The Last Day of School

It’s official – we are finished home schooling Matt & Alicia. Today, June 1st, was our last day of school. To celebrate we took the kids on a field trip to a nearby water park. Jeremy, Anna, Francis (our Chinese teacher), Alicia, our neighbor friend's two grandchildren, visiting from America, and myself all went together. (Due to an eye infection Matt was unable to go – sorry Matt, we missed you!!) It was very nice, clean and loads of fun. Most of the park is inside, so even though today was cold and overcast we were still able to have a nice time. The park has a number of different things to do. There was a castle with lots of slides and “toys” to play with while it “rained” on you. They had a lazy river with row boats, a couple different pools, hot springs and at least 4 different huge water slides. My favorite was the “Flying Boat” where you sit in a boat with a partner, fall down a drop that is only a little under 90°, fly up a wall that is also a little over 90° and then over a bridge (pictures shown below). The other favorite was the Space bowl (AKA the Latrine) featured in the next blog.
Although there was not a lot geared towards Anna’s age, she had a blast. I have never seen her so excited. The first part of the day she was acting like she was on a sugar rush, running around with a huge smile on her face squealing with delight. The second half she still had a good time but she was a bit worn out without a nap and from all the excitement earlier.
We made it through the day with fun stories, 8 worn out people and only one bruised elbow (mine). What a great way to end the school year!

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The Latrine

You remember the first time you thought about flushing your brother or sister (nephew in my case) down the toilet? You wondered: where they would end up? would it be a fun trip down? And what a big splash it would make as you reached the end of the tunnel. Today I actually got to experience it (except without all the human waste). At the water park that we went to there was a water slide we nick-named "The Toilet Bowl." You start at the top going through a tunnel slide then shoot out of a tunnel and into the toilet bowl. After spinning around the bowl a few times you would be flushed out into a swimming pool. (click on image to see larger view) It was a lot of fun - except for when I banged my elbow on the side because I wasn't lying properly.