Gulf Islands Waterpark

We spent Friday at the water park in Gulfport with my friend, Cindy Ellis and her kids. We have been in Mississippi for a year and a half now, and had not tried this place yet! Here are the kids - waiting for the park to open.
I was as excited as the kids were. I had not been on a water slide since high school. This place was great, even for toddlers. The "Lil' Pelican Bay" area was really big, and about knee deep for the little ones to wade around and swim.
I love Grant's pose - I didn't realize he was doing that until we got home and I saw the picture! The two on the back, behind Mary, are Brooke and Will, Cindy's kids. Brooke and Grant are the same age, and Will and Mary are close in age too.
Our little water-baby loved the wading area... until she slipped in accidentally! She spent most of the afternoon on my hip after that... not so fun for Mommy!
We had a scare before lunchtime. Ivan, our very confident "swimmer" (since learning to swim at his lessons just last week), begged to go into the wave pool without his life jacket on. I, thankfully, did not give in, as he is not a strong swimmer at all. He was upset, but obliged and waded out, waiting for the waves. I had Mary and Grant on "shore" with me, sitting in a chair (waves aren't their thing). I was watching Ivan bob around when all of a sudden, I see his blonde head get sucked over to one side and into the "lazy river" all by himself! I motioned for Cindy to watch Grant and carefully speed walked across to the lifeguard (still holding Mary)... I was trying to remain calm - he was in his life jacket! I said, "My five year old was just sucked into the lazy river, by himself... he's wearing a life jacket... I need someone to save him!" ... This all was so crazy... She sent someone over and then said, "I think someone already has him." Sure enough, a man had grabbed him and had carried him up to the shallow area where we were.

I hugged Ivan and asked if he had been scared. He replied, "Yeah, because I was getting water in my mouth. I tried to say, 'Help. Help,' but nobody was saving me!" I asked him, "Aren't you glad that you agreed to wear your life jacket?" He looked me right in the eye and said, "YES." Lesson learned. Safe Ivan. Relieved Mommy. Whew. Time for a break...

Here's our whole gang! We ate lunch at the cafe.' Next time, we'll eat BEFORE the main lunch hour. The line wait was so long, that Ivan was crying by the time I returned. "I'm so hungry, Mommy, and I didn't know when you were coming back!" (probably still a bit traumatized by the lazy river incident)
"Ring around the Rosie!"
Squishing Will for a photo-op!
They had a couple of toddler/kid-friendly slides in the Pelican Bay. Grant loved these slides!
Grant's favorite activity was crawling around on his belly, being a shark!
Ivan, our fearless kid, and Brooke, loved the bigger kid water slides. They thought it was pretty cool that they were tall enough to ride alone!
Here comes Ivan! By the end of the day, he was going head-first and trying to swim off the end of the slide.
"I've had enough of this sun and splashing!"
Ahhh, that's better! Mary was ready for her nap, so I sat in the shade with her and let the boys play with Cindy's family until it was time to go. It was a fun day, and everyone was exhausted and happy on the ride home.