y3w

Sorry this is so late....

But today Eddie, Ethan, Nicole and I went to C.oCo. Ke.y in Rockford. (ever wonder why I break up brand names? it's because I don't want someone to google the word and then have my blog pop up...anyway...) No joke, for weeks I have asked Frank if we could go. I was *sure* it would be as wonderful as I pictured. Silly, I know. Don't get me wrong, it isn't all bad. My main complaints were: a) it was much smaller than I imagined. It would be like a kid walking into Disn.ey Wo.rld and having it be the size of....San.ta's Vill.age. b) There was hardly any deck space, so immediately my idea of having the boys play on a towel on deck was ruined, as there was only about 2 feet from the end of the lounge chairs to the pools...unless you sat at a table the whole time, which of course were all taken. The solution? A cabana...

(haha, sorry Nicole!)...so, for $50 ($75 on the weekends) you can get your very own whole in the wall! Now, I'm not going to knock this. We were able to put the boys on a mat on the floor and put the couch cushions around them, so that was nice. The cabana does come with a TV (ours was broken...) and a server call button (which was broken as well...), which all seem like great additions if they were to work. I ended up going to the front desk to ask about the TV and server and the server came quite quickly after that, but no TV fixage. Oh well. I was happy enough just having some space to ourselves for the boys to play....I think I would have gone crazy if I had to sit on that crowded pool deck the whole time. For a half day (10-3) we paid $15, which was worth it in my opinion. Nicole put it best though, "I'm not running back...". I wouldn't run back here in a heart beat, but if the mood strikes next winter, I wouldn't mind a trip. It is only about 45 minutes away, so it would be kind of fun during a long winter....good thing we have Nana and Grandpa's pool this summer!

Not to mention, I couldn't imagine guarding that pool. There were kids of all ages and adults everywhere - but I didn't see one incident, which is surprising because I always have my eyes out. The guards were very attentive and I never thought that they were spacing out. At one point while Eddie and I were in the lazy river (all 10 feet of it) the guard made a point to check in the corners where someone could easily get pushed into. I was quite impressed, which is a lot coming from a tough judge like me. They do get points there. Eddie loved playing in the zero depth area, where he could splash and try to grab at that elusive fountain. They had all sorts of things that would shoot and spray water, so he had tons of fun going around to all of those and sticking his hands into them. He was so amused, he decided not to take a nap the whole time! (yay for crabby babies!) So while Ethan napped Eddie and I took a couple more rounds in the lazy river and played in the fountains some more. Also, they did have a pretty good food selection and a cute bar (woot!). Basically, would I recommend it? Sure, if you're needing a change of pace. Would I run back? Probably not...but if you had a working cabana and a nice tropical drink waiting for me....I'd think *a little* harder. (and I never did get a chance to try out those slides, so those may lure me back...)

-maggie