Week 2 in Tennessee was spent with Nana and Grandpa and cousins at an indoor/outdoor waterpark.
We arrived packed with fresh groceries, sweaty from hours of go-karting and souvenir shopping, with barely-dry henna tattoos. Six- and four-year old cousins were already there, already in their swimsuits, and already waaaaaay excited to go to the waterpark.
We made time to check out the colorful slides and kid play zone and lazy river at the outdoor park before dinner in Nana’s condo.
After sending Caleb to bed, Jeddy took a walk around the complex with me to try to get my bearings (Nana has taken my kids there before, but it was new to me). We discovered an on-site Starbucks where I bought a $6 decaf to drink while reading Jason’s Harry Potter bedtime story.
On Tuesday I got up early after a good night’s sleep and made my way to the exercise room, where I enjoyed the remarkably sturdy industrial-sized treadmill that is neither designed to fold up nor placed on a scattering of Legos.
Jason went with the girls (who were sleeping in Nana’s room) to the indoor park while I waited in our condo for the boys to wake up. Caleb was plenty ready to see the novel indoor park after breakfast, so we rode the slides and then I sat and watched them play in the wave pool for a while, at which point Caleb was already begging to go back to the outdoor park.
After lunch Jason took Caleb outside but the girls and I opted for the hot tub instead, followed by card games in our room.
Angie made a ginormous and delicious Mexican spread for dinner—and brownies. All was a hit. After dinner Micaiah taught me to play Sleeping Queens and we taught them to play Cover Your Assets. After little cousin bedtime, Kevin started a game of Dominion with the big kids, but Jason took me for a walk to get ice cream instead, after which I was too tired to follow the game and went to bed instead.
Wednesday I slept in later and woke up to a text advertising free hot waffles in Kevin’s room, which seemed a good enough reason to skip the industrial treadmill.
Waffles and the cloudy, rainy weather seemed like a good occasion to also procrastinate waterparking. It was too cold to really enjoy, but I hadn’t tried the rainbow slides yet, so I eventually steeled myself enough to dash up there (there was no line, being cold and rainy and in between thunderstorms) and zip down the rainbow slide once and the Wall once, and then rush to get in the hot tub with the girls.
After putting in a frozen pizza for the kids’ lunch, Jason and I met back in the waterpark for a gigantic margarita and curly fries at the poolside bar, after which we took a lovely rainy-day nap.
Being our night to host dinner, Jason gallantly went to pick up barbecue while I beat the kids at Spoons several times. That night after dinner and bedtime, Angie came back to our condo for a spa and pedicure à la Lizzy, because, as Lizzy said, “Angie works really hard with the boys and deserves a spa.”
On Thursday we started in the indoor park, and at one point my four children all rode a four-person ride together, which warmed my mama heart and may have brought a little tear to my eye.
It was no longer rainy so after lunch we hit the outdoor park, where I rode the rainbow slides again, and the lazy river, and took some pictures before returning to the hot tub.
After a potluck dinner in Kevin’s condo, we took the kids to an indoor climbing structure that was so cool and extensive that they persuaded me to climb inside it myself.
The next morning was checkout, followed by the drive home in which I mostly slept in the backseat, unhelpful road tripper that I am, and that evening at home we had one last hurrah by watching the Olympics in our own living room while eating ice cream.
Thus ends the Millers’ epic Tennessee vacation, and pretty much ends our summer vacation, as we returned only two weeks before school starting.
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