The Mackeys: Bunker Beach and Park

The boys participated in a reading program at our local library and received 2 free admissions to Bunker Beach Waterpark. We went to the park last night while Evan and Kyle were at Gun Safety Training Class. The boys had an absolute blast at the waterpark. Before we left, I commented to Evan and my neighbor, Bev, that I was nervous about being able to keep an eye on both of them by myself since Ryan is such a dare devil and Carter likes the calmer, quieter play. Well, Mommy instinct was correct, unfortunately, and I lost track of Ryan when Carter came running out of the water saying he needed to go to the bathroom. I knew he couldn't wait until Ryan got out of the deep water (pulling down his trunks and threatening to go on the concrete was a good indicator) so I went running off with Carter and told Ryan to stay put and I would be right back. We came back in about 2 minutes and Ryan was no where to be found. I checked out the other areas, found some other preschool Moms and they also helped me look. Finally, I notified the lifeguards and they had the Missing Child squad (equipped with walkie talkies) out in a minute (I should point out that Ryan was the 20th missing child reported that day, so it is a common occurrence for this squad). After about 20-25 minutes has passed since I had seen Ryan, I spotted him by the waterslides/obstacle course, on the complete opposite side of the park from the wave pool! I went running to him and asked him where he was and he shrugged his shoulder and said "I couldn't find you, so I decided to go down the water slides and across the obstacle course - did you see me, Mom? I made it across 5 times!" In his mind, he knew exactly where he was and he wasn't lost! There was no concern whatsoever out of him - I, on the other hand, lost about 15 years of my life in a panic! Throughout the search, Carter kept saying "well, I guess this means there will be no more Ryan" without a bit of concern - he wasn't losing any sleep over it and he wanted to get back into the water to play!!!!!

All in all, the boys had a great time. What a fun facility with the lazy river, rock climbing wall, numerous water slides, sandy beach area, kiddie play area, and wave pool. I have a feeling that park will be seeing a lot more of us in the future, next time with strict instructions to Ryan with what to do if we are ever separated!

The kiddie pool area - Ryan was blasted...