When it all clicks at a water park

Desperate to pass this winter as best as we can, this past weekend the runningmama family got out of town and tried something new.

We've entered the indoor water park destination phase.

You know when you have those moments in life when everything feels like chaos, you'd made all of this effort to plan something everyone will like and it all goes "poof" and downhill quickly?

This wasn't one of them.

It was AWESOME. As in, one of those family moments when everything clicks. When everyone is happy and having a great time.

When you feel like you've move into a new stage, one with the kids still little and cute, but a little more self-sufficient. (And you don't even mind that you've had to put on hold seeing the final Season 2 episode of "House of Cards", which we're addicted to right now.)

M-man and C-girl are staring down their 5th and 3rd birthdays, respectively. They're lively, inquisitive, wild, sweet, demanding and more. They're potty-trained, able to walk and run wherever they need to go and more and more independent.

And they are perfect for a water park. Not far from Chicago, there are many. We hit one downstate a bit by Starved Rock, Grizzly Jack's Grand Bear Resort. It's cheesy and cute and just perfect, with "river" rafting, water slides, things to climb up and down.

M-man begged to go in "the dark tunnel", as he referred to the enclosed water slide with a sign at the entrance telling patrons they had to be at least 4 feet tall. As in, two days of begging and insisting and demanding to know why not. I'm picturing a legal career for him some day.

That took a lot of explaining and non-explaining, since I could not pinpoint to his satisfaction just how long it would take him to hit 4 feet.

C-girl, cute as a button in her red, white and blue Hello Kitty suit, focused her sights on nailing the water slide (left -- photo from web site, those are not my kids!) She'd climb up it and sit there and wait for me to run up from the pool to give her the push. Finally, on day two, she "didn't need you mama" anymore and proceeded to go down that slide no fewer than 40 times, confident and squealing.

Hello Kitty swimsuit. Dear god, the cuteness.

The kids were so good, so well behaved that I kept commenting on it to my hub. He agreed. We laughed a lot this weekend.

This family stuff is pretty fabulous.