Showing Mom and Dad Around the Pool

These pictures pretty faithfully summarize our vacation. It wasn't always the pool—you can translate this same scene to the walk between cabins, the parking lots of hotels, restaurants, and rest stops between home and Ohio. The common theme is one or both parents being pulled around by a little girl in a hurry to see everything. I'm not sure anyone knows what she looks like from the front.

We actually don't have that many pictures (since it's difficult to take pictures while keeping up with Elaina). Hopefully, my sisters got some good ones they can pass along to me. (hint, hint)

Elaina did spend some time in the water, and liked it a lot more than her daddy does.

She also really liked running through the dripping, misting, freezing water coming from the slide. Here, you see mother and daughter running through the cold water and stomping in the puddles.

Don't worry—I got my share of this too. Did I mention that it's drippy and freezing? And that I was almost certainly a cat in a prior life? However...Elaina giggles when she runs through it, and if this were a Hallmark card, I'd say something about those giggles keeping me warm. Well, it's not a Hallmark card, and giggles don't keep you warm...but somehow they're worth it anyway. Elaina has a zest for life that's contagious. It doesn't make you like cold water, but it makes running through it fun.

After running through the cold water, it's good to put on your cover-up and hang out with Mom or Dad. This is a couple minutes of rest before switching back into high gear.

A little ice cream back at the cabin is a great way to regain your strength, so you can keep going. You wouldn't want to let Mommy and Daddy get bored just sitting around—this is vacation!