Waterslide 2012

It is a much anticipated day.  Waterslide Day at Grandpa Arlin's house.  It is now in its 4th year of existence and our waterslide continues to improve each year.  A modification here.  A modification there.  We've got it set up so that only fun prevails!  In the past we've camped overnight, but not this year.  It was hot and we all enjoy sleeping in our own beds.  

First order of business, after eating our cinnamon rolls, is to roll out the plastic.  

The girls opted to play with the tubes while the plastic was being rolled out.

Ephraim was the first one down!  It took a few turns to get the slide all watered up and slick!

Seriously.  That's the look of pure fun.

Not a care in the world, other than slipin' and slidin'.  

The tubes were new this year (got them on clearance for $1) and they were fun!

Eden would often lose her snowboard and end up going down on her belly or bottom.  Not exactly a smooth ride!

Eliza loved the tubes, too.

Can you not smile when you see his smile?

Eliza was zipping right along!

There was a bit of a bump when you first come off the ramp at the top of the slide.  This picture captured Ephraim's reaction to that bump.

Screaming for joy!

Just a leisurely trip down the slide!

Trying out one of the mini rafts.  Love it!

Running back up the hill for another trip down.

Sitting pretty.

Whoa!  She lost her board at the top and she'd going down head first.  Getting a bit more brave with each trip down.

Showing off for the camera!

Just relaxing.

Smiling for mama!

Finally, Daddy gets a turn once all the kinks are worked out.  

Eliza and Daddy on the tube.

Taking a break for lunch and having fun shooting grapes with the air pumpers.

The kids adore their Uncle Paul.  He is fun and pretty cool.

Trying to put a spin on the tube.

He makes it look so easy and effortless.

Zooming on down.

A look from the bottom of the slide to the top.

Wiping out at the bottom.

Oh, no.  Now who's coming down.  

Seth and I trying to come down on an inner tube . . .

. . . and we lose the tube.  I didn't really notice the change but Seth sure did :)

At the top of the slide we have the hoses that are pumping water from the pond.  It worked best if  you filled up your tube with water before taking off.

Cousins Mark and John joined us after a while.  Here's one of John going down.

My observant readers will notice that the girls changed swimsuits after lunch.

Somehow, if Eden was on her board, she had perfect posture.

We had to stop often for sunscreen applications.  I did not want my children to experience sunburn.  The end result was that I was the only one who was sunburnt, but at least it wasn't the children.  

We made another modification in the afternoon:  the umbrella for shade.    Look out, here comes Grandpa.

Enjoying a much needed day of rest and fun with family.

Some of the time, the children would anxiously wait at the bottom for an adult to come down and splash them.  Seth and Grandpa made the best waves.

Look out below!

The kids and Grandpa had a hoot dancing in the yard.  Supposedly it was a rain dance, but we all know who controls the weather :)  God and God alone.

Eliza playing a tune on her guitar. 

"Push me, Uncle Paul.  And don't tickle me."

Concentrating on his "getting in the tube" technique.

A look from the top of the slide.

Ephraim playing the "tuba."

Riding two at a time on the snowboard.  We only did this a time or two.  After that, I went down a lot with the kids on my back.

Brothers racing.  Or trying to race.

Father and Son.  Emmet was smiling from ear to ear.  All day.

Eliza going down with Uncle Paul.

And that concludes Saturday on the waterslide.  It was so much fun, we couldn't limit it to just one day.  We went back Sunday afternoon and brought some friends with us.  Stay tuned for those pictures.  

Sorry there are a lot of pictures, but it was too hard to eliminate very many of them.  So many of them capture the children's look of pure joy.  The look of pure happiness.  The look of being loved and cared for.  The look of having family to spend time with.  

The best part of all--there were no lines for the waterslide and we could go down as many times as we wanted.  

Staycations can be fun.  The sore muscles were worth it.