Sunday, July 31, 2011

Shelbyville–Forest Park Aquatic Center

Saturday was going to be another hot day, and we were looking for something fun to do with the kids.  Looking around on the internet, we found the Aquatic Center in Shelbyville’s Forest Park.  It looked promising, so we decided to take a drive to that side of the lake, drive through the Lithia Springs Campground (another COE park that we had considered) to check it out, and then go to the Aquatic Center.

With our plan in place, we had a quick lunch and changed into bathing suits.  It was about a 20 minute drive the the other end of the lake, through corn and soybean fields.  At Lithia Springs, we obtained a “Sightseer Pass” from the gate attendant, and drove through the 4 campsite loops.  This is a more popular campground, and it was almost full, but not suitable for our big rig!  They have one full hookup loop (D leg), and a beach within the campground (off C leg), but each leg ends in a very tight turnaround.  We could never get our rig around those turnarounds!  So, even thought several sites are technically long enough, this campground is not really big-rig friendly.  Lots of trees overhanging the roads, too!

From there, we drove into Shelbyville and right to Forest Park.  We paid our $5/person entrance fee and found a group of chairs under a giant umbrella.

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The pool included a zero depth entry area for small kids, up to 3’6”, then a larger area that was 4’0” to 5’0”, a smaller area that was 11’0” with a diving board and slide, and a waterslide that ended in a 3’6” pool.

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The largest area of the pool – 4’0” through 11’0”

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The very popular waterslide – No, I didn’t go down it!

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The kiddie area of the pool – complete with water fountain and frog slide!

In the building they have mens’ and womens’ locker rooms, a family changing room, and a concession stand.

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Lots of big umbrellas for people who need to be in the shade.

The kids headed right for the waterslide,

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and it didn’t take long for the big kids to join in the fun!

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Todd gets the prize for making the biggest splash – in and out of the pool!

They certainly had a blast on the slide, and I would have loved to join them, but at Bryce’s insistence (Please Mom, don’t go on the slide!), I just stayed in the pool.  That was refreshing enough!

Next, the group headed down to the deep end to try out the other slide and the diving board.

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They had fun on that one, too, but not quite as much as on the twisty slide!  Tom and Todd decided that they needed to check out the kiddie area, and rest for awhile!

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They’re just a couple of big kids!

It was a great way to spend a hot day, and well worth the $5/person entrance fee! 

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Staying cool!

After a few hours, we packed up and headed back to the campground so we could get cleaned up in time for church at 5pm. 

While we were gone, Todd got a fire going and we had pizza pudgie pies and hot dogs for dinner.  We had quite a bit of thunder and lightening while we were cooking our dinner, but the storm stayed south of us and we never got any rain.

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It cooled off nicely, and turned out to be a good night for a campfire!

There’s nothing like a busy day at the pool to make everybody sleep good at night . . .

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. . . or even in the afternoon! 

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