water walkers

[I wrote this post yesterday, but am just getting around to posting it.]

Today, we went to hang out with our homeschooling friends for some waterplay. We went out to one of the apparently many water parks in the area. Other than the exorbitantly expensive one that is much closer to us, I didn’t know about any water parks here.

So, today, one of our new homeschooling friends offered a ride to Pic and me so we wouldn’t miss this outing while Cardo worked.

Overall, we had a pretty great time. The place was incredibly cheap. Cardo kept making me tell him how little we paid to get in. (I paid $3.50 total for Pic and me.) There were six pools, with pools both inside and outside, and two water slides. There were also a couple of diving boards. In one of the pools, there were a few lanes for lap swimming and water walking. I'm not sure why, but I was especially amused by the "water walking" signs. You can probably imagine my visual.

I did say that a good time was had “overall.” There were a couple of moments of unrest. Pic wanted to jump from the low-dive, so I joined her in line and explained to her that I would like her to clear the board and that after she entered the water, she needed to get to the side of the pool so the next divers could enter. She climbed the three steps and walked about midway down the board. She peered over the edge and looked at me with uncertainty in her eyes. I asked her if she wanted to come back down and she nodded. I thought she’d be okay, but after she was back on the deck, I could see the tears welling up. In just a moment, she was sobbing. I was trying to figure out if she was scared or disappointed (I’m not sure when people start to feel disappointment in themselves and I sincerely hope she wasn’t feeling that). She told me that it was scary. I told her it was okay, that she didn’t have to jump if she wasn’t ready and we could go in another pool. I held her and she cried for a good bit. We played for a while longer and she tried the diving board once more. The second time she made it to the edge of the board, and, again, she turned back around to join me on the deck. The second time, however, there were no tears.

There were a couple of other moments of tears during our trip, but, overall? We had fun. After we told Cardo about it, he decided we’d be going back. I’m thinking that it’d be nice to visit especially once school resumes, although I didn’t feel it was overly crowded today.

We have another homeschool outing coming up this Saturday. An outing which will require plenty of sunscreen and possibly a bit of stamina. I hope I’ll actually take pictures at that event (I felt weird with my camera at the pool and I was afraid I’d get it wet, so it ended up in my locker with my shorts and top).

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Pic is right now laying next to me and I asked her if she had fun today and she said yes. I asked her what her favorite part was and she responded, “The hot.” We spent a good deal of our time in the therapy and relaxation pool. It was rather warm and went from two-and-a-half to four-and-a-half feet deep. Pic was adorable in her yellow, ruffled swim suit and facility-provided life vest. We'll definitely be visiting again.