Silverwood 2008

The trip started out very early for us. John loaded the Pilot up late the night before, and by 4:30 am on Wednesday morning we loaded the last of our stuff up, hustled the boys out of their beds and sped away by 5 am. In leaving early we hoped to avoid traffic issues in Seattle with morning commute, hoped that both boys would continue to sleep away some of the 7 hours we planned to be on the road, and hoped to limit the stops we had to make to keep the boys happy for the majority of our car time. It worked brilliantly. Cooper traveled like a champ, sleeping the majority of the trip (he's been fighting a nasty cold and needed some catch up, I guess) and watching DVD's and playing the short amount of time he was awake. Thomas did not go back to sleep, worrying us a bit. For the most part he was content to watch his tractor shows and Indiana Jones Cuke (his version of the Veggie Tales episode), then busied himself with the scenery, watching for dust devils and other items of interest John would throw out to him. We checked in with Mom and Company, and they were just getting up and around by the time we hit the pass. I knew then we wouldn't be meeting up with them to add some entertainment to our ride, but that was just as well as we were somewhat concerned about sharing the nasty colds that had traveled through our house. I needed some sleep as well. Our night was short as it was with 5 hours. Cooper had gotten up twice, though, making it even shorter for me. Thankfully, I was able to catch short naps here and there, which I knew would help for the long day ahead.
By the time we arrived, we were all more than happy to get out of the car and hit Triple Play. We were very excited to find out our rooms were perfectly assigned as we wanted. Without waiting for the others to make it into town, we headed into the pools and slides of Triple Play. For the rest of the day, we played, played and played some more. John was determined to pack as much activity and fun into this trip, no matter what. Late into the evening the kids swam and played. It was after 9 pm and they were racing around the track on go carts. These were no leisure trips around the track, either. This was "game on" and the rules about bumping did not apply to the Whipples and Vankemsekes. John and Billy made friends with the track attendants, who then allowed Drew to race his own car even though he isn't quite old enough, as well as extended our track time. Two young boys decided to challenge John one evening, and John took them to task, spinning them out twice. Needless to say, the boys were less than pleased with the old guys playing dirty back!
On Thursday we enjoyed breakfast as a whole family, then headed out for the grand adventure---Silverwood! We loaded the boys into our rig, jammed out to Cotton Eye Joe, Jock Jams and Who Let the Dogs out, and cheered all the way. At one point, Jake was yelling over and over, and Thomas leaned over to him and said, "Jake, you need to calm down!" We were so excited to finally be back. After a year of talking about it, reliving all our memories, and eager to see and do it all again, we were finally back! We could not keep the boys from Boulder Beach and we quickly headed to the private cabana we had rented for the day. It was a great decision to get this added luxury, as we had a home base for the day, a place to rest and store all our stuff while we went out and about. There were no lines while we played at the park, and barely anyone around at all. Dad took Jake over to Polliwog Park, Andrea took Grace down to the rides, and the boys headed into the wave pools. Cooper, Mom and I held down the fort, content to play with rocks and explore. By afternoon, we all headed back down to the main park to hit the rides down there. The biggest moment for me came when Thomas decided that he wanted to ride the big coasters. Although just tall enough to meet the height requirement, he's still only 4, still my little boy, still so small. Inside I was a bit sick. Outside I bit down my fear and smiled, encouraging him and telling him I would watch and cheer him on. Watching him head off down to the gate was difficult, yet thrilling at the same time. How was it that my little guy was big enough to ride with the big boys already? I don't even want to ride these roller coasters anymore, and Drew was still hesitant about it even at his age. He did it and loved it. He was so proud of himself. His first roller coaster at 4 years old and it was named Timber Terror. Next he wanted to ride Tremors. I almost drew the line here. As his mother, I have an obligation to protect him, right? Again, I looked to John, pressed down my worry, and watched them head off to the gates. Drew and Dad will not ride this ride. It's too much. I refuse to ride this one again. I just figured Thomas would cry and that would be it. Silly me! He made it through it like it was nothing, and came off it with the biggest smile on his face. We even bought the silly photo they take, just to have this memory forever! The look of terror on his face could not be recreated, though! We finished up with rides and headed back to enjoy the water park again. With closing time, we packed up, headed back to the hotel, then jumped back into the hot tubs and slides to play some more. It was hard to even stop to eat. Again, the boys were riding go carts late into the night!
The second day we started off staking our claim in an area out by Toddler Springs and took off for Avalanche Mountain-our favorite water ride ever! The crowds were more robust today, but we managed to pull mom into the tube and off we went. The weather was perfect, the kids had a blast and we pulled another long day out at the park. John was still determined to pack as much fun in as possible, so we were up until late that night riding go carts and riding the waves of Triple Play. What a blast we had!