Kalahari Waterpark

It's mid February, and although we've had a mild winter, we decided to again escape this blah time of year with a trip to an indoor waterpark. I found a whopper of a deal at Wisconsin Dell's Kalahari, the "largest indoor waterpark". They were running a BOGO (buy one night, get one night free) deal. Since we rent two rooms for our family (no one wants to let us pile kids all over the floor to sleep), this works out great. Two rooms for $140 per night. Sweet! But oh, read on... it gets sweeter!

I asked while making reservations if I could have ajoining rooms (you know, with the connecting door between the rooms) and they said that the hotel didn't have any.

Hold on, I need to back up a bit... In the last month, since we made the reservations on our credit card, we have felt the need to follow God's plan when He says "Owe no one anything, except the debt of love". We've decided that that plan includes our mortgage (more about that in another blog), and we've decided to put all our extra cash into paying it off. That being said, we were feeling a bit bad about spending money on this trip, but we had already made the plans and felt committed. We brought all of our food from home, except for a planned trip to a pizza joint (for their special Valentine heart shaped pizza) and ice cream from Dairy Queen for the drive home...
Now, back to the story...

As I was waiting in line to be checked in, I prayed that we could get a family suite or something that would hold our whole family instead of two rooms (for the same price, of course). I politely asked for ajoining rooms (knowing that they don't have any, but hoping they'd work something out). She looked up my reservation and said, "The hotel randomly picks people to upgrade. Your rooms have been upgraded to a family suite". Not just ONE room, BOTH of our rooms were upgraded! We had two family suites next to eachother. I was thrilled! Read on, it gets better...

We couldn't check in yet, so we went to swim a bit before getting our keys. Paul and I talked about calling a family to drive the 4 hours to meet us or trying to get a refund on the other room. While Paul and the kids swam, I went to get the room keys. The check-in lady told me that the cancellation policy would require the entire amount of the room because it was the same day. She also looked at me kind of sideways when I asked about another family using the room (with the long drive, late night, and snowy weather). Then she said, "OH, WAIT, let me check this... huh? Normally this room is taken, especially this late in the day, but it's open. If you guys want to forfeit the second room, I'll put you in the Formal Presidential Suite. It's a $900 per night room. Two whirlpool tubs, huge TV, two bedrooms, a steam shower, fireplace, a wet bar, and a four person hot tub on the balcony. Would you like that for no additional cost?" Um, that would be a YES!!

I was so excited! I virtually ran back to get the family so we could go check out our cool room together... AND to thank God for the upgrade He gave us (via the hotel lady). It was huge (aka: just our size).

We're getting ready to jump in the hot tub with the kids and our complimentary "his and her" hotel robes.

Who needs a waterpark when you have a room this nice?

Answer? KIDS.

They wouldn't buy into the whole, "let's just relax in the room and enjoy our stay" thing. The next morning we headed straight for the waterpark and had some incredibly fun, chlorine-filled days!

The waterpark was great! There were play areas and slides for all different ages. VERY well layed out and designed.

Each of the kids loved trying all the different slides. Even Nathan, my brave little 3 year old, went down the big slide. It kind of freaked out the protective mommy in me when Paul took him up to the top platform and sent him swirling down. I'm used to the 5 foot kiddie slides, not the 200 foot big kid slides. Nathan didn't miss a beat. He got up and went right back up the stairs.


We went to Moose Jaw for lunch (the same restaurant we went to last year on Valentine's day), donned the cardboard antlers, and ordered heart shaped pizzas. Before heading back to the hotel, we made a quick stop a Walmart for Mr. Bubbles bubble bath. It's not everyday that we get access to a whirlpool tub, much less TWO of them ;)

Whirlpool jets and Mr. Bubbles... what could be more fun?
One for the girls...

and one for the boys...

The morning of the day we were leaving, the express check-out receipt was shoved under the door. It showed a charge to our credit card for $140 (plus tax) for the two nights. We were expecting to be charged $280 (plus) originally, for two small rooms. Not only did we get the huge luxury room, but our bill was cut in half. $70 a night!!

I believe that this hotel room was a demonstration for our family right now, and directly connected to our decision to take a different direction with our money. Because of our decision to pay off our house and get out of debt (and not knowing how or where the extra money is going to come from), God was showing us just a smidgen of His resources. We asked for a little extra, and it's like He got a twinkle in his eye and said, "Watch this."