After all my previous griping about the high cost of admission to Splash Lagoon, I took the girls there yesterday for a last Splash of summer.

I was thrilled a few weeks ago when the newspaper contained a post-it note from Splash Lagoon advertising a buy 2 get 1 free deal. I'll take that bait.

With my coupon and the gift cards I'd been saving up I didn't even have to spend a dollar out of the weekly budget (which is good because I need to find $1,000 to rescue my car).

It was surprisingly busy for an idle Monday afternoon, but we had a blast and it was nice to lay around and relax -- lounging around in warm water for hours on end.

Of course, I paid for it later -- with two overly tired kids flailing themselves around the kitchen at 5:30 p.m. and a houseful of housework (and take-home work) I had left behind.

In the end, though, Splash Lagoon really is worth the money, time and temper tantrums.