The Slide

Last weekend we went with my dad's family to Fairmont Hotsprings Resort in the glorious state of Montana. It't been the hot spot for our family reunions for years. I remember going when I was younger. The pools were gloriously warm. The 90' waterslide TOTALLY rocked. The hotel was always an adventure for "exploring." Good times were had at Fairmont. This year was no exception. We had so much fun. We had a suite so my immediate family could all stay together. Alyssa and Evan had mixed feeling about that at times. For the most part, it was fabulous that they could run from room to room playing games, jumping on the beds with Grandpa, throwing their beach balls in the house. There was only one or two times when one of them wouldn't allow the other in to their "my" room. Funny kids. On Sunday we spent almost the entire day in the pool. We bought the all day slide pass and intended to get full use out of it. (Ya know, let's just slip in a little linky-link to the slide. Check that out. It's fabulous.)We take Alyssa to the top, geared up in her little hot pink life jacket. All the while she's saying she doesn't want to go, and all the while we're lying to her telling her she doesn't have to. (I know, crappy mom, don't judge me. Ok, you're judging me. Let me just say, that the slide empties in to like 4 feet of water, of which I am perfectly capable of standing straight up and lifting my daughter out of the water so she doesn't go under. Remember? Childhood vacation spot. It's been done before.) When it's our turn, she screams. Holy hannah does she scream. Then after a few seconds when she realizes we're just floating down a tube she says "www....eeee...." like maybe she's having fun! We get to the bottom, the whole fam is there cheering her on. No water splashes in her face, she doesn't go under, all is well. "Mommy! Let's go again!" We went again. And again. And again. That's why we love the Fairmont. From the second time to the last time down, everyone could hear when Alyssa was on the slide. Instead of shrieking in panic, we squeeled with joy. And it echoed, clear over to Grandma Sue on the patio, it echoed. Love that. They've redone the pools and slide since the last time we were there. The slide was completely refinished, but the same slide as I remember. And the bottom of the pool was refinished. Our little footsies didn't get roughed up while we were there. I think they must have added a few flights of stairs to get to the top of the slide, though. I don't remember being nearly so tired and out of breath getting to the top... we used to run up that thing. What were we thinking?