Watermine

Summer in Northern Virginia is a mixed blessing for this Canadian.  While my family had snow June 1st, I was suffering through a week on 40 degree weather (Celsius that is ~ 104 F), I'm really not sure who had it worse.  But the nice thing about living here is that when it's warm there are so many nice pools where we can cool off in.  Our favorite at the moment is the Watermine.  It's the perfect waterpark for young kids and we go fairly often.

Our last trip gave us the opportunity to try out our new water camera, while we still need to do a bit more testing, like taking pictures under water, but it did do a good job of getting nice a wet.

What are you doing to me?

This sure is fun

Family floating time 

Watch out for the waterfall

Again, again

Yuck a frog swallowed me

Big Boy Slide

NO! He is not peeing

Please Touch Museum - Top Floor

Our first stop on our Philly tour was the Please Touch Children's Museum.  The Please Touch Museum was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Philadelphia in the first place.  However I must say I was a little let down and I don't think it lived up to the best Children's Museum in the USA.  That is not to say that everything was a let down just some parts.  It might not be the best Children's Museum in the US but I'm sure it's one of the top 10 (but I've only been to 2 so it's in the top 2 I've been to).

Our first area we tackled was River Adventures.  I am pretty sure that Tavish had a great time here as we had to coax him to move to another area but he's 3 and likes pretty much every water table he's been to.  In comparison to other water exhibits this one was just okay.  It had the potential to be great but I think a lot of it was not working properly.  I am pretty sure there was a wave simulator that was not working and there were not many boats and ducks for the kids to play with (there were not many kids yet).  When I compare this water exhibit to the one at Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore, Baltimore wins.  (sorry there are no pictures I was feeding Callen and I had the cameras)

Once we got Tavish away from the water, we moved on to the Roadside Attraction.  This was really well done and quite a lot of fun.  There were lots of cars for the kids to play with and even a real SUV which kids could play in and fill up with gas (the gas was not real).  Tavish's favorite was the crane which he could operate to pick up balls.  The best part of the crane was it was timed so that no child could "hog" the crane. (one of my huge pet peeves).  We played here early in the morning so it was not that busy and Tavish did not have to wait long to play but when this area gets busy I could imagine there might be some unhappy kids.

 Tavish on the job

Fill it up please

From the road we moved to the sky into Flight Fantasy.  This was another fun area but only because it was not crowded (yet).  The highlight was the flying rocket ships where kids could make their own rocket ship and then launch them.  

 Tavish would not leave this ball dropper

 Going for a run

Callen even enjoyed this area

Rocket Launcher

Our final stop on the top floor was the program room where Tavish had no interest in doing the craft but beelined for the trucks.  The crafts that they demonstrating looked like a lot of fun but like I said the trucks were much to distracting.  

 Trucks, Trucks, oh wait this one is broken

 Oh a propeller...Can I eat it?

Hey Tavish! I want a ride.

Wow there is a lot to do here and I have a lot to say so I'm going to leave the bottom floor for another post.

Sorry about the quality of pictures I'm still working on how to get good shots of kids in a museum.

Time for a Swim

As a former lifeguard & swim instructor I think swimming is really important.  I also think that the earlier you get kids into the pool the better.   I know some people may disagree with me and I'm by no means an expert.  I do know that my boys love the water even though we don't go swimming as much as we should.  Tavish was 6 weeks old the first time I took him swimming.  He lasted about 7 minutes or so before he started to get cold but he really seamed to enjoy it.  I started to take him every few weeks and even took him to a diaper fit class ( an aquafit class for moms with babies in boats - wish they had it here).  To this day he loves swimming, jumping in the water, blowing bubbles and won't cry when I stick his head under the water (I did that early too around 6 months or so).

Tavish's First Time Swimming

Now Callen loves the water even more so than Tavish did, bath times are when he gives his biggest smiles.  With two kids it's not as easy to go swimming but when my parents were visiting we took Callen for the first time.  He LOVED it.  He could have stayed in the water for hours.  I have to say I'm looking forward to this summer while I have 2 pools within walking distance so he'll catch up on his swimming then.

Callen First Time Swimming 

(sorry about the bad quality, it was really humid in the pool)

Tavish having fun

Tips for taking babies swimming
-keep babies warm (a onesie is a good to have under the swimsuit)
-don't plan on staying long - depending on the water temperature and the baby's temperament, a baby may only like the water for a few minutes
-take bath times as a cue for when a baby is ready for swimming.  If your baby hates a bath then they will most likely hate the swimming pool; wait until they like a bath before you take them to the pool
-go as often as you can and find a friend to go with you as it makes it more sociable for both you and your baby
-go when the pool is not busy - during the week in my experience tends to be much quieter than on the weekend, during the day when kids are in school is the best
-make swimming fun, sing songs, bring toys
-swim diapers are a must and they usually need to be combined with a swimsuit (many pools don't allow a baby in just a swim diaper), I prefer cloth swim diapers but I also prefer cloth diapers but there are many disposable swim diapers too

You should not be nervous about taking your child swimming, think of it as a giant bath.  If you need help just ask a lifeguard or take a swimming class.  Taking babies swimming not only is it fun but it will make learning to swim much more enjoyable for the child, the parents and the lifeguard (there is nothing worse than teaching a kid to swim who won't get into the pool) .

Tavish at swimming lesson in the summer