Today marked the first day of me taking the kids with me to the extraordinarily awesome pool at our new gym.  We arrived at about 12:30 p.m. after lunch and I dropped the kids off at the very posh childcare facility.  This place is a very well thought-out area that boasts a huge human jungle gym, a kiddie size basketball court, arts and crafts area, outdoor play area (complete with turf and all), and a mini-computer lab featuring non-internet and educational computer games for kids. 

What I love about the facility is the security they have there.  I love that upon our arrival, they take the kids' pictures and match those to the pictures and names on my member account.  Then they ask me where in the gym I'll be in case they need to page me.  (If they can't get you to respond to a page, they send someone after limo-style, complete with a whiteboard bearing your name all across the gym.)  Then they print off these little name tag labels with the kids' names, my name and my whereabouts, at which point they press the magic button from the inside of the employee-only counter and the door magically opens to let the kids through.  After N&W saw what they were walking into, it was all over.  I didn't even get a kiss, a hug, or even a good-bye. 

I set out for my hour long workout, which today consisted of the stair-master and stationary bike.  Yeah, today was all about a lower body workout.  And, damn, if I'm not so completely sore!  But it's a hurt that feels good.  After about 40 minutes of cardio, I went about to the machines and did some leg strengthening exercises, and of course worked a bit on my abs. 

Afterwards, I headed back downstairs to the child care center and picked up the kids.  N was playing with a huge wooden train set when I arrived and W was coming down the slide, I think.  They were eager to leave once I asked them if they wanted to head over to the pool.  So, we gathered our things, went through the very thorough check-out process at the child care center and headed over to the family locker rooms.  We quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the outdoor pool.

Now there are a couple of things it will take some getting used to about our new resort pool.  One is they don't allow floaties.  They do, however, provide kids' life jackets for your use.  I quickly tossed our floaties back into my bag and began strapping the kids into their life jackets.  N asked me repeatedly if he'd be able to float in it.  I tried to assure him that he would be fine in it.  Having just worked out and only eaten a light lunch a few hours before, I was starving so we headed to the poolside snack area and the kids got a lemonade slushie each and I ordered an all natural hot dog with lots of mustard!  YUM!  We finally made it into the pool and N actually saw a friend of his that he'll also be playing soccer alongside in a couple of weeks.  They had fun swimming and chatting it up.  N made it perfectly clear that he wanted to go down one of the [ginormous!] pool slides so I found a lifeguard and asked her about the age limits, etc.  Now here's where it gets interesting.  The second thing that will take some getting used to is the fact that everyone has to go down the slide one at a time AND there are sans wearing any life jacket or floatie type thing.  GASP!  N about died.  He was so sad.  I told him that his swimming skills really are good and that he should just give it a try.  Besides, once you reach the bottom of the slide and are catapulted into the water, there's a lifeguard at the bottom and it's a short doggie-paddle over to the side wall. 

He went up the stairs to get on the slide twice before finally doing it the third time.  As he was coming down the slide finally, I got a peek at his big grin which quickly turned to crying once he reached the water.  The lifeguard pushed him over towards the wall and he quickly paddled to make it the rest of the way.  Yes, he did sink into the water momentarily but he was fine.  He was just feeling a bit overwhelmed I guess because he cried for about the next three minutes and wanted to swim off alone.  So, I left him alone and let him be.  All the while his friend was following him around to congratulate him on going down and saying to him, "you did it!".  N just needed some time to himself for a while because eventually he came over to W and I and was fine. 

On the way home, we had a discussion about bravery and how I was so proud of him for going down the big slide without his floaties.  I know that he doesn't like that's the way it has to be but in the long run I think it's best.  It will force him out of his comfort zone and hopefully, give him more confidence about his swimming capabilities.