Fun in the sun

About a half mile from my parents' house is a municipal pool with a great preschooler area. There's a pool that's zero depth entry on one side, and gradually deepens to 18". It was only this empty because it was safety break for 10 mins. Erik was lukewarm about the pool. He walked in it with us, trying to lift his feet very, very high with each step to step over the water. What he really loved was ...

this totally rad splash pad. In the back you can see the rainbow shower area which was of no interest to him, or anyone else. The hot activity was this "Water Factory" as the girls in the far back left of the picture called it. Water sprayed from the fountain, was directed into three different troughs, each had foam levers to raise and let water flow or lower to dam the water. There were foam gears to spin the water wheels and one side had three basins that drained. Erik loved it, and the big kids ran around like maniacs, collecting water in buckets and dumping it back into the fountain. Eventually it started to rain and then a lifeguard spotted lightning so we left. But we'll be back. Oh yes.