Category: Swim

Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, St. George Utah

 There’s nothing quite so nice as cooling off in the pool after a hot day of hiking. So, on our recent trip to Utah’s Snow Canyon State Park, we took an afternoon off to go play in the water. 
I was impressed with St. George’s swimming facility the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center.  In addition to multiple lap lanes, complete with handicap access, there was a separate play pool with a water slide, lily pad cross, tiny tot area, and whirl pool.

Big E and little g loved the spray toys and wading area, and I loved that they provided complimentary life jackets for children under three.
The admission price of $5.50 youth or $6.00 adult for non St. George residents was a little steep for a swimming pool, but once I saw all the different activities inside, I felt it was worth the cost.
 I was also impressed with the family locker area. As a mother of young kids I’m always looking for the easiest way to manage bathrooms in public, and often traditional women’s restrooms are just not as well equipped for the little ones. The showers in the family area were like walk in closets, with floor to ceiling opaque doors and hooks for towels and clothing.

You’d think with all that I could’ve kept little g from exposing herself, but I have to admit there were a few naked baby sightings that day.

We had a great afternoon at the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center in St. George, and if you’re planning a trip to St. George Utah with kids, it’s a great place to go.

Island Park, Idaho Day 2 – Snowmobiling and Swimming

Snowmobiling is one of Mountain Dad’s true joys in life.  His Christmas gift a month ago was the Polaris RMK 2013 model, seen here with me riding.

So we had been looking forward to this snowmobiling trip for a while.  Island Park has some amazing snowmobile trails and everyone who comes to stay in the winter comes with that purpose in mind.  I had never seen snowmobiles driving right up to the gas station or congregated in groups greater than thirty, but that’s the norm here in snowmobiling heaven.
Unfortunately Mountain Dad wasn’t able to fully enjoy this Mecca of snowmobile culture.  While unloading the truck he re-injured his sore rib, an injury he received by falling off his snowmobile three weeks before.  On the drive up he was feeling pretty positive about the injury so it was a slap in the face when he hurt himself before the trip really even started.  Well, I guess it was more a punch in the chest.  My doctor sister who was on the trip with us said it was most likely broken and the only real treatment was to let it heal on its own.  Needless to say Mountain Dad was bummed…and in pain.  Great start to the trip!
Since Mountain Dad was out of commission we decided to have a ladies’ ride.  Although snowmobiling is not my first choice for a snow sport, it is extremely fun.  I got to go fast and see beautiful trees and scenery.  Even my niece Cara enjoyed riding along with her mom. It was, truly, a ladies ride and lots of fun.
  
That wasn’t the end of the day, however.  Big E needed to get out of our two bedroom condo, for all of us to have some sanity.  As nice as the accomodations at Island Park Village Resort are, an exuberent three-year-old can’t be contained for long.  We took Big E and his cousins, Tyler and Ryan to the clubhouse for some swimming. Here they are in snow boots, coats and swim trunks. 
I really liked the clubhouse, since it was full of fun activities for kids. A ping pong table, foosball table, movies, arcade games were available for kids plus a sauna and workout room for adults.  There was a WARM pool, which was amazing, two smaller hot tubs and a kiddie pool only two feet deep that was the perfect temperature for a kids hot tub.  Together with my sister Heather we made whirlpools, played Marco Polo and splashed…a lot.

Big E does not know how to swim on his own yet.  Usually we have him in a life jacket at all times, but of course, I forgot to pack that. So instead I was on full time life guard duty.  And let me tell you, that kid would’ve drown fifty times over had Heather or I not been right there the whole time.  He is a wild child who can’t touch the bottom of the pool, yet jumps in with grand gusto at every turn. Whether an adult was in the pool to catch him or not he would jump in to the middle of the pool then flail and kick until someone who could touch the bottom helped him to the side.

His favorite phrase of the day was, “I want to do it myself!” which was usually accompanied by him pushing my arm away from holding him up in the water.  I thought of just letting him figure it out on his own but it caused me too much panic.  At one point he stood on the side of the pool and fell straight backward without even looking behind him.  He is fearless…I don’t know that it’s a good thing.

Day two came to a beautiful end and even though Mountain Dad was injured most of us had a really good time.  

Seashore Babies

My family had a big reunion at Laguna Beach, CA. First you must know that I came from a large family which has grown exponentially. Little g is less than a year old and is one of four babies born in the last 10 months. With such a large group it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of cousins.

We loved our trip! Mountain Dad loved body surfing, swimming and body boarding. Big E loved cousins and digging in the sand. Little g loved grandma, and trying to eat the sand which Mountain Mom did NOT like. Overall we loved the sand, sun and family. Can’t wait till next year! Continue reading “Seashore Babies”

Happy Birthday to Me!



For my birthday yesterday my husband and I (along with his brother and family) took the kids to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, UT. The photo on this website http://www.crystalhotsprings.net/ is slightly deceiving; it doesn’t look quite that nice in the middle of January, but it was still fun.

Crystal hot springs is a series of pools built around naturally occurring hot springs. The temperature of the water ranged from 70 to 108 degrees depending on which pool you went to. Big E, my two year old, ran pell mell between the 96 degree pool and the 70 degree pool. All I can say is that 70 degrees is not that warm when your body is accustomed to 96. E didn’t mind though, he was all about jumping in the freezing water polar bear style. Thank goodness for life jackets.
Little g on the other hand didn’t know what to think. Most of the time she just slept in her car seat but for the short time she was swimming with us there was definitely some crying. Overall she did great just gliding around being held by mom or dad but when she first got in the pool she let out a wild woman scream that would seem like we were torturing her. And according to some fellow pool goers we were.
Two women approached me to warn me about the mineral content of the pools, which is the highest in the US and possibly the world. Lithium is especially high here, which is a main ingredient in antidepressants. Many people come to these pools for that purpose, a natural mood lifter. However the effect of these mineral pools on small children is unknown. Being properly concerned I took little g out, rinsed off and put her in her car seat for a nap. However, Big E was not to be stopped so if there are lasting effects from this mineral soak I will let you know. I’m not too worried since he was jumping in the freezing water pool and running around the deck for the majority of the time anyway.
For me Crystal Hot Springs was a fun excursion with my family. I wanted to go there specifically because it’s warm and my kids could swim outside in January. However, others apparently felt I was encroaching on their healing bath. As one older gentlemen left the pool he mumbled under his breath, “Doesn’t anyone have jobs? What are they teaching these kids, that they should just play all the time?” Uh, yeah. Kids should play, that’s their job.
At one point when cousin E slipped and bonked her head, another pool goer, who thought mom reacted too slowly yelled, “Are you just going to watch her drown? That’s the second time she’s done that!” Cousin E was crying, mom was comforting her and a few minutes later all was well, except for the awkward feeling in the air. Why do people feel the need to comment on other people’s parenting? They shouldn’t judge the mother of an independent 18 month old because she’s letting her daughter explore with mom was 10 feet away.
Overall we enjoyed the trip, enjoyed the warmth and enjoyed each others company. I encourage any other mountain moms and pops to take their kids there and enjoy the pools and summertime waterslide. Just use common sense and ignore others’ rude comments.
Bonuse: my skin feels extra soft today, thanks mineral bath! 🙂