Water park fun

Yesterday we went to the water park at Fort Jackson, a working army base. After presenting our ID to the stern looking military guard, we drove to the water park, called Palmetto Falls. The palmetto tree is on the South Carolina state flag, so you see it everywhere. 

The park was a fair size, and had a lazy river, slides, a little kids play area and lots of pool to play in. We began by doing a lap on the lazy river. You sit in a tube and float in the current. It was a nice way to see what the park had to offer. After that it was the slides. Tara initially went on the little kids slide (about 50 times!!) before we convinced her to try the next one up. Many yells of 'catch me mummy/daddy' before she figured out she didn't need catching at the bottom, and then it was just slide/out the pool/up the stairs/slide continuously for about an hour and a half. Amy & Gage went on the big slides and had fun racing each other down. 

I took the odd lap on the lazy river to bask in the sunshine, and topped up my holiday tan, as well as raced Amy a few times on the slides. In all, we had a great day, and the kids enjoyed themselves.

A couple of notes. It seems there is no Slip Slop Slap policy here. The number of people wearing hats was low, as was the people wearing t-shirts. Amy was actually told to take hers off. And coming from the harsh summers in Australia, that was something weird!! 

Also, the American obesity epidemic was on full display. Lots of overweight parents stuffing their faces, but one kid took my breath away. He would have been no older than 10. But my god! He would have easily weighed 100kg. He had a gut on him that hung over his board shorts that would have rivalled a 40 year old beer drinkers. He had a massive set of man boobs and stretch marks all over him. At first i felt   sorry for him, but I counted him going to the cafe at least 3 times. I didn't see his parents. He wasn't all that active either. No wonder there is a problem here!!

After the water park we went out for dinner to a place called Shianos. Yummy Italian food and plenty of it. I ended up bringing half of mine home in a doggy bag.

Another first was Bernie had a couple of ticks, possibly from when he did Airsoft. We had to make a late night call to Doc for tweezers as we didn't have any. Nasty looking bastards they are too! One was particularly stubborn! Both have been safely removed, but if Bernie ever says 'I'll do it in a couple of ticks', we now have a time frame to reference. 

Still loving the relaxed lifestyle and friendly locals. It's a lifestyle that's pretty hard to beat.