16 Family Firsts at Silverwood Amusement Park

This was a sponsored activity. 

I was asked to share my honest experiences.

Visiting Silverwood Theme Park was a brand new experience for our family. We are not a tourism-destination family. We adventure on dirt paths and spend our nights out under the stars. Nonetheless, when a northern road-trip opportunity presented itself, I jumped at the chance to pack our bags and start driving to Couer d'Alene. With my mom and cute niece along with us, 2 full days of amusement park fun brought a full range of family first experiences...

Our Firsts at Silverwood
1. Our first adventure was riding the train. An authentic steam engine chugged us out into the Idaho evergreen forest where Bigfoot lurked and a posse of bandits staged a robbery. B & P BELIEVE it was a dangerous & harrowing ride.

On the hunt for Bigfoot

2. The Tilt-a-whirl: All 7 of us jumped on the first ride we saw. Only after Grandma was spinning in one car, and the babies were sliding around with me in another car did we think about maybe talking about what our stomachs and nerves could handle.

3. The Corkscrew was the first roller coaster in the world to take passengers upside down through double loops. It was the first roller coaster B and I had ridden together. It was the first time I've been a single rider (B and his cousin decided to ride together). It was the first time I'd felt totally lame.

4. The kids got to drive their very first cars. I had to step on P's foot to get his to go, but, surprisingly, he was having so much fun he forgot to scream at me.

Driving Antique Cars

5. We forgot to first count heads, then move onto the next attraction. Which led to me frantically calling my niece out of line to watch the babies while Grandma and I ran around praying to be the first one to find a wandered off P.

6. My niece and I had our first experience with zero gravity as the Round-Up spun us in circles both vertically and horizontally. I LOVED it! She walked off dizzy and feeling queasy.

7. B was being so brave that it caught me off-guard when he refused to get on a his first wooden roller coaster. My niece rode the Tremors her first time alone. When I rode with her later, the first tunnel convinced me I was going to die. It was the first time I told B he was smart to not ride that ride.

 8. Wanting to get wet, we all loaded on to the Log Flume. It was exciting to take the babies on their first roller coaster ride.

9. Our first treats were ice cream cones larger than our heads.

Loving his cotton candy ice cream!

10. We were not the first to leave-is anything more cool to kids than shutting down the theme park?

Our Firsts at Boulder Beach
11. Having a mother's helper here was the first time we used a divide and conquer tactic. Grandma and the babies played in Polliwog Park while the rest of us went on water slides.

12. At first it was fun to see P loving to float around Elkhorn Creek. Getting bored first, I was eternally grateful for a cousin who didn't mind going around with him again...and again...

13. We rode the family-size water slides first, while the lines were small. We rode them many many more times, even when the lines were long. Absolute favorites!

14. B & I both rode our first open air water slides. Having 4 slides starting on the same platform, it was fun to get on at the same time, and race each other to the bottom.

Racing to the bottom

15. My niece was the first and only one of us to hurtle herself 55mph downhill on Velocity Peak.

16. For the first time ever, there wasn't any whining accompanying the "One last time..." warning.

After two full days of non-stop amusement park fun, we were happy! We easily could have spent another day or even two, but no one left feeling like they'd missed anything. We'd spent quality family time together in a new way, and it was rewarding. The drive back home was long, but we made it smiling and now a month later the boys are still telling me Silverwood and Boulder Beach were their favorite days of summer!

Read here about the first half of our week at Triple Play Resort & Suites?

Need a hotel near Silverwood?

Travel with a Mother's Helper (Our Trip to Triple Play)

Our trip to Idaho was media sponsored.

I was asked to share honestly about our experience.

Do you travel with a mother's helper? 

Early last month we drove out to Nebraska (yes, crossing Wyoming once again) for my family reunion weekend. The kids and I needed to leave straight from there for a week-long stay in northern Idaho, but my husband needed to head back to work. We decided to try something new, and invited my mom and niece to come along for the ride. Our first destination made it easy to be traveling with the kids; having the extra pairs of eyes and hands turned out even better than I'd expected!

The Trip: Western Nebraska-Couer d'Alene road trip 
The Destination: Triple Play Resort & Suites
The Helpers: Grandma and a Super-Fun 12-yr-old cousin

Choosing a Room
Booking a room for 7 people is not always easy. From my years working in the hotel industry, I know that regular room occupancy is usually a maximum of 6...and it's tight. Our family is only just moving into the stage where the babies count as "real" people and have to be considered when we're thinking of what type of room to book. It's not a pleasant thought, as our hotel budget is usually quite low. But at Triple Play, there were several options to accommodate our large group.  

The Kids' Suite was B & P's first choice. With bunk beds, television, and video game system in an alcove, can we say little boy heaven? Making it even better, the resort's water slides were right outside the window. Their grandma and cousin could have shared one of the other queen beds while I shared with the babies, but it sounded kind of tight.

Instead, we decided to stay in a 2-room Suite. Divided by a half-wall, there were 2 queen beds, plus a pull out sofa. The room also had a small eating area. When B & P were very young, we started building them forts under the desk and tables in our hotel rooms, and so it worked out perfectly for Grandma, cousin, and myself to have our own beds with the boys in their cool blanket forts. We weren't tripping over each other, and everyone got to have a little bit of privacy.  

Splishing and Splashing
Triple Play is a 3-in-1 vacation destination-the hotel, water park, and fun center all in one facility. Entering through the breakfast nook, you can go straight from eating to playing in less than a minute. There is something HUGE to be said for not having to pile into the car, sit in traffic, and be frustrated when you get to the fun play place! Grabbing our swim bag from the room, we headed first to Raptor Reef...

The benefit of having my "mother's helpers" became obvious instantly! B wanted to go straight to the water slides, but I wasn't comfortable yet sending him off alone. P wanted to play in the spray area, and the babies simply did NOT want to play at all. In comes Grandma!  She sat with the babies, watched Peyton, and slowly convinced them all to get wet and play together.  

It freed me up to ride the slides with B-that is something we had never done together before! He was nervous to slide at first, and I was there to assure him he would love it. We took turns riding down together and with my niece and racing each other down different slides. And when my legs couldn't climb the stairs one more time, B and his cousin kept on going on. With her there, I was able to take time to rest and play with the little kids without having to worry.  

The Center of Fun
My kids have never been to a place where a wristband gets them into everything for free. We went mid-week and they almost never had to wait in line. Triple Play was their paradise. We bowled, drove go-karts, and played laser tag. Grandma watched the babies sometimes, I watched the babies sometimes, we all did activities together sometimes. Having more than one person over the height requirement was especially useful on the bumper boats. With a combination of adults and kids in boats, the little ones had a blast spraying (read: soaking) the grown-ups.  

The ropes course was something different all together. Beck and cousin went up first, but he got scared. By the time I went up he'd gained some confidence, but she was on her way to the top. Doing something I would never have done with my little boys, I followed her all the way up and meandered around 3 stories above the ground. Forever now she and I will have "that time we did that kind of scary thing together" to talk and laugh about.  

The sweet part of the whole trip came when the group divided. When we met back up, we found the babies in the arcade with Grandma, punching ducks and having a spectacular!

This trip to Triple Play Resort had three great take-aways:

1. A 2-3 day vacation completely contained in one location is absolutely worth it! If the babies needed a change, we could run to the room and back without having to pack and take a diaper bag. We could take a break for naptime without fearing we'd decide not to come all the way back later. We could take our time eating, knowing every meal was only moments away from getting back to the fun.  
2. A mother's helper is useful, but also a subtle relationship building tool. With the extra help, I never had to tell the kids no. There was no reason not to trade cars and ride around the go-kart track three times. There was no fighting about taking turns or waiting for the next time. Just like when I camp with the kids alone, they got to see that Mom does know how to have fun. Mom can help me be not afraid. Mom can relax and let kids be kids.    
3. Travel strengthens families. It is difficult living far away from family. Our long road-trip and week of fun in Couer d'Alene gave Grandma and the babies a chance to get to know each other. It allowed me to interact with my niece as a growing-up girl, and gave her the chance to appreciate her younger cousins. It brought each one of us closer together.

Have you ever traveled with a mother's helper?
Here are 4 more tips to get you on your way.

Read more about our trip Idaho

Park Watch: Boise, Idaho

In case you ever need a play break along I-84...

Visit the Boise Parks page fore more information