I must say, the signs for the parks in Green River are much cooler than the signs in Rock Springs.
This summer is going by really fast, and if I'm going to get through all of the parks before summer's end, I'm really going to have to pick up the pace.
Yesterday we went to Blairtown Pool in Rock Springs. Some friends have been talking about taking our kids to the pools up in Rock Springs, but I've been a little nervous about that because when you have three kids who can't swim and only two hands, it's a little hard to help everyone. So I wanted to go on a day when Dean could come too first to see how it went. It helped that Isaac slept through the pool part of this park, so I didn't have to worry about taking him in, but actually, it would have been fine, the kids did great. The boys have been in swimming lessons all last week, and this week. I'm not sure I like how they squeeze all of the lessons into just two weeks, but it did make the kids a lot more comfortable with the water. The last time we took Andrew swimming, he was clutched tightly onto my neck the entire time, and I couldn't get him to go more than waist deep into the water without really freaking out. Even the foot deep wading pool my near my sister's house last summer, he really wasn't comfortable with. He is much more comfortable in the water now and really did great. At it's deepest point, the water goes right about to Andrew's shoulders, so we thought we'd go ahead and put floaties on Andrew just in case, which turned out to be fun because Andrew is getting pretty good at doggy paddling around with those floaties on.
He wasn't so sure about the slide. He always slowed himself down to drop gently into the water at the end. He had fun, and did it several times. Andrew's biggest comment about the pool would probably be about the bugs and the leaves in the pool. He was just fascinated by dead bugs floating around in the pool, but I told him, if we're going to go to an outdoor pool, that's what we're going to get. It really wasn't that bad.
Deano has always loved the water, and was super excited to come swimming here today. He's been doing well in swimming lessons too, although he doesn't listen and follow directions very well. All he wants to do is turn somersaults in the water again and again and could care less about the arm movements they're trying to teach him. We tried to work with him in the water today, but he wouldn't have any of it. He just wanted to swim and slide and go under the water again and again and again. I'm glad he had fun.
After the pool, Daddy and Deano went to get lunch, while Andrew and I explored the park. There are some big hills here that would be fun for ice blocking or sledding. On the other side of a big hill we discovered a baseball field that I was a little surprised was over there. The park is a lot bigger than I had initially thought. From the top of the hill Andrew saw a port-a-potty back down by the parking lot and decided he needed to go, which surprised me a little since he has been resisting all efforts at potty training. Daddy got back and we ate lunch at a picnic table there, under the shade of a tree. After lunch the kids ran off toward the playground, where I hoped to catch some pictures of them playing, but all they were interested in doing was playing in the sand. There are so few parks with sand these days, I think they're just so used to rubber, AstroTurf, and wood chips, that any time we come across a park with sand, it's just a novelty. They never did play on the playground at all, just played in the sand. Water and sand don't really make a great combination. After being wet from the pool, the sand stuck to them pretty bad. It didn't take long for them to dry off and get the sand off though. It reminded me of being at the beach.
In my mind at least, the coolest thing about this park is this zipline, although I'm sure Deano would disagree. He went on it once, and seemed to have fun, but then he went back to playing in the sand and refused to go again.
Andrew went a few times, twice by himself, and once with Daddy. He thought it was great!
It took a surprising amount of effort to get the kids up on the zipline. I was really glad Dean was there. We had to have someone to fetch the rope every time, someone to hold it still for the kids, someone to lift the kids up onto it, someone to hold the smaller kids on once they got up and run down with them. There were some older kids there who were taking turns, and it wasn't nearly so difficult for them, my kids are still pretty little though. I was grateful for the other moms there helping too. When all of the kids were finally done, Dean and I each took a turn. It really is pretty fun.
As we were leaving it occurred to me as we were leaving that maybe I should take a picture of the playground, since my kids never did play on it, and I couldn't tell you anything about it. That slide looks pretty fun.
We just went yesterday, and already the kids are asking to go again. I definitely think we're going to have to go again a few times this summer.
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