You may remember last week I was writing about our Grandmommy, Mommy and Kiera Day. Well, here is the rest of the story.
As we left TSO, I had to make a quick trip to the bank. Kiera piped up from the back seat, “Are we going back to work?”
“No, baby. Mommy has to run to the bank and then we are on our way to Stephenville to go play at the water park.” I patiently explained.
After a quick trip through the bank drive thru, I decided the best thing for us to do was eat lunch in the car on the way to Stephenville. I pulled into the mall parking lot, only to hear a groan come from the back seat. “We are never going to get there!” Kiera exclaimed impatiently. I convinced her that we were going to be on our way and she opted to stay in the car with Grandmommy while I made our lunch run.
After getting our food, we were finally on our way. With only a couple of “Are we there yets?” we made it to Stephenville in good time.As we pulled into the parking lot of Splashville, Kiera’s eyes lit up. Mom and I gathered up our bags and made our way to the entrance with a bouncing Kiera. While we paid the entrance fee, Kiera spotted the measuring tape on the wall and ran to it.
“Am I big enough for the big rides?” She asked while bouncing.
One of the Splashville employees took her aside and measured her. He nodded his head to indicate that she was indeed tall enough and pulled out an orange band to place on her wrist. “I’m big enough for the big rides!” She yelled excitedly.
Once we had changed into our swimsuits and I had reminded Kiera not to run, which I wound up repeating many, many more times, we headed to the toddler section. Kiera played in the six-inch water and went down the slide a couple of times. We were literally only in that section long enough for me to take a couple of pictures and then she was ready to move on.
We walked around to the “big kid” slides. Now, there are two slides. One is a blue slide that loops around maybe once. The yellow slide is a higher level and loops around two times. Kiera was practically floating by this time and she was on dry ground.
Mom stationed herself in the water at the bottom of the slides. I walked up the stairs with Kiera, just to make sure she was ready to hurl herself down. She didn’t bat an eye. The lifeguard stationed at the slides motioned her forward and without any hesitation she plopped on her bottom and off she went.
I looked over the railing in time to see her pop out at the bottom, go under the water and pop back up. The lifeguard stationed at the bottom of the slides gently grabbed her and directed her to my mom. I could see Kiera’s grin from where I was standing.
I made my way down and met her at the pool steps. “I want to go again!” she said.
I told her she could and decided to take up a spot by Mom at the bottom of the slides. From where we stood in the water, we could see her bound up the two flights of stairs to the big, yellow slide.
“Oh my goodness. “ I said and cringed. Just like before, she popped out of the end of the slide, but this time she was squealing in delight. She flew off the end, went under the water and popped back up, her face radiating with happiness.
I grabbed her and guided her back to the pool steps. “I want to go again!” she said.
And so it began. She would go down one of the slides, I would guide her back to the steps and say, “Which slide are you going down now? Blue or yellow?” She would pick and then I it was my turn to say, “Ok. Remember, don’t run. Just walk.”
I repeated that phrase…every…single…time. When I say every single time, I’m not talking like two or three times. I’m not even talking like ten or fifteen. That child went down those slides so many times, Mom and I lost count.
I finally decided she needed a break from the slide fun when I asked her which slide she wanted to go down and she replied with “Which one did I just come down?”
Our next venture was the ropes course. Basically, you try and balance on floating objects while holding on to the rope above you and continue across without losing your balance and falling in the water.
I helped her on to the first floating object and backed away as she maneuvered her way across. The lifeguard that was on duty was the same lifeguard that had been on duty when she first started out on the slides.
He watched her and said, “Wow. She is fearless! I saw her going down the slides and now trying this! How old is she?”
“She’s four.” I responded with a smile and a hint of pride.
Mom and I managed to coax her into just playing in the water for a bit before tackling the slides again. Kiera deemed my poor mom as the perfect horse to taxi her back and forth across the water.
Finally, after a much needed break and snack, I let her head back to the “big kid” slides. Over and over and over she would slide down and into the water and pop back up with a huge smile.
At one point, we looked over at the stairs leading to the slide. “Where is she?” My mom asked.
I pointed her out at the bottom of the stairs. As we watched, she leaned down over the first step and put her hands on it. She then stepped up and put her hands on the second step and proceeded to do that until she reached the first level, practically dragging herself up the stairs.
We knew at that point, she was worn out, considering the first billion times she went up those stairs it was as fast as she could possibly go without running.
This time, as she popped out, I pulled her close and said, “Honey, it’s almost time to go. Ok?”
I expected a breakdown. She had not had a nap and she had been going for almost three hours. I was prepared for tears.
“Ok.” She responded.
“Umm..well..ok. You can go down four more times and then we are going to leave.”
She grinned at me and headed for the stairs. When it was her last turn, she asked if I would go with her. I agreed and we made our way out of the pool. As we headed for the stairs to the slides, she looked off to her right and continued to look to the right. I was several steps behind her and saw the wooden pole that was directly in her path.
“Kiera!” I yelled. “Kiera! Look out, baby!”
My warning was too late. She turned back just in time to walk headlong into the wooden pole. I felt so bad. She actually bounced off it. I quickly gathered her in my arms where she whimpered for just a minute.
I leaned back and checked her head. She had a tiny, red spot. She looked up at me and said, “Can we still go down the slide?” Ah, got to love her priorities.
We managed to get down the slide and back to the changing room with no other incidents.
We stopped at a restaurant for a quick bite to eat before heading home. As we were finishing eating, Kiera stood up from the table and started to walk away.
“Woah!” I said. “Where do you think you are going?”
Now, I knew the “big kid” thing would come back to haunt me at some point, I just didn’t realize how quickly it would happen.
Kiera straightened her shoulders and took a step back as if to prepare for a battle. “I AM A BIG KID!” She stated vehemently. “I am big enough to ride the big kid rides that means I am big enough to go to the bathroom by myself!”
Oh…dear…heavens. Thankfully, my mom stepped up and said, “Oh, you know what? I need to go to the bathroom too. I’ll just go with you.”
Kiera smiled and accepted Mom’s outstretched hand and they walked off to the bathroom. Thank heavens for Mom/Grandmommy. Otherwise, I am sure I would have been walking to the bathroom with an irate Kiera while she proclaimed all the ways that she was a “big kid.”
Eventually, we began the trip home. Kiera made it a whole five minutes from the restaurant before falling asleep. We hadn’t even made it out of Stephenville city limits.
Of course, Mom and I weren’t much better. Once we made it home and placed a still sleeping Kiera in bed, it wasn’t long before we said our good nights and headed to bed.
I can, without a doubt, chalk the day up to a very successful Grandmommy, Mommy and Kiera day.
