Grand Rios Waterpark

My wife & I took the first week of January off for a little rest & relaxation and time with the kids while our son was out of school. We took the kids to the local Grand Rios water park for a few days. It was a blast.

We had lots of fun, but there was lots of eating out and I felt really nervous about being separated from my testing stuff and my glucose tablets for long periods of time - especially in an unfamiliar environment doing unfamiliar activities.

I can say that the Cozmo pump performed great. It was wet off and on for over three days. I had to remove the CoZmonitor, which is the BG meter that clips on the back of the pump - that part is not waterproof. I kept that, some glucose tabs, our room key and some other stuff in a locker nearby. It was the fact that the dang locker cost $1 to re-lock after it had been opened that made me think twice about running to do a quick test.

I didn't have any reactions while there, which was good. I was most nervous the morning after a large and unfamiliar breakfast. I really worried that I had taken too much insulin and was worried that it would haunt me hours later. I checked myself after 2.5 hours and was 133 with about 10 units on board. I took the pump off, had 5 glucose tabs and went back to the water. I did fine for the rest of the afternoon and ended the day at 160. Not too bad.

For the most part we each shadowed one of our kids. I would hang with my son while my wife stayed with our daughter, or vice versa. I did try one of the "big slides". It is called the "Toilet Bowl".

So this is a short and fast tube type waterslide that dumps you into this round basin with a 2-3 foot drop into the pool. Sounds fun! So, I get both the kids with the wife and let them know what I plan. They anxiously position themselves by the pool where I'll exit and wait for me to gracefully swirl down into the exit pool.

I start the climb up what seems like a billion stairs. And I climb, and climb, and climb. A few hours later (not really) I get to the top. There's no one up there, so no line to wait in or anything. At the entrance to the slide is a stoplight - kind of like a freeway entrance ramp meter - making sure that the person before you has had the proper amount of time to exit the slide at the other end.

It flashes green and without any hesitation I slide in feet first. Soon after I entered the slide I realized that it was pitch black dark in there, and I was moving WAY too fast. Almost instinctively I stuck my hands to the top of the tube trying to brace myself and slow my descent with some friction. Well, what goes hand in hand with friction? That's right. Heat.

So now my hands are on fire and I'm screaming down this pitch black dark tube doing mach 3 with water now splashing into my face so I can't breath or see. Suddenly I'm blinded by a bright white light! ... Have I died? Is this Heaven? Nope - it's the toilet bowl!

The theory is that you come out of the tube at high speed and twirl round and round in the bowl until you gracefully exit, feet first, into the pool below. Then there's me. I come out of the tube and go around the bowl maybe a time and a half before I plop out of the bowl, completely sideways and land with a big splash in the pool below.

How appropriate.

:-)