Water Park and Talent Show

A week ago, Amelia and her camp mates went on a field trip to Nashville Shores, a local water park. Parents were allowed to come and since I promised myself to not just work this summer but also take time to go on a special adventure with the children, this was the perfect outing to skip out of work early. 

The first part of the day, Amelia and I stayed with her group and the children explored the water playground and we did the most popular slide, The TN Twister. 

Amelia and her friends from the Y Camp:

Then it was already lunch time and after that, I signed Amelia out and we two went on our own around the water park. 

Due to the fact my my girl is tiny, she was not allowed on a couple of slides, but that did not prevent her from trying all the other slides. I was amazed how brave and fearless this little one is when it comes to water slides. Some of these rides, were pretty high up and steep. 

For example, this slide: 

We also braved the Wave Pool: 

And then relaxed in the Lazy River: 

Most of the children actually floated around the river without the tube, which made them twice as fast as sitting in a tube. 

It was a very hot day and even though we were in the water, an ice-cream break was a must:

This is obviously not us, but Amelia and I did this crazy ride, called The Scream (for a good reason), and it was as insane as it looks. We only did it once as my neck snapped back and was hurting a bit afterwards (a common thing among adults I heard afterwards) but it still was a thrill. 

Amelia also tried the Lily Pad Crossover and while she hardly could reach the rope, she mastered the parkour on her own on her second try. 

Here is a little clip of my daredevil. On the slide, she is in the left lane. She was quite slower than the bigger kids or adults since the bigger and heavier you are on this ride, the faster you go. 

What a fun day we both had. We stayed for 7 hours at the park and were surely exhausted by the time we left. In the end, it got quite tiring dragging those tubes up the stairs. But the memories will last forever!

This week was Amelia's last week of Camp and the YMCA finished their Summer Adventure with a bang: A Talent Show. The children were practicing hard during these past two weeks and I was astonished that Amelia decided to perform a song all by herself in front of 50+ children and a few adults. For a few nights at home, she performed it for me and showed me all the movements but then on stage, she just twirled. I guess stage fright set in and she just loved twirling in the dress she chose on her own to wear that day. 

Pep Talk from her teachers: 

An then it was my little star's turn to shine: 

She performed "A Million Dreams" from the Movie The Greatest Showman. Unfortunately, the microphone was not functioning but you do can hear her sing pretty well:

Her group also performed a silly Banana Song: 

A last hug and a thank you to Ms. Kathy for such a fun summer: 

And with that, there are only two weeks left until school starts off again and we will have a Second grader in the house. Thus, we will try and make the most of our last days of summer break and squeeze in as many fun things as we can.