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.

















July 10: Last swimming lesson session

Today was the last day for Koen & Tysen to have swimming lessons.  They both received certificates for their work, and Koen passed on to the next level!  Both boys have improved greatly and are a little sad that the session has come to an end.  We've been able to swim quite a bit lately in other pools, and Koen has become so confident in the water, in part due to the lessons he's had.  Ty isn't always as excited to be in the pool, but he does fine and I'm sure will become more confident and excited about it as he grows older.

June 19: Swimming Lessons

Seth, Tysen, and Koen waiting for lessons to begin.

This is the third time our kids have taken swimming lessons through the East Kentwood Aquatic Center, and we continue to enjoy the program!  The teachers are wonderful and the class sizes are perfect.  The other sessions our kids have been in classes with only one or two other kids.  This time around, Tysen's Parent-Child class has 10(!) kids in it, but then there are two instructors.  Koen still only has three other kids in his class, so the ratio is wonderful! 

Koen's first day last summer was traumatic for both him and me.  He screamed most of the time and the swim lesson coordinator asked me to leave the room, thinking that might help Koen settle down.  After that class, we decided to change class times and do a parent-child session with him which helped greatly!  Tysen and Seth joined in the last few of those classes just because Tysen was super interested and the teacher said it would be OK (at no cost!). 

The second sesson last fall went much more smoothly, and this sesson continues with that trend.  The boys really enjoy swimming lessons, and I enjoy watching them have fun while their confidence in the water grows. 

East Kentwood Swimming Lessons