More Catching Up

Here goes the rest of my recent happenings. On Sunday, I planned much of my day around the Red Sox baseball game. Baseball is one of the benefits of being on the West Coast-all the games are on and over 3 hours earlier. I get the pleasure of watching a normal Sunday afternoon game in the morning. After it's over, I still have the whole afternoon.

That afternoon, Auntie Mar and I headed out to run some errands before we were expected at Marna and Todd's for a birthday BBQ. We needed to hop over to the mall to return a couple items and over to Fred Meyers for some salad fixings. We also had to get our free cloth bag from CostPlus (to help keep GREEN). We were also on the hunt for some big water guns for the BBQ. If I were asked where we could find these, my immediate thought is Toys-R-Us. Nope...SOLD OUT!!! After getting home, I decided I would try back over at Freddies to see if they had a couple and I was successful.

While Uncle Mark caught the first few innings of the Mets game, the ladies headed down the road to the party. It was a nice evening in celebration of Todd's birthday. Marna and Todd have two little girls similar in age to Gwynn and Paige named Anna and Abby. Also at the party were Kelly and Laura with their little girl Kelsey and Shelly and Dave with their little girls Morgan and Taylor. Food, drink, conversation, and company made this a nice way to end the weekend.

Monday was going to be a Paige and Cousin Di day since Gwynn had been invited to join Kelsey and Anna at the zoo in celebration of Kelsey's "real" birthday. After Gwynn got picked up, Paige and I went out for a quick scooter ride that left me injured. Those Razor scooters are dangerous. I ended up falling off the thing when it hit a crack in the sidewalk. The scooter ended up twisting around and hitting me in the back of the leg. I even have a scrape and bruise from this little excursion. After, I tried to get find out how Paige wanted to spend the day. Her immediate answer was "ummm...let me think...the lake." I was willing to do anything but I really needed a break from the swim park. Auntie Mar reminded me of a pool in Portland called the Wilson Pool at Wilson High School. This is very similar to the Southwest Community Center Pool, only it's outside. It has a water slide and lazy river. I so wanted to go here. I found it on the Internet and showed Paige pictures. That got her more interested in the idea of going here rather than the lake.

When we arrived, Paige was so excited. She wanted to try out everything. We got right in and loved the temp of the water. It was warm enough to make Paige happy but cool enough to get relief from the sun. We swam around for a while but soon she was ready to try out the water slide. The pool does have a rule that all children under 48" must swim with an adult. I wasn't sure if this also applied to riding the slide. Our first trip down was together but our next try was with me going down first, followed by Paige. This allowed me to catch her. She LOVED it. I can't even tell you how many rides down we had. Each time, Paige reminded me (continually from the bottom to the top of the slide) to catch her.

In between trips down the slide, we enjoyed the lazy river, even though it was hard for Paige to trust that the current of the water would help move her. There was even a whirlpool that carried us around and around making it hard to escape from. While on the river, Paige recognized a friend from Touchstone Preschool. Her and Isabelle decided to swim together for a little while until Isabelle decided she wanted to try the diving board. I was sure that Paige would want to stay in the regular pool but she surprised me when she asked to go with Isabelle. I learned that Paige could jump of the diving board as long as I was there to catch her. To say that I was shocked when Paige actually jumped is an understatement. I was thrilled for her. She was so proud of herself. It was fabulous to see. She jumped one more time before the lifeguards came and told us that Paige could only go on the diving board if she was wearing a life vest. No big deal, we put one on and she continued to jump with Isabelle.

By 4:45, both Paige and I were ready to go home. We made it in time to join Auntie Mar on a walk down the road to Pizza Schmizza. We were going to meet Gwynn there with her friends from the zoo. On our way home, Gwynn asked all about the Wilson Pool showing her interest in us going on Tuesday. After dinner, I sat down to watch the home run derby but soon felt my eyes shutting and falling asleep on the couch. It had been a long day.

Today, one of the first things the girls asked for was to go to the Wilson Pool. Auntie Mar and Uncle Mark both went into the office today so we were without a car for the morning. The girls played Webkinz online in the morning, while waiting for Auntie Mar to get home. Once she did arrive, the girls were ready to go. We had some quick lunch and were in the car by 12:30. The excitement when we got to the Wilson Pool could be seen on both girls face. It could also be seen on my face when I learned that it was 2 for 1 Tuesday meaning I would only have to pay for one child. Yipee!!!

The girls waited patiently as I put sunblock on them but it wasn't soon enough cause they wanted to get in that water. Because swim lessons had just ended, the diving board was still closed. As soon as we saw the first child jump off, Gwynn and Paige were on their way to the board, Paige with her life vest on. Again, I couldn't believe it when I saw the girls jump off. Both girls got a couple jumps off when the lifeguard came to visit me again. This time to tell me that Paige could not wear a life jacket. I took this in and asked the life guard to clarify since I had two different rules being told to me. Either way, Paige would be allowed to jump in but I would still have to be there to catch her. No big deal, she still had fun.

We hung around for almost four hours, moving from the shallow pool to the water slide into the lazy river towards the diving board. The girls and I had a blast and I have a sunburn on my face to prove it. I'm sure this will be a spot we visit again in the coming weeks. It's hard to believe I have two and a half weeks left before we all fly home. This weekend should fly by since it will be just the girls and me. Auntie Mar and Uncle Mark will be going to Seattle Saturday morning and staying overnight. Stay tuned for details of the rest of the week.

Here's a slide show from our two days at Wilson Pool. See if you can find the sign from Nana.