Swimming Pool Breakthrough

This weekend we had a significant swimming pool breakthrough! Alyce went down the slide all by herself! Up to this point Alyce would have nothing to do with the slide and if she did manage to get to the top of the slide she would wait for us to hold her hand before she would go down. Luke her younger brother of 2 years already goes down the slide by himself but Alyce would have none of it.  All of that changed this weekend. I'm not sure if it was peer pressure or just the decision to do it but Alyce started going down the slide by herself.  When she did go down the first time both Mom and I cheered and clapped for her. I think Alyce was proud of herself too.

On top of the slide Alyce also started jumping into the pool without holding onto our hands too! Before then she would jump in but always had to maintain contact with Mom or I. She'd still only jump when we were nearby and she wanted us to catch her but separating ourselves just a few inches away is a major step.

One item that has been the most help in getting Alyce to do these things is a hat. How can something as simple as a hat do that? Well our slide area has lots of sprays and fountains which make the whole area act like it's raining. Alyce hates getting her face wet so avoids the whole thing. This weekend I gave her my baseball hat and even though it was too big for her head it kept the rain out of her face and she entered the rain without hesitation. Her floatie also deserves some credit. Her floatie is a combination water wings and life jacket. It goes on easy, doesn't inhibit movement, and provides a lot of stability so she doesn't bob in the water. Both Alyce and Luke have them and they love them.

Good job big girl both Mom and I are really proud of you.

Swimming Lessons

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.

Vacation Part 2

Our first full day in Branson was spent at White Water.  White Water is by today's standards a small water park.  It has a big wave pool and a lazy river, and a few slides.  The lack of slides wasn't a big deal for us since Alyce and Luke are too small for slides and Mom and I didn't have time or the manpower to ride them ourselves.  White Water was a big hangout for my brother and myself when we were young and our family would go to Branson for vacation. White Water played such a significant role we got a hotel room just across the street so we wouldn't have to fight traffic to get there.  The hotel we always stayed at was the Greenbriar Inn and it pleases me very much that it is still standing and doesn't seem to have changed a bit since I stayed there.  One of these days when our kids are older I'll have to stay there just for old times sake.

For us, we made an early start to the day we were walking in the front gate before lunchtime.  We wanted to get in as much time as we could because Luke usually takes a nap starting at 2:00 but sometimes earlier if he has a full morning.  We hit all the major sections of the water park.  Alyce played in the kids area while Luke was learning to walk in water up past his knees, we rode the lazy river for a few laps without inner tubes while the kids floated in their life jackets, and the big hit of the day was the wave pool.

Alyce has been in wave pools before but all the rushing water overwhelmed her and she really didn't go and try to experience the waves.  This time she discovered that she could jump over and splash into them resulting it a lot of fun.  Luke seemed to enjoy the wave pool by sitting in our laps as waves rush up over his legs.  In fact Luke seemed to enjoy the entire day.  Once he stopped fighting his life jacket and just relaxed he was one cool cucumber watching the world float by.

Alyce learned a new skill at White Water, how to balance.  Before now if Alyce was submerged from the shoulders down she didn't know how to use her arms and legs to balance.  If we were to let go of her she'd end up falling over to one side.  While taking our many trips around the lazy river she learned that small movements of her arms and feet could keep her upright.  She got so good at it she even let go of us as we floated around the river.

Mom did a great job keeping the kids bathed in sun screen as the only person to peel from overexposure to the sun was me.  Sadly we don't have any pictures of us at White Water as we didn't want to risk our camera getting wet or stolen.

We left the park at 3:30 totally exhausted.  We had a great time and felt like we got our money's worth.  Luke even managed to stay awake and happy the whole time.  Alyce was a big fan as she told all the kids at the playground later that night that we went to White Water!

Water Park

Sunday the family took a trip to Six Flag's Hurricane Harbor for some fun in the Sun.  We had to take Gram's and Papa's van to the park because ours died on Friday.  A dead fuel pump didn't dampen our spirits as we took Grams and Papa along with us.

We got a later start than we wanted.  It is never easy getting the kids both going in the same direction but throw in the fact that we had to put some "scum scream" (sun screen) and swim suits on the kids it gets even tougher.  To explain the "scum scream" quote from above, scum scream is Alyce's name for sun screen.  Her language is just about perfect to us but sometimes she will still butcher words giving both Mom and I a tickle.

At the park everyone had a good time.  Once a home base was found Alyce took off towards the kiddie play area.  The kids area had three parts.  A big rope house with lots of water jets, water slides, and a pirate ship.  The pirate ship was the area dedicated to kids Alyce's age.  The other two areas probably would have gotten her run over.  The first thing she did was go up in the pirate ship and down the slide.  She did it two more times and then something must have happened because she would have none of the slide.  She would go up in the ship, turn the captains wheel, and even look at the slides but not go down.  A few times the number of kids in the boat probably exceed a maximum threshold and parents weren't allowed up there (more on this later) so I'm guessing Alyce got spooked or pushed around by some other kids.  Alyce being the shy girl she is, shriveled from any sort of confrontation.  Later in the day Mom and I finally devised a way for Alyce to go down the slides but with our help.  One of us would be along the slide and as long as we held her hand she would go down without any trouble.  We didn't offer our hand unless she asked for it and sure enough a few times she did it without our help.

To better explain this pirate ship you go in it on one side and slide down the other.  This presents a dangerous situation for a parent.  Do you hold your child's hand after each trip down the slide to the stairs so they can go up the stairs and back down slide to be out of your sight before you get back?  Or do you wait at the bottom of the slide and let your kids out of your sight as they walk around the pirate ship and for you to catch them at the bottom.  In both cases a single parent has to let their kid out of their sight.  Ignoring drowning hazards in the 6 inch deep water in such a public place with so many people it is a recipe for a lost child.  Such an event happened to me!  One time Alyce seemed to be taking a bit longer get back up the stairs than she should and I started peering around for her.  Luckily looking through the pirate ship I saw her walking away from me and already 30 feet away.  I tried calling her over to me but due to all the running water around she couldn't hear me.  Panicked I ran around the ship (losing sight of her momentarily) and eventually caught up with her as she was over half way through the kid's play area.  I gave her that hug that parents give to kids they thought they'd lost even though she was only lost from me for about 20 seconds.  I told Alyce that she scared me and shouldn't wonder off and I'm sure she probably wandered what the big deal was as she knew where she was.

This is one of those lessons learned by a parent where they finally realized where their parents where coming from when they were grounded as kid.  Because when I was a bit old than Alyce I left home during nap time to see if preschool was still open without telling anyone where I was going.  Sorry Mom for scaring you like that.  I can only imagine what you were going through.

The only other event of note at the water park was the wave pool.  While I was holding Alyce she seemed to enjoy herself by going up and down with the waves.  I Kind of played it up a bit by jumping up saying "wee" when every wave came.

This was a good introduction into water parks for Alyce but me having to hold Alyce in the wave pool is highlighting the fact that she doesn't know how to swim and really isn't comfortable in water above her knees. I think it is time Mom and I find some swim class for her, even if they are early on a Saturday.

Swimming Pool Part 2

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.

Swimming Pool Part 1

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.

Big Fun at the Pool

Thursday the family along with our neighbors Jeff and Liz went to the local pool for some fun in the sun. At first Alyce was a little skittish of the water. She enjoyed walking around the baby pool and getting in and out of the pool, but wasn't interested in getting more than her legs wet. After a while we decided it was time for her to get really wet. We took her to the big pool and after a few minutes of being held she finally relaxed and began to enjoy herself. We sat on the seat in the big pool for awhile and then Jeff and Liz wanted to try out the lazy river. So, we did that for a little bit. Once we were finished with that, Alyce noticed the slide and she wanted to do that. Well, she's too small for the slide in the big pool, but they do have a smaller one in the baby pool area, so Daddy asked if she was big enough to slide on that one. She said yes, so up Alyce and Daddy went. I stood at the bottom of the slide waiting for her to come down. It didn't take her long and she was ready to keep doing it over and over. And over and over. We eventually made our way back into the big pool and Alyce had a floating toy with her this time. It's shaped like a ring and Alyce gets in the middle of it. It didn't take her long to figure out what it did, so she floated around a little bit. Then it was time to go home and gets some pizza!

Lake of the Ozarks Edition

For the next few days our updates will be flowing from the Lake of the Ozarks. That's right the family decided to take a little vacation. A trip away to recharge the batteries. Yeah right. We have an 19 month old whole just found that going to the pool is awesome. There will be no recharging here.

The car trip to the lake went rather well. Alyce slept for little over an hour as we took back roads to the lake rather than an interstate. Missouri has a lot of beautiful places and taking an interstate is a good way to miss them.

Getting back to pool. Alyce hasn't been to a pool since last summer and now that she is older she is better equipped to enjoy herself. And enjoy she did. At the resort we are staying at they have a baby pool where the water is only one foot deep. Alyce took to it without any hesitation. She wasn't sure how to move around through water, but quickly got her water legs. There was a little scare Alyce tripped and fell face first into the water. She is still a bit your to right herself in the water so we had to put her back on her feet. Her face was in the water for a second as we were closer than arms length but it drove home the point of how dangerous pools without parental supervision can be.