Hello everyone! The Summer season is HERE! As you can tell by my
Bucket List, we are going to have an awesome summer!! 3 other Bloggy Friends and I are venturing into a weekly series starting today, all about our towns! Mine will be a bit interesting as we spend our weeks up in Northern Illinois (Rockford), Monday through Thursday for my husbands job and then the weekends are spent out in Geneva, IL where I am from and a town we truly love. To add more into the Mix, we have 5 different memberships to Zoos, Museums, Planetariums and Aquariums all in Chicago hahaha! Oh and did I mention we just returned from
Wisconsin Dells, the Water Park Capital of the World?? Stay Tuned every Saturday as we all explore different things to do in our town and who knows, we may inspire you to come on down and visit us!
Michelle from Michelle's Charm World (YAY ME!)
Today we are going to start out in Rockford, Illinois. Our local water park has just opened and it's been BUSY! (All these 90* days may have something to do with it!) and we are big fans of
Magic Waters, this is definitely a park for the big kids, but there is so much to do for my smaller ones too! Water parks are HUGE and scary places, but we've got the routine down pat, that I often take my kids about 5 or 6 times throughout the Summer and this justifies yet another Membership in our file. This is a major convenience as we live 5 minutes at most from here! Yay! They allow you to bring in your own food, which is a major bonus, since you can only have so much fried food in the sun! Gah!
There are 3 definite areas for little ones and maybe 1 or 2 more, depending on their skill level. They have a baby park that is strictly for kids under 5 and the water is only ankle deep on my oldest. I like to start out at this area, because it warms the kids up to the water AND keeps the pushy big kids away for a bit. Do you ever notice how many kids just forget their manners and push and shove little ones? My 3 year old got pushed down a water slide before he was ready and came down stomach first, good thing I was at the bottom and waiting, but you better bet that I grabbed a life guard and told him about the older child as soon as mine was safe. (Good thing was that the lifeguard witnessed it all!).
There is a small slide area that the kids enjoy and is never too crowded! The water is always kept at a pleasurable temperature and the music varies from oldies to today's across the board hits and I love that!
Singing along with the Beach Boys one minute and then it runs right into Lady Gaga the next! haha! (Don't worry, they keep the songs family friendly!)
Even though we packed our own lunch, doesn't mean we can't have a snack! The one downfall to Magic Waters, is that their food is very expensive, I don't mind buying every now and then, but it gets to be a damper in the day when you see the receipt! It would really rust my nails if I had paid to get in (membership) and then had to pay that much for food after that! Talk about crazy!
My kids HANDS DOWN, love the giant bucket that drops down gallons and gallons of water along with the pop jets! They could easily stay in this area all day long. (So could mommy!) The entire park is dotted with chairs everywhere and tables and even cabana rentals, which make for a fantastic day of not having to search for seats, even though we move areas constantly. (Bring a stroller, because even though my kids don't use it, I put all my bags and towels in it! haha)
At the end of a long day, the best part for Mom? All the kids are sleepy and ready for a lazy evening! What could be better than that? Thanks so much for joining us and I hope you will be back again often!
Come on and join us! Snag our button and link up! Don't forget to put the button in your post and to also visit your hostesses! Enjoy the Summer!
Friday Morning 7am at our Garage Sale:
Bucket list #25 is in action on this cold and rainy day! It's supposed to keep warming up, so let's hope it sticks with that thought and decides not to get any colder! haha!! I parked them into the far back of the garage where they could keep warm and also stay out of the rain! They surprisingly made some decent money in here!
12 noon and we have moved outside with the stand! The kids are still having a blast, but have decided that taking turns at the small table may work best! I had to frisk my daughter as she left, because she was keeping all the quarters of the lemonade glasses that she sold! hahha!! I told her it all goes into 1 pot divided 3 ways at the end of the weekend and I don't think she was too thrilled on that!
One tip that I read in a local paper was to put a donation jar at your lemonade stand, many people won't want the lemonade, but will throw in a dime or 2 just to help out the kids! It worked out really well so far. It's 12:45 and we've been open about 4.5 hours and the donation jar has about 6.00 in it! People are really sweet to little kids and I love that!
1pm and we are over halfway done! Looks like I have to make up a new batch at lunch time for the second half of the day! The best parts of this entire experience so far have been the kids learning about money and giving change and measurements when mixing the lemonade too. They are also learning about sharing, when they take turns behind the table. So many lessons to be learning in such a small task and of course fun is being had by all!
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