Astroworld & Splashtown 2005

My SIL called me Friday morning and told me to pack the kids up we are going to Astroworld. Alex decided that he didn't want to go and since my Mom was off for the weekend he stayed with her. So I got on the computer and looked up cheap hotels within a short driving distance to 6-flags. We stayed at the Econo Lodge Medical Center for $59.36 a night for 2 nights. The room was perfect. It had a little refrigerator/freezer, microwave, iron & ironing board. The a/c worked great! The max per room is only 5 so we lied about the number of children (3 instead of 4), it's not something I'm particularly proud about. I printed out our confirmation & then got directions at mapquest. The directions were perfect.

We left my house at 2pm and arrived in Houston right at 7:30. It usually doesn't take so long to get there, but we had about an hour traffic jam when we hit Lake Charles due to a pretty bad accident. When we arrived in Houston, we checked into the hotel then hurried to the park so the kids could ride for about an hour and would not be so wound up after the long trip. Afterwards we stopped at Krogers and bought food and water. We froze the water to take into the park. The park says no food or drink allowed, but as long as you don't take a icechest into the park and only minimal amount of stuff (we just took some animal crackers, grapes and 5 frozen waters for the twins) the security does not say anything. We do buy food & drinks in the park, but sometimes the twins just do not eat what is available so I always carry stuff that I know they will eat.

Saturday was devoted to Splashtown. We got there right at opening time,which is noon, and were able to get lifejackets for all the kids. I loved the infant life jackets that they had. Shelby took right to the water and loved floating. Kurt preferred to stand, but would float if he could cling to you as well. We started out in hurricane bay, then went to an area where the water was at the most a foot deep (I can't find a link) where Mary-Jo, Kurt and Shelby could slide and play in the water without being afraid. Kurt especially loved this area because he could walk around instead of float. Shelby got a little irked that she couldn't float anymore, but enjoyed sliding. There was a 900 ft river that surrounded this area that was 3 feet deep and continually flowed. Shelby loved floating around this and so every so often I would take her and go float around a couple of times.

Mary-Jo only got out of my sight once during this day. We were in the 1 foot deep kiddie area so it was separated from the rest of the park, but it's still scary when you lose your child. Cynthia rode the big kid water rides with her Aunt Darlene. She stayed behind with her Aunt Darlene while Mary-Jo, Kurt, Shelby and I went back to the room around 4pm for a nap. They fell asleep in the stroller on the way out of the park and could scarcely sit up while I changed them into their dry clothes before putting them into their carseats. The stroller seats were wet, otherwise I would have changed them before we left the waterpark. When we got back to the room, however, it was like they had a second wind because it was almost 6pm before they fell asleep. They woke around 7:30 and we headed back to the park so they could ride the Looney Toon Town rides. On our next trip I hope to be able to take Mary-Jo on some of the more thrill-seeking rides. She just reached the 42" mark on this trip and was so excited to ride some of the more exciting rides, but thankfully was just as okay with riding the baby rides with Kurt and Shelby.

Sunday was dedicated to the Astroworld side of the park. Aunt Darlene and Cynthia went off and rode the big kid rides again while I had Mary-Jo, Kurt and Shelby. We had planned to meet at 2pm to eat, but by 1pm Kurt and Shelby were telling me "eat, eat" so we stopped and got some nachos with shredded lettuce and a cheese pizza (about $11.00 which was all I had with me). Then we went back and rode a couple more of the kiddie rides until Darlene and Cynthia met up with us. We went to the Circo Magnifico show. Kurt and Shelby were so good and clapped for all the acrobatic feats. I was surprised that they sat through the whole show.

We left the park at 4pm and headed home. Kurt and Shelby took their afternoon nap and didn't wake until we reached Lake Charles. Then we stopped and had a pamper change break. We arrived at my house at 8:25pm. The babies only fussed for the last 10 minutes of the ride home. The rest of the time they would sing songs and watch the DVD movies. It was a great trip!