Presidents Day weekend Team Haines headed across Germany to the Czech Republic. We enjoyed the 5.5 hour cruise on the autobahn seeing more of the beautiful country we live in! Germany is such a beautiful place- especially Bavaria! CR is our eastern neighbor and made for a quick and easy travel destination.
CR requires a vignette sticker for tourist- sort of a tax or toll if you will. So we stopped right over the boarder and purchased one from the gas station- simple, no big deal! After our vignette was secured on the windshield we traveled on, towards Prague, passing some very old buildings. It may sound strange, but as soon as, we hit the boarder the landscape changed drastically- we left beautiful open rolling hills and pine forest behind and entered into a gray, dull world. CR may be a neighbor but it was very different- the scenery, the infrastructure, the culture, the businesses….all very different.
Aquaplace was easy to find- not so easy to park (times like these you realize why more Europeans don't have minivans lol). We checked in and played in the lobby- the kids were having a good time already and we hadn't even hit the water park:)
We booked 2 rooms to accommodate everyone comfortably- and the hotel did not disappoint! This momma was extremely happy- it was clean and spacious! The chickens decided which room they'd be in- Daddy, AB & Sam (aka the dog team) in one room and Momma, Lu & Caroline (the kitty team) in the other. After a peek around we quickly changed into our swim gear and headed over to the park to play!
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| even Birdy Baby swam! |
We splashed and swam for a couple hours and then decided it was time to feed the chickens dinner. Jonathan had upgraded us to full board- we ate each meal at the 4 star hotel restaurant. Breakfast and dinner were buffet style. We got off on the wrong foot with the hostess - which set the dining tone for the rest of our trip. She was rude and went out of her way to show her disgust for Americans. The rest of the staff were great folks and happy to have us- they more than made up for her discriminating and nasty behavior. The food was good- the kids even found chicken nuggets on the kiddy buffet- all were happy and full by the end of the meal.
We explored the hotel a bit more before calling it a night. All slept well in our nice rooms and we were rested and ready to rumble the next morning!
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| kitty team |
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| the boys! |
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| AB was in a great mood this morning- very chipper! |
Caroline just turned 1 and this is her 3rd trip to a water park- she may be slightly spoiled! She warmed up in the baby pool and once comfortable she was quite confident and content!
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| tiny pool - boats and watering can are always fun! |
Sunday we spent the entire day just playing! This was our intent for the trip- solely family time. There were no tours, no history lesson, no boring grown up stuff, no sightseeing- just family fun! The sights of Prague can wait for a later date- we had a pool to splash in and a "lousy river" (ABism) to float!
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| Sam liked the tiny pool because he could do big kid things- he's trying to swim like Annabelle |
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| this pool was just perfect for all of them- shallow enough but also fun,! |
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| lots of sliding going on |
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| finally got a pic of them without any men in speedos! |
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| she's a great swimmer! |
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| a bucket dumper but she fills my bucket too! |
The day went on and on……slides, buckets, floaty wings, wave pools, pirate play, fishing, hot tubs and way too hairy European men wearing way too little. We broke for lunch and a nap then headed back to re-wrinkle our fingers and re-align butt cracks with those water slide wedgies.
MISSION: Family Fun was a success:)
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| no one likes group pics! |
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| (sigh or laugh- I did both) |
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| brother sister LOVE! |
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| wave pool, pirate boat with slides and on the far left is the lighthouse with more slides |
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| I LOVE THIS ONE! |
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| chicken feet |
Monday arrived ~ we had splashed in every pool & tackled every slide, I had nearly burned out the hair dyer attempting to dry 6 bathing suits, we had lost flip flops and fought over beach towels. It was time to say good bye to Aquapalace with red chlorine eyes and that feeling of water up the nose. It was a good weekend together just doing our crazy thing!
