The family just recently joined the YMCA. We thought that we needed to take better care of ourselves now that life is settling back to normal. One other reason we joined was so that Alyce and Luke could learn how to swim.
We've pushed off lessons for Alyce for far too long. Luke is just at the perfect age. Luke's class level "skip" requires a parent to be in the water too. Alyce's class doesn't need parents, just 6 kids and the instructor.
Luke's class focuses on getting kids comfortable in the water. There were lots of babies in the class and a few around his age. The few times I checked in with Mom and Luke they seemed to be having fun. Luke already being comfortable in the water is definitely ready for the next level of classes.
Alyce's class consisted of 5 boys and Alyce. The instructor who couldn't be older than 18 took an immediate liking to Alyce. She said that she had a sister with Alyce's name. Alyce took a liking to her as well. The first half of the class Alyce seemed like a cat trying to get out of a tub. The second half of class she seemed to relax and have a good time. In her class they were learning how to kick, put the mouths in the water, and lay on their backs.
I'd say both kids enjoyed themselves and they wouldn't complain if we brought them back next week for another round of lessons.
While Mom was feeding Luke I took Alyce into the kids play area. The play area consisted of a big bucket that would constantly fill with water and then dump itself out. There were water shooters of all sorts of which most of them could be controlled by turning valves which I thought was a nice touch. Alyce was mystified and terrified at the big bucket of water. From a distance she would watch it go through its cycle, however, when up close she would jump every time it dumped. She got over her fear and she and I walked around the kids area playing with some of the water shooters. While in the area Alyce must have been really tense as she never let go of my hand if I could even manage to put her down. There was a tunnel that ran from one side of the tower to the other and Alyce was drawn to it. Once there weren't any other kids in the tunnel I brought Alyce over then she and I crawled inside. While in the tunnel the bucket above us emptied its contents right in front of us. This must have been more than Alyce was ready for; she started shaking and yelled "mommy!" at the top of her lungs. She never broke into tears and didn't run away from the play area so it must have been more surprise than fear.
After our time in the kids area I noticed that the skies were starting to darken. I knew that Mom wanted to ride the water slides before we left so I went to relieve her of Luke duty. Right about the time I got to Mom over the loud speaker we heard that swimming was to be suspended due to weather. The pool rule about weather was that when no thunder was heard for 30 minutes swimming would be resumed. We decided to stick around for a while since it wasn't too terribly hot, Luke was asleep, and we were enjoying ourselves. Mom, Grams, PaPa, and I relaxed while Alyce examined every square inch of deck chair and the surrounding area.
The thunder continued for a while and after some time Mom and I made the command decision to call it quits for the day. We were going to get our hand stamped just in case the weather were to improve. It turns out that we didn't need the stamp. While exiting we were presented with two rain checks good for another admission before the end of the season.
On Sunday Mom and I brought the kids along with Grams and PaPa to the pool. We wanted to get in the water a few more times before summer was over and the outdoor pools close. This time we decided to forego our usual pool and went a little farther to another municipalities pool. This pool is a bit more expensive (1$ extra per person), but it does give you your monies worth. This pool has a big kids play area, two water slides, and a lazy river with inner tubes (for free).
The weather map on Sunday didn't look too encouraging. Mom and I thought we should give it a shot since we there weren't many days left in the summer. A lot of people must have had the same dilemma and decided to stay home. When we reached the pool the parking lot was almost empty and there was only a handful people inside. With the pool being so empty we were able to stretch out and everyone got their own lounge chair. Luke didn't need one since his chair had wheels. We got Alyce into her life jacket and we were in the water.
It took a little while for Alyce and Luke to get used to the water. Alyce walked right into the pool and kept walking right to the point she couldn't touch anymore. I wasn't nearly as worried this time compared to the past as she was wearing a life jacket. I have to give PaPa and Mom some credit they got it to fit Alyce perfectly. The jacket didn't come up and strangle her even though she was relying upon it for buoyancy. Once we got Alyce off of her back, her feet underneath, and calmed down she wanted to swim towards the ladder. She did her best doggy paddle and with some help she made it up to and on to the ladder. Once Alyce was on dry land she would turn around and want to come back into the water. I would help her back in, she would swim towards Mom, sit down, and the process would repeat. Mom was holding Luke while in the water and it took him a bit to get used to the cool water. When first placed into the water he would arch his back in protest. Anytime more of his body was submerged he would protest anew. By the time I was holding Luke he was more than content to sit in the water and even kicked his feet and bit.
After the pool we wanted to try the lazy river. I would say the lazy river is the best part about this pool. For the cost of admission you can get an inner tube and ride all day in a big circle while going underneath two waterfalls to cool off. There are single and double tubes available and for those with small kids they make a double tube where one of the tubes is solid so the kids can't fall through (brilliant!). Mom took Luke and I took Alyce with Grams and PaPa following behind. We had a great time taking a few laps around the pool. Alyce wasn't a big fan of the water falls and wanted me to "go around" rather than get her wet. I made half hearted attempts to keep her dry but I wanted Alyce to experience getting drenched. After a few laps Luke was getting hungry so Mom, Luke, and I got out while Grams took Alyce for another two laps in the river. By the end Alyce wanted to get out.
