Miramar Waterpark

To make up for a not so great day at the Neustadt Wine Festival last weekend I decided to take Isabelle somewhere I knew she'd have a blast at .... Miramar Waterpark & Spa!  I figured I owed it to her to do something she loves, and she loves to swim!  She was such a good sport about being dragged to a wine fest, and besides, I will take any chance I can get to spend time with her.  Isabelle is getting to the age where she would rather be with her friends than anywhere with her parents, so even if I have to force her to spend time with me, I will take it!   

Miramar is an indoor tropical oasis with indoor & outdoor pools, a saltwater pool, wave pool, slides, tanning lights, a bar & restaurant; you can get massages, facials, mud baths.... basically, if it relaxes you, it's at Miramar!
I wasn't looking forward to getting in a swimsuit, my flab just doesn't squish into a swimsuit as nicely as it used to, but Isabelle absolutely loves to swim and could not care less about my flab.  When I started getting a little bratty about having to leave the locker area in my swimsuit she rolled her eyes and told me to just get into the pool, and then turned on her heals and walked out like she owned the place, leaving me and my flab in the locker area.  I wonder where she gets that from....?  

I did not bring my big camera because I figured with how clumsy I am it wouldn't be a good idea to have it around water and slick floors.  But y'all know that I can't go anywhere without taking pictures so I did take my little point and shoot.  I was paying more attention to 1) my daughter, 2) not falling on my face on the wet floors, and 3) making sure my flab stayed in my swimsuit, than I did to getting good quality pictures, so these pictures are terrible!!!

But hey, terrible is better than nothing, right?! 

Isabelle and I wandered around first to get an idea of what we were dealing with and found heaven right here in Germany when we found the saltwater pools!  The big pool was indoor/outdoor and had like an infinity edge (you know how the super rich and fancy places have those infinity pools?  I wouldn't really know because I've never been anywhere super rich and fancy, but I do watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills so that's pretty much the same thing), but the water came up to the edge and then ran down the side... it was sparkly and pretty!  
The saltwater pool was an indoor/outdoor and outside had recliners right in the pool so we could lay back and look at the stars.  It's still pretty warm here for October (mid 60's) but the water was warm enough that we lounged outside in the water for about 45 minutes and never got cold.  This was where Isabelle and I had really great girl talk.  I'm not going to get into specifics about our conversation here because what she tells me is sacred, so all I'll say is that our discussion maaaaybe had something to do with a boy... a 7th grade boy.

There were different areas to relax with lounge chairs everywhere.  Since we went at night it was quiet and had a romantic feel to the place.  I assume if we had gone during the day it would have been a lot louder with a lot more kiddo's running around.  I mean there were still a lot of kids running around, just more couples than kids, which I guess made sense for a Friday night.  The whole romantic vibe thing made it difficult to not think about my husband.  I tried really hard not to miss him or think about how far away he is, because when I do.... it hurts.

Tanning lights

Miramar is not that far from where we live so we spent all of Friday evening swimming and relaxing.  We had great girl talk and I was reminded, again, how fast Isabelle is growing up.  She's an easy kid and I don't know how I got so lucky, but, Isabelle is getting to the age where she'd rather be with her friends than with her mom.  That makes me sad but I get it.  I'm sure the slides and pools would have been more fun if she had one of her friends there to be goofy with, when mom is goofy it is just "soooo embarrassing!" 

Even if I have to force Isabelle to spend time with me, whether that's at a wine festival or a water park, I'll take any opportunity I can get!  She'd be so mad at me for telling you this but... when no one is looking she is a snuggley sweetheart of a girl that still lets me be... mommy.  Friday night was one of those nights, and I cherished it.