When it is -2 degrees outside, the last thing you want to think about is sporting a swimsuit — unless you are Tan-Tar-A Resort in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri.

A few weeks back my gal pal Jessie and I spent the weekend in Lake of the Ozarks Missouri, and on our stop list was Timber Falls Water Park.  Our four kids ( my 6 and 10 year old, her 2 and 7 year old) absolutely love water and I have found swimming to be the best way to exhaust children….really!

Timber Falls Water Park is different than any indoor water parks I have visited in the past. Timber Falls is part of the Tan-Tar-A Resort, and. while it is open to the public, I noticed that it felt safer than the water parks that are attached to hotels and are advertised as public water parks.

When entering the water park we were greeted by desk workers that gave us our visitors bands, showed us where to get our towels, and pointed in the direction of the fun.  From the front door, there was only one way in and out of the water park, and that was through the locker room past the front desk.

We maneuvered our little herd of children through the dressing room, showered them, and then headed out for some fun.

The two older girls headed straight to the big slides. I think they must have gone down the slides several dozen times each — they wore me out just by watching them.

The two year old loved the smaller slides and we felt pretty confident that she was safe on the equipment.  My biggest fear was the giant bucket that dumps water on people standing below it, but she absolutely loved getting drenched.

The six year old loved the little slides, but was hesitant to try the bigger slides; he finally he convinced Mommy (me) to do it with him.  I am not a huge fan of slides, you can probably count on one hand how many slides I have done myself.  However, I put my fear aside and we hit the big slide — and survived. But I think we must have hit water doing 25 miles per hour … we slide almost to the edge of the pool! He was all giggles and begged me to go again … and I did.

We spent about three hours at the water park; the older kids could have spent all day, but the two year old was well in need of a nap.

Timber Falls Water Park offers day passes, resort packages, and specials; check with the website for more details.