Water Baby

I think the highlight of the weekend for Miss Mouse was probably our trip to the local Aquatic Center. And my, oh my, it is quite a place. There are water slides and a lazy river and diving boards for the big kids, and a huge decked-out baby pool called The Pond for the little ones. And the price of admission? $1.50 for the little ones, $5 for a grownup. Let's contrast that with Pittsburgh's main water attraction which charges a whopping $29.99 for the privilege of cavorting there.

In any case, my little water baby took to The Pond with wild enthusiasm. Her favorite thing was a kid-sized (though still big!) water slide in the persona of a giant beaver. Up into his mouth you climb and come sliding down his back amidst a spray of water. Once she got up the nerve to go down the first time, there was no holding her back.



She also gamely mounted the steps for a much larger, spiral water slide (and loved it), but the only route up to the slide involved going under a waterfall and my parenting conscience wouldn't let me keep taking her through that because she didn't have ear plugs and -- as an ear tube baby -- she's not supposed to get water in her ears.

We took a million pictures, but sadly many of them were marred by the persistent presence of a whale in black swimming suit, towering blubberishly over the small and nimble toddlers. Sadly not even the ever-fashionable little skirt ruffle on my swimwear could mask the immensity of my thighs. And because this is my blog, I retain the right to not post pictures in which I appear to be the size of a small country. So there.