September 23: Holland Aquatic Center

I grew up in Holland and took swimming lessons at the Holland Community Pool twice a year from a young age through middle school.  The pools and pool deck were basic and served the needs for swimming lessons and competitions.  Since then, I'd heard the pool had been redone and made into an aquatic center, but I hadn't been there.  I discovered through grkids.com that the Holland Aquatic Center had a Tot Time Monday through Friday from 10am - 12pm and decided to visit my mom who has Thursdays free and check out the "new" place.

The new center is AMAZING!  There's a weight room, therapy pool, lap pools, and this fabulous Splash Zone.  The Tot Time is when kids six-years-old and younger can play in the Splash Zone (an adult must accompany them).  I LOVE that the kids can play without worrying about bigger kids coming to take over the play area, etc. 



Cute in her suit!



My mom met us there, and thanks to her coupon book (and Ty and Brielle being 2 and under), we only paid $8 for 5 of us to swim!  Gotta love buy one, get one free coupons!   The boys were excited about spending time there after seeing the splash zone from the windows in the entry way.  After a quick change in the locker room, we headed out to the splash zone.  Koen dove in immediately, loving all the activities and water wheels (kids can control some of the water sprayers).  Tysen wasn't so sure at first, but after a while he was in the pool splashing and playing, too.  Brielle just took it all in...we never saw a real smile, but she did well.  The water was so warm that once I got wet it was hard to be out of the water...maybe Brielle felt the same way. 


We spent about an hour playing in the Splash Zone and then dried off so we could go visit Grandpa during his lunch break.  This is something that would be great to do again, especially mid-winter when we need to do something fun and active in a non-freezing environment.  There were only five other families/groups there so it was easy to share the space. 



Ty and Grandma Smits



Driving home again, I realized that our times of doing things like this with all three kids are becoming limited.  Next year, Koen will be in school all day, every day, so we won't be able to take off for Holland for the day in the middle of the week and include all the kids.  That's a little sad for me, but I know that's all part of growing up.   



Koen on the tire swing.

















June 25: Lamar Park Splash Pad

Some friends from church planned a morning at Lamar Park Splash Pad in Wyoming, MI, so we joined in the fun!  Recently, we had visited a splash pad in the Lansing area when we visited Uncle Ethan and Aunt Tracy and had a blast!  This splash pad is much closer and just as fun, even though it's a smaller place.  One of the perks is that it is TOTALLY FREE! 

There were only two downsides to this trip...first, the water was a bit frigid making the kids shiver more than once, but the sun was out and that helped.  The other was that every once in a while the water just stopped spraying and we all just stood around for a minute or two until it started up again (yes, I played in the splash pad, too).  Not a big deal, especially for a FREE park, but something worth noting. 

One great thing was the set up of this place.  The splash pad is situated right next to a play area, so the kids could go back and forth between the two (see the pictures at the top of the page).  There's also a pavilion there which offers great shade.  Lamar Park is a huge place, and we only played in this little area, so I know there's more to do there.  Here's the website in case you're interested in finding out more:  Lamar Park