What a blessing to have this family...
These are some photos that I turned into watercolors. Though they are small here...I am having them blown up and then I will work on painting over them with clear to give it true texture and brush strokes. I will stretch them over a canvas to give as gifts for Mother's (that includes some for me too!) and Father's Day! It's a great and easy project I have done for several friends as gifts too.
The next morning we headed back to the water park. It was deserted and we had the run of the place. We loved the lazy river and where Jay and I spent most of the time relaxing while we watched the girls play. They had these cute dolphin "carts" that you could sit on and ride the river. They were really fun!
There was also a water playground that the girls enjoyed greatly! They had these cute squirting elephants. Jay and I both got squirted in this picture!
It also had these run mushrooms that sprayed water. Virginia enjoys hiding behind the wall of water...like a giant umbrella!
This side of the hotel also had a dunker bucket...but not nearly as big as the one in our hotel. But, it was super fun and the girls and Jay enjoy a splash!
There was a neat little rain tunnel that reminded me of a mini car wash. The girls loved running through it back and forth.
The water slides were so much fun!! They were adult and kid sized so that we could ride them with the girls. There were two slides...one that had a huge curve and the other had a big drop...both very fun!
We had a great time and really was grateful that we found such a neat hotel that had so many fun things to do!
On Wednesday, we hit the beach! The weather was wonderful and the sun was shining. We got out early that morning and enjoyed the day hanging out. We rented one of those cabanas and just relaxed all day. It wasn't too hot...or cool so we really enjoyed walking on the beach and collecting shells.
Here are the girls. Yes, I LOVE my hats. There is nothing better to me on the beach (or in Africa) than a great hat. Mine didn't make it very well in the travel, but I absolutely love it. In Africa they made fun constantly of my hats...but it makes for fewer wrinkles...I hope!
Jay and his girls dig to find sand fleas and shells. They found out some and it made for a fun afternoon of caring for sand fleas and little "shell guys" that bury themselves in the sand. My girls LOVE animals and caring for them.
Though the water was cold, it didn't keep the girls from playing in the waves!
Anli made many trips to the water trying to make a mote for her sand castle. She was determined!
The girls wanted to be buried in the sand, so they got to work. They dug a large trench that they could both sit side by side in.
This was the finished project! Anli was a turtle and Virginia was a mermaid. They are sooo cute together. They stayed in this for about 15 minutes just laughing and giggling together. Since Anli's shell was large...it was funny to watch her try to wriggle out!
That night we headed over to Planet Hollywood for our favorite Deep Fried Lasagna! It was really fun and wonderful food. But, we were too stuffed for dessert...
So we headed to Broadway at the Beach. It is a wonderful place with fun shops, great restaurants, and a great Nostalgic Pavilion where they have old rides and funnel cakes. It was great to walk around in the great weather.
There were lots of fun things to do and shops to look at. We sampled fudge and played on the dinos.
We also stopped to feed the fish! The girls loved to see the little ducks and fish swarm the food we bought to give them.
A trip to Broadway at the Beach wouldn't be complete without a stop at Ben and Jerry's Ice cream place. We took the girls here over 5 years ago when we came here as a family for the first time.
Anli and I got my favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor...Phish Food! It's the BEST!!! Do you see the scrapes all over Anli's nose and lip? She dove down in the lazy river to catch her daddy and scrapped the bottom! She was a trooper and never skipped a beat! She's amazingly tough.
We went back to the hotel and got ready to hit the indoor pool again! We never stopped all week...but I'll share more about that tomorrow!
Virginia enjoys some water falls. It was like a rainforest!
Anli goes through a little car wash kind of tunnel. It shoots out water from all angles with dunking buckets tipping over all along the openings in the tunnel. All the water was heated (except the water slides...brrrr) so it was really wonderful to play in the warm water and not be freezing!
This was the silly sub that was full of water spouts and shooters all over the place! It was really fun to play in...and get soaked!
Here is one of the 3 pools at our side of the hotel. This one was very popular since it had the basketball goal. We played lots of basketball games while we were there! Virginia was really good and wanted to be "shooting" all the time. Sorry this is dark...but it was close to 10pm at the time. If you look to the upper right of the photo you see these large plastic chess and checker sets. They were so much fun! My girls love to play checkers...and the fact you can do it in your swim suit is even better. 
Daddy and Virginia pop out of the silly sub to say a quick hello! That smile says it all!
Anli prepares for the dunking bucket! It was a challenge to try to figure out when it would tip over.
I didn't actually mean to take this photo in b/w but it's one of my favorites! Just look at the expression on the girl's face behind Virginia...priceless! It was the most fun place to stay...I highly recommend it for families with kids who can swim...because it is one fun thing after another.
This was just our FIRST two hours here at the hotel. This is just our SIDE of the hotel...wait until you see the other side...amazing!
I'll update all week on our days there because it's way too much for one blog. God is overwhelmingly good to us. We have had bumps and hard times just like everyone else, but we are constantly in jaw dropping awe of how much He gives to us. To be able to spend such a special week with my family is bringing me to tears right now...I can't thank God enough for this family He has given me and the closeness that we enjoy. We are closer now than I could have ever imagined...because of those bumps!
This weekend we had a blast! We started off Friday with a picnic at Kidstock with just the family and we then headed to Sonic for a sweet dessert and crashed in the bed after so much exercise at the park. All of us spent time swinging, climbing (Jay raced Virginia to the top of this HUGE tower), basketball, and enjoying the wonderful weather! Anli met 5 new friends and they hung out together the whole time...ah, it begins.
Right after the game we just walked across the parking lot to the Spring Fling held by Noonday's Academy. It was their fundraising event that was a BLAST! They had inflatables, games, face painting and lots of things to buy!
Here Virginia enjoys the giant soccer game...she scored a goal! Well, it's really just taking shots at the goal...but she loved it!
Lilly, Anli, and Virginia Grace had a "bus" race...aren't they the cutest?
The artist at work... 
She even made a pretty cross for me!
Anli gets her face painted..she got an apple on one cheek and a cherry on the other!
Anli works on her sand art skills too!
