Our trip to the Schlitterbahn. The good, bad, ugly.

I took the kids, mother, niece, nephew, and great niece to Galveston on Saturday. Mother drove. I had free tickets courtesy of US Family Guide Bloggers program. USFG provided 4 free tickets to the Schlitterbahn for participation in the campaign. The babies ( Kalen and the great niece) was free and my mother paid for my nephew a ticket.

We left the house around 10ish. Made a few stops along the way and got to the Schlitterbahn about 2ish. Note: I bought me and the kids, flip flops to walk around the park with and to get on rides with. Keep this in mind later. The park had a 50% off on all items in the stores with exceptions. I got a bag and a money holder  for $12ish. We then went to Wasserfest to the kiddie area. The water was 1 ft deep.  Kalen, Riah, and Brad had fun splashing. The niece and nephew got in Torrent river and left us until it was time to leave. Torrent River is a faster-paced lazy river.

My mother and I wanted a change of scenery, so we went to SurfenBurg, another area of the water park. My mother and great niece got a double raft (yellow with a kids seat) and went down the slower lazy river, named Kristal River. Kristal River goes around most of the park. I, like a dummy, decided to try to get Brad to go in the river. Kristal river is connected to a lot of the attractions in SurfenBurg and Blastenhoff, another area of the park. We entered the river, near the big wave pool, i think it was a wave pool, near the entrance.

Brad did not want to go in the water, but a few inches at a time. I should have listened to him. I thought he can handle the river since it was slower than torrent. I should have looked at the map. There was a conveyor system in the river, which required people to be seated in the raft. I was wrong. I got a double raft. Kalen and I on one side. Brad, on the other side. Everything was going good in the beginning, but then Brad started jumping and trying to do with the other "normal" crazy people was doing. He wanted to sit in the raft. He wanted to lay across the raft. So, I moved towards the edge of the pool to hold the edge, if Brad was doing too much. I also forgot Brad wears depends. This would have been a good situation to try out another product, I got for review, but I left it at home. Brad was trying to take off his depends on the water. Never drink the water at a water park, in a water ride or lazy river.

We did get out so we can throw away his depends. Should have stayed out. but Brad got back in the water on his own, with the raft, without my help. We moved around the river again. Until I saw that sign for the conveyor. Then something changed, Brad took complete control. The river was 3 ft deep. I am 5'2. Brad is 5'2. My feet was not touching the ground. Remember, I said, I was staying close to the edge to control the raft more, since I was carrying two special needs packages with me. I, somehow moved to the middle of the river. I had no grip. My flip flops failed me. My mind went panicky. I was praying. I was screaming. I was crying. The current was stronger and Brad was pulling me. I could not get control of him. I was scared for me and my baby. I had to get the life guards to pull all three of us out of the water. Not letting my son drown us all. Kalen was already half sleep. I can't swim. I love lazy rivers, but next time, no kids. They got Kalen first. They got me next. Took two guards to get Brad out. He was like a wriggly fish. Hurried up and climbed the nearest steps and into the restaurant above the lazy river. They sold alcohol but I did not buy any. I got the kids something to eat and calmed my nerves down. We did not get on anything else after that.

I got Brad some wings and I got me a salad. Kalen ate from both of us. Then, we stopped for ice cream. Brad got a bowl of chocolate. Kalen and I had a loaded funnel cake. Funnel cake, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and strawberry cheese cake ice cream.

Oh yeah, Back to the flip flops. Brad's flip flops went down lazy river, after they got us out. Brad also brought his backpack into the river. He did not want to give up the bag into the locker, so everything got soaked. Had to throw away about 6 depends, because they gained some weight lol. By this time, my mother found us. She had been looking for us for an hour. I did not know that lazy river ordeal took that long. I was ready to go home , but we had to find the niece and nephew first. The kids and I, went and got a icee. If you bought the collectible cup, you get free icees all day. Then, we went to the tables in Surfenberg, by the entrance. The same place, where I had the great idea to take Brad and Kalen down a slower paced lazy river. We eventually found the missing relatives and we got in the car and left.

We went to find a hotel for the night. It was around 6pm. I told my mother to take  us home, but nooooooo she had to listen to my niece and nephew. They wanted to stay at some hotel (they didn't know the name of) from the last time they went. I was googling prices of hotels. One hotel wanted 245 dollars for one night. We ended up at the Victorian Condo and hotel (not sure if the last part is right). It was a nice room. One bedroom suite, with twin bed in the hallway, and a pull-out couch. My niece slept in the pull-out. Nephew slept on a chair with a footrest or the twin in the hallway.  Mother slept on the pull-out. I slept in the bedroom. I was trying to sleep on the twin with just Kalen, but Brad was not having that. So, I swapped with my mother for the bedroom.

Kalen fell out the bed, while I was sleep. He is ok, but he was crying for a long time. Took a while to calm him down. Brad kept kicking me. Definitely see why I finally got him another bed.

Sometime between checking in and going to sleep, We ended up at Denny's. Kids eat free between some time and 10pm. 4 kids ate for free. yay. The staff was friendly and helpful. Back to hotel for sleeping and drying wet clothes on the balcony. Got up Sunday Morning. Did some sightseeing. Got on the ferry. Golden Corral. Saw my favorite attraction. The port with the Carnival Magic in site. Dropped nephew off with his mother. Headed home. Made a few more stops. Finally home. Lots of rain today.

Will I take my kids to a waterpark again? Not right now. If I do, kiddie area only. I also heard about splash pads in one of my special needs groups. I have more pics coming, but today's pics have not uploaded to Google yet. They are on facebook though.