Wet and Wild Water Park Adventures

The best thing about summer is the water park down the street. It’s located at the park where I have been enjoying the playground since spring. I was a frequent visitor last summer as well, but I was too little and spent my time watching from the safety of my stroller.

That’s not the case this year. Now that summer is in full swing and complete with heat waves, I have been running with the big kids and making use of everything that playground and water park has to offer. We’re really lucky to have such an amazing play friendly area that close to our house and we don’t even have to pay to use it.

The playground is pretty great with its swings, slides, and various structures for me to explore, but it doesn’t compare to the water park area. There are colourful poles and tubes that shoot and spray water, a misting tunnel, a turtle with water coming out of its back, a structure with overhead buckets that can tip over and soak you when you least expect it, giant cattails that spray water out of the top, and a few surprises that pop up from time to time. Best of all, there are puddles everywhere!

For extra fun, each of the water park structures and components turns on and off periodically to keep you on your toes. One moment you’re enjoying the misting tunnel when it suddenly shuts off. You take off for the cattails in pursuit of the refreshing water you see raining down. You’re half way there when a geyser suddenly erupts out of the ground right before you. It’s great fun and I could easily spend most of the day there.

When I’m not exploring one of the features of the water park, or running around to catch the water that’s raining down all over the place, then I’m splashing in one of the puddles. There are some really good puddles next to the drain areas. My personal favourite is the huge puddle in the corner. It’s practically knee-deep! At least it’s knee-deep for me. I get in there, stomp around, and reach down to slap my hands on the water’s surface. I spend at least half of my time at the water park in that puddle.

The whole time I’m playing mommy is patrolling the perimeter of the water park trying to keep an eye on me without getting herself overly wet. Sometimes she succeeds and comes home relatively dry. Other times mommy gets too close and is caught off guard by the row of nozzles hidden on the ground next to the giant puddle. Just like all the other features at the water park, these nozzles like to blast out water when you’re not looking.

The water park is where we go on really hot days. I would like to go every day but mommy says the water is too cold to enjoy unless it’s a very hot day. Hot days don’t make the water any warmer but then it feels refreshing instead of making us feel cold. I never feel cold. I’m too busy running around.

Mommy monitors my time at the water park carefully and doesn’t let me stay there for more than an hour. There is no shade at the water park and mommy doesn’t want me to get a sunburn. Every time we go mommy starts to worry about me after about thirty minutes but I’m always having way too much fun to go home. Somehow I always manage to convince mommy to give me that full hour of outdoor fun.

Every time I’m at the water park I feel full of energy but once we get home I’m completely drained. After a quick rinse in the tub and a snack, I like to have a nice nap. Those naps after the water park are the best. I never sleep better!