Play Time While Camping

Yesterday, I started writing about the trip I took with my friend Lynn and her son, Aidan. My boys went, too, of course. One of the reasons we chose this particular campground was the amenities: a water park, a pool, water slides, a jumping pillow, and a park.

All of my pictures of Nick are action shots, because this boy does not sit still!

The kids noticed the water park as soon as we drove in, and in the morning when we were getting our swimsuits on, Nick was jumping up and down with excitement. That actually isn't too unique for Nick, who is often jumping up and down for one reason or another.

Anyhow, everyone was eager to get in and get wet!

The water was the perfect depth for my boys, who are both chicken about what they call "deep water" (anything over waist deep on a little kid).

Here's Henry checking to make sure the water wasn't "too deep." 

The slides looked pretty fun, though I didn't actually try them myself.

What did the adults do while the children played in the water? Well, not much. That was the beauty of the whole operation. We sat and chatted, we read and napped and laughed at the antics of our young ones.

Though we're looking pretty pale here, we left quite tanned after all the time in the sunshine.

Every half hour or so, the picnic basket on top of the climbing structure would fill up and tip over, delighting all the kids who got splashed.

We did bring the kids into the regular pool for awhile, but my boys are still pretty scared when the water is over their heads, so that didn't last too long. Most of their time was spent going up and down the slides and splashing in the 1-2 foot deep water, which was pretty warm, considering that it was only in the upper 70s that day.

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Nick didn't seem to get tired at all, even after four or five hours of straight up running and jumping. Henry, though, got quite tired at one point. It's a good thing they had kiddie-sized lounge chairs.

Henry was so tired, in fact, that he climbed on top of me and passed out for a good hour. He's quite the snuggler.

The awesome water park wasn't the only fun part of this campground. They also had a park and a jumping pillow. What is a jumping pillow, you ask? Well, it's one of those things that's easier to see than to describe.

I think I need a jumping pillow in my backyard. Nick needs a lot of physical exercise, and one of these would be perfect. I could just sit at the table and watch him bounce all day long. And he would. Bounce all day long, that is.

Bouncing was pretty fun, actually.

My best pictures were of Aidan, who can look at the camera and jump at the same time.

Now, think about what might happen if a big kid, say, a teenager, were to get on top of the jumping pillow and jump as high as he could. . . What do you think would happen? Yup. Henry kept going flying.

He got really scared and I finally had to sit on top of the jumping pillow and have him jump right next to me so he wouldn't fall or go flying through the air. He liked that much better.

Strangely enough, the kids still had enough energy to play at the park for another hour. By this time, I was ready for a nap. Ah, well. At least the kids were having fun.

I think if I visit this particular campground again, I will spend most of the time on the campground, making use of the amenities there. Between the water park, the playground, and the jumping pillow, my boys could kill an entire week just playing. That's okay with me. More time to rest and read.   :)