One fish, two fish...

I will, for my entire life, be a lover of all things Disney. Walt Disney World IS the Happiest Place on Earth. No question. However, the Anheuser Busch company is freakin amazing. We are very fortunate to live close to not one, but TWO AB Adventure Parks and they do this AWESOME thing...they give all military families (up to 4 people) free admission to one of their parks every year. On top of that, they give it to families whose Active Duty servicemember is deployed or serving overseas. A lot of companies don't give military discounts to spouses when that's the case. Don't get me started. Total discrimination. Anyway...

Today I took the kiddles to one of the water parks near where we live. I had been there once before, when I was all of 15 with one of my girlfriends and her parents. I didn't remember anything about this park, least of all what they had to offer little children. I seem to recall being only interested in scoping out cute boys in Billabong shorts. I digress...we met my girlfriend and her two little girls there and spent the day in the water. The weather was perfect (and that RARELY happens around here in June)...85 degrees, zero humidity (sorry, Honey). I thought that Devyn and Aiden might balk at the big slides and choose to hang out by the kids activities and the wave pool. I. Was. Wrong. We spent the afternoon riding things called "Big Daddy Falls" and the "Aquazoid" and the "Malibu Pipeline". The floats were honestly bigger than Aiden...so you can imagine my sheer glee at seeing his Big Sister helping him carry his up the steps AND carrying hers at the same time. It touched me in such a huge way...she's always gone out of her way to look after him and make sure he's ok, but to see her barely maneuvering hers and then to see her take his on as well...well, it just about made me crumble on the spot. On top of that, both of them ended the day with going on the "Hubba Hubba Highway" with my girlfriend's daughter, who's also seven years old. Now, upon first inspection, this appears to be your everday, normal, calm lazy river ride. And then....no. The kids went in while I watched from the sideline and as they were coming around the last bend, I said "Ok...time to hop out". Of course I got the "Noooo. It's so coooool. We want to stay innnnnn". I disagreed and told them to get out at the exit that was coming up. I walked over to the zero entry exit to get them and there was not a sign of my two little fish and friend. I tend not to panic in those situations--well, not immediately panic anyway. I looked around (there's only one way out) and looked, and looked some more, only to come to two possiblities: they got out and I didn't see them and have disappeared, or they went around again. I decided to go with the second option, as the first one would put me into an absolute tailspin or panic. So I got into the water at the exit and waited. Five minutes goes by and my heart was beating faster now...and then, then I see this little girl about the same size as Devyn struggling against the current to get out. It should be noted that there are no floats in this particular ride--just you, your life jacket and yourself walking or floating in the current. I figured it out then--and just as I managed to breathe again, there come four little bobing heads with the MOST freaked out looks on their faces and all at once they see me and yell, "WE'RE SORRY"! As I pulled them out, they recounted to me how they all let go of each others hands to get out the first time and then the current maneuvered them back in. Devyn was most upset. She told me that she had let go of Aiden's hand to grab the wall and looked back and saw him floating away. She let go of the wall to go grab him and the current took them both. She looked me dead in the eye with more conviction than I've ever seen in her and said, "Mama, I HAD to get Aiden. I'd do anything to keep him safe! I'd give my own life for him Mama. I'm his big sister, that's what I'm supposed to DO". She floored me in that moment. I hugged her and told her it wasn't going to come to that, but I'm glad she looked out for him so much. Then, HE came to me and said "Mama, I couldn't protect Devyn! I'm so sorry Mama". Seriously, how did I get so blessed as to have these precious children? I remember thinking when I was pregnant with Aiden that I just hoped they would like each other even just a little bit. Wow...I'm so glad and thankful that it's more than that. That seemed a pretty good time to end our day there. We walked back to the Kritter Korral (yes, with TWO K's) and the kids played a bit while we got our belongings together and left the park, happier and wetter than when we arrived. I love days like that...ones you wish you could relive a million times over. There's a day like that coming sooner than later...it's called Homecoming.

Beyond that, the day was wonderful, exhausting, exhilirating and exhausting. We are all worn out, but will happily sleep the night away. Oh, and Mike, the kids now know that the park is open through the end of September...and they have deemed it necessary that you go next. Aiden says "Daddy needs to go to Big Daddy Falls"!

On a side note, we have completed four months of this deployment. 120 days, 16 weeks. In some ways, it seems SO much longer and in others, it seems like it's flown...if the next 100 will go as quickly, that would be lovely. The four of us are four months stronger, four months more resolved, four months more tired of being incomplete and four months more in love with each other. Three to go...three...