp towels. It was the only way she could stay cool.

After waiting in that terrible line for well over an hour and a half - they FINALLY opened back up the park doors! And WE were one of the first ones in!! YEAH! FINALLY - water!!! So - for the next 45 minutes - we were in pure bliss! Water to cool us off... slides to play on! This was what I called a vacation! THEN - - it happened again! Forty-five short minutes after entering the water park for the second time, a storm came up again and whistles blew calling everyone back out! That was it! We couldn't take anymore. We were out of there! Too much drama for one day! There was just no way we could wait another 2 hours or more to get back in the water. It was getting ridiculous. So - we decided to head for our lockers and get dry. Well - at least we would attempt to get dry!

Once all dried off, we headed to the amusement park side to ride some rides. Chloe was able to get in a few rides and even went on her first "big" ride all by herself - - the Swings! You should have seen her face! It was priceless! She was amazed at how high you went - and even more than that I was amazed I watched the whole thing! I was more scared than she was, I'm sure of it.

And then - the rain came... again. Rides shut down... again.

By this time, we were just purely exhausted. We were tired of fighting the rain. Tired from all the sun and just ready to be in a dry bed with dry clothes! So - we headed for the front of the park... popping in and out of stores every 2 minutes when buckets of rain would attack us.

Looking back on it - it was a great day! What we learned from the day was this: Some of life's greatest moments emerge from unpleasant circumstances. We didn't let the rain ruin our day - - we made our own fun and laughed anyway! It was a great day filled with great family memories that we will share for years to come. I was grateful to be spending a day like that with my two favorite people on this planet! Thank you, God, for life's little treasures like rain dancing on a Wednesday afternoon!

Day 3 Highlights:
Dancing in the rain
Sliding down the water slides with Chloe
Watching Chloe ride on her first big ride
Spending time with family!

Stay tuned for days 4 & 5!