Regular Life

Last week while I was off work, we had another first, and it was a blast.

One nice thing about living in a major metro area is that there’s almost no limit to the options available as long as you can cover the admission price. Laughter was the sound of the day as we stomped, splashed, slithered, and swooshed our way around the Don Rodenbaugh Natatorium in Allen, Texas.

That brings us to the word for today: natatorium. Strictly speaking it’s a building housing a swimming pool. By today’s standards, however, it means waterslides, diving boards, a lazy river, lap pools, kiddie toys, and more. With a child (barely) under five years of age, we only scratched the surface, but Benjamin never stopped smiling.

Well, except for the time he bonked his head on a steel pipe. That’s always good for at least a frown and maybe a tear or two.

Warning: photos of pasty white man and his son of similar complexion follow

Just inside the building’s front door was the climbing wall. Because we hadn’t brought the right shoes for Ben to try that, we had to tell him “no” right away. Generally that’s not a good way to start a fun outing, but he barely blinked as we paid for our armbands and headed to the waterpark area.

And, before that door swung shut behind us, we promptly told him “no” again. He had caught site of the giant waterslide and said, “I want to go on that!”

Shannon quickly noticed a sign declaring that anybody shorter than 48″ is not allowed on the first thing Ben wanted to ride. Benjamin’s body is not 48″ yet, and apparently won’t be for quite some time to come.

He took that well, and happily watched a few minutes later as I climbed the stairs to the top of the big slide and giddily slid down the curvy tube to the splash pool. Naturally, I had to try that again later just to make sure the slide was safe for everybody else.

It was hard to get very many good pictures because of the relatively dim lighting and the copious splashing. To get close to the action I had to zoom, which on inexpensive lenses means less light-gathering ability, slower shutter speeds, and blurry pictures (yes, Nikon makes inexpensive zoom lenses). I could have cranked up my ISO and worked the room, but I was there to have fun, so I put the camera away.

I’m glad I did, and I need to do that more often. It might make for less visual wrap-ups, but that’s probably for the best considering that my inability to pick just one or two representative photos generally results in image overload. Before we got wet I panned the room for later photo stitching, and Shannon managed to get a few shots.

The Natatorium is at the top of our list of glee-inducing places. And at $5 for unlimited time, a severe case of prune hands is about the only concern.

Next time out? That climbing wall is ours.