By Sara Bridget Au

With a gaggle of 9-year old girls in tow, my sister-in-law and I headed to the Nick Hotel to celebrate her daughter’s birthday. With my two – a 5-year old boy and 3-year old girl – along with the birthday girl’s 7-year old sister, we made a motley crew. It was a slumber party in grand proportion, and although at times I thought we were crazy to ever think of undertaking it, the girls all had a blast and my niece has memories that will last a lifetime.

We arrived Friday evening, having checked in earlier in the day and then returned after picking up all the kids from school. First up was the “Dive-In” movie showing on a giant screen by the pool. They swam and played, tested out the slides, sat in the hot tub and traded glow-in-the-dark earrings a waitress was handing out. My son followed them along like a puppy dog, just managing to keep up. Heading back up to the room for a midnight snack, the slumber party games started in high gear. Luckily, the girls had their own bedrooms to giggle in all night.

As the kids took off onto the water slides the next morning, we adults hunted for empty chairs. A kind woman took pity on us and shared half of her table and a couple of chairs. My three-year old was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd in the pool, and though she’s a good swimmer at home, opted to stay in the shallow end with me. But the putt-putt golf and rubber basketball court helped keep us busy, and entertained my son for the brief moments he came down off the slide. The party girls descended on our half-a-table for lunch and then disappeared back up the slide for the afternoon. We topped the day off with a birthday cake and goody bags in our room, before my sister-in-law returned the girls home that evening. I stayed with my two for the second night, enjoying the (relative) peace and quiet of the room.

Having learned my lesson, our first stop Sunday was the pool where we staked out a couple of lounge chairs. Mommy, unfortunately, was starting to get a headache from the constant noise of the water slides. I hadn’t exactly noticed it until this morning. We’d arrived before the slides started at 9 a.m., and so when the water was turned on the intensity of its sound was evident.

But all in all, it was a fantastic vacation in our own backyard. The birthday party was a huge success, the kids enjoyed nearly every single moment they were there, and did not want to take off the armbands for days after we got home. Those armbands are my only other criticism; at check-in the hotel requires armbands color coded to the kids’ age-level. Everyone under four is required to wear a swim diaper. My 3-year old, potty-trained for over a year, took great offense and we nearly started the weekend off with a meltdown. Instead of forcing her, I talked with one of the lifeguards who assured me they don’t kick rule-breakers out. I do get the reasoning, as later on we saw a child have an accident and it was not pretty. Hygiene is really on the honor basis among parents, so the strong smell of chlorine simply made me feel secure about the sanitary conditions.

The kids are still talking about the weekend, and begging us to go back again soon. The adults need a bit more rest before we tackle it again, and besides, we have to figure out what to do for all the other kids’ birthdays because nothing’s gonna top this one!