From Our Neck of the Woods...: Marriott's CoCo Key Water Resort in Mt. Laurel, NJ

We decided to take one last "vacation" - just the 4 of us - before the baby comes, so we went to the Marriott just outside Philadelphia. Their water resort provided HOURS/DAYS of entertainment and we can't wait to return! It was a fabulous deal which included so much, including 2 return day-passes to the water resort. The only thing this resort lacks is an actual pool for regular swimming. Other than that, it has a huge spray park with multiple slides for younger kids, a 1-ft. deep pool to float in and watch movies like Shrek and KungFu Panda, a hot tub that goes outside, a lazy river, a pool with lily pads to walk across, and the best part were the big tube slides that start 4 stories up and wind all around outside before dumping you back inside. One was a body slide, which Caroline rode a million times, and the other two were wider in order to accommodate innertubes. Caroline was too short for that one, but Nikki and Doug had great fun on those!

The girls and I arrived Friday afternoon and stayed at the water park for 4 hours before Doug joined us for dinner. On Saturday, we were there for more than 8 hours before going out to Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizza (which made us homesick for IL pizza!) for dinner. Then on Sunday, we returned to the water park for another few hours before hitting the road to return home. We are happy, but exhausted. Luckily, there's no school today, so the kids can recover...

Caroline coming down one of the kiddie slides in the spraypark

Nikki getting off the inner tube after coming down the chute from 4 stories up

Nikki and Doug racing down the chutes - nearly a photo finish, but it looks like Doug won

Caroline was afraid of the lazy river because on Friday, when she and Nikki went on it alone, they got caught in the current, and couldn't get off until the 4th try. Luckily, with LOTS of persuading, she agreed to go with Daddy.

Nikki loving the lazy river

An apprehensive Caroline in the beginning of the river...

A much happier Caroline at the end!

Sitting in the hot tub outside

The 4 stories of stairs the girls climbed over and over. That's Caroline looking down from the landing. You can barely see her! (click on the pic to enlarge, hit your back button to return to the blog)