Back in April, I bought a summer pass to my local rec center in order to try to get swimming worked into our family's summer activities, and more specifically it is a low impact exercise for me to strengthen my core. The pass was $150 for five months, May through September. I thought I'd give an update for how it all worked out.
We did, indeed, go swimming more than we ever have in the past. This outcome was not difficult to achieve since one swimming outing per summer was a high water mark. However, I think the summer pass is a little deceptive.
The rec center has two pools, an indoor pool and an outdoor pool. The outdoor pool is the expected domain of children. The indoor pool is for rec center swimming lessons, lap swimming, and water aerobics. It isn't that there isn't open areas in the indoor pool to swim and play. It's that children get hard looks if they are present in an unstructured way. How to say this? The body language of the older people seems to indicate that perhaps a truce has been violated. So the outdoor pool it is.
The outdoor pool suits the swimming desires of the children nicely, except it is only open from Memorial Day until the day before county's public school starts. That's the first week of August. All this means that in reality the five month swimming pass only equals two and a half months of swimming in the outdoor pool. (Why is the outdoor pool season so short when even today, October 6, the high is 88 degrees? I do not know.)
My initial goal was to get to the rec center once a week all summer. So how'd it go?
We did not go to the rec center at all in May. We were behind in school and I was unwilling to take time away and risk extending school into June.
June arrived and I was determined. We went once a week the first three weeks in June. During the last week in June, the four older kids spent the week with my parents, but I was not going to skip my swimming trip. I dutifully brought Ella to childcare to stay by herself and went to the pool. I was pulled out of the pool within ten minutes because Ella never stopped screaming.
The first week in July was very busy with travelling so we skipped the swim trip. The next week, the kids had swimming lessons every morning, but I managed to squeeze in an exhausted trip one afternoon because I didn't want to miss two weeks in a row. The next week, the children had VBS. I had learned my lesson about attempting solo trips without anyone to keep Ella company in the childcare room so I did not go. After VBS, we then were afflicted with a GI virus that took two entire weeks to slowly work its way through the family. No one was seriously ill, but you didn't want those children in a public pool either. July did not go as anticipated.
Now it was August and I was set to resume the weekly swim trips. I put off the trip to the end of the week because schools were starting mid-week and I thought the pool would be less crowded afterwards. Well, it was less crowded. It was empty because it was closed. I can't fault the rec center because they had had signs up all summer stating the close date. I had just never paid full attention to those signs until the day I walked into the building with five children expecting to swim in a closed pool. It didn't occur to me the pool would close in August. It was this day I discovered children are not terribly welcome in the indoor pool.
After this, I pretty much gave up on going to the rec center. I know that my pass was technically good through the end of September, but the thought of trying to convince children to go with me to placate Ella while I went swimming and they...dribbled basketballs? It didn't seem worth the effort. And then school started and we were already behind. Heh.
In totality, we went swimming six times over the summer. Was that worth paying $150 for a pass? Honestly, I don't know. Is $25 a swim too much to pay for three hours of swimming for six people? Probably. Is it totally out of line? Maybe not. I can say truthfully, I would not have gone at all if I didn't have the pass, even though paying at the door would have wound up costing half as much.
I am not sure what I will do next summer. Given the extremely short outdoor pool season, I think you have to plan to go more than once a week so when the inevitable off-weeks happen, you will have gotten your money's worth in the workable times. I am not sure that next summer will be amenable to planning multiple swimming trips a week. I only completed about half the work I intended in The Purge this past summer. If past experience is any indication, I will start next summer with the rest of the house still unfinished and in need of attention. I can hope to get some bigger house projects done during the school year, but I know better than to plan on it.
I should be able to go solo next year too, but it is hard to make the schedule work on a regular basis for solo trips since just getting there and coming back home eats up most of an hour.
I am glad I spent time in the pool this summer and found my buoyancy again. I think it was good for all of us to have goals for leaving the house instead of spending every day neck-deep in housekeeping. I also kinda wish I never left the house the entire summer so I could be finished with more of the house. I have learned that in this season of life, balance means inching forward almost imperceptibly while completing almost nothing. I'll have to reassess in the spring.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Saturday, October 6, 2018
Friday, June 22, 2018
Swimming Update
On Monday, I took all the children out to our property. Did I mention we bought some property last year? I can't remember. Probably because I was 9 months pregnant when we closed on it. So last August we bought seven acres of land just about ten minutes away from our current house on which we will, one fine day, build a house, if ever we scrape up the money to do such a thing. This property is hereafter referred to as "the land" until we can agree upon a proper name. I feel like it should have a name in the manner of an English estate. Suggestions?
Back to Monday. We recently came into possession of a goodly number of bricks that needed to be transported to the land. Everyone wanted to help Daddy unload the bricks, but only one person can ride in Daddy's truck so I was engaged to bring the balance of children to help Daddy unload bricks. It was north of 90 degrees, the middle of the afternoon, and a good time was had by all. By the end of the day, however, it was apparent I had made acquaintance with a veritable colony of chiggers who had enjoyed feasting upon my tender skins.
Tuesday was a horror of itching and by Wednesday morning, my ability to resist the urge to scratch was waning fast. "We are going swimming," I announced suddenly at about 10 o'clock in the morning, thinking the water might could lessen the itch.
Unlike the well-planned and prepared outing I had hoped for at the end of the last swimming trip, this was a circus of cat herding. Desperate times and all. Nothing was together. The children's swimsuits were damp from sprinkler running the previous day. I carried forth anyway. We finally got out of the house at 11:30am. No, I didn't bring any food this time either.
I signed Ella (and Sam and Marian) into childcare, remembering Ella's ridiculous crawling socks, at 11:55am. The lady pointedly asked me if I knew when childcare closed. "Yes. 1pm," I responded. "No, 12:55pm," she answered. "Or before that if possible," another woman chimed in. Sure, lady. I internally rolled my eyes. Out the door, big girls to the gym, and to the locker room.
I got into the pool with my green floaty noodle at 12:05. Sweet, sweet relief. I was right. The water *did* take the itch away. I swam back and forth. I was, by far, the slowest person in the lanes. Still, my newly purchased earplugs allowed me to put my head in the water without dying. I even once swam half the length of the pool and back without my floaty noodle! I will get stronger. I will. I enjoyed 30 minutes of itch free bliss.
Out of the pool and back to childcare by 12:45. Ella is crawling around without her socks. The woman hands me her socks and tells me these socks are insufficient because Ella keeps pulling them off and that I need to bring better socks next time. I blink. Does there exist a baby who does not pull off her socks? Has the person who created these rules ever met a baby? No matter. We carry on. I'll see if I can find the baby slippers.
I gather all the children and make ready for the pool. Sunscreen application is less hectic because it is cloudy so I am less concerned with total coverage on the big kids, and I bought a lotion for baby which is easier to apply. I blow up the baby floater ring I bought for Ella. This is my solution for two non-swimmers. Ella can sit in the ring, but I can let go of her in the moment if I need both hands for some reason. All kids into the pool. I walk with Ella in her float ring on one arm and Marian in the other arm. I also made sure that a big kid is assigned to Marian if ever I needed to turn my attention away from her. No attempted drownings this time.
Ella, once again, falls asleep. Is this stress? This is so weird to me for her to sleep every time she is in a pool. Her pool exposure has made bathtime a little less excruciating, though. She still cries, but not as long or as loud.
At ten minutes to 2, the whistle blows and it is time for everyone to exit the pool. I guess there is a ten minute break at the top of every hour? We are learning. This is our cue to leave. Still, in total a solid two hours of chigger itch relief. Everyone out of the pool and dried off and hurry, hurry, hurry because I have a hair appointment at 3. Time management is not my strong point. We still haven't eaten lunch.
I pull into the driveway at 2:40. It's pouring down rain. I run into the house, hastily nurse a baby, jump into the shower to soap off, get dressed, grab the baby in the car seat and run back out the door at 2:55. All the rest of the kids stay home with Dave to eat lunch. I roll into the salon at 3:15 for my 3pm appointment. My hairdresser looks at me and says, "I was starting to get worried. You are never late." She obviously doesn't know me very well.
I am going to do this summer swimming thing if I bust wide open.
Back to Monday. We recently came into possession of a goodly number of bricks that needed to be transported to the land. Everyone wanted to help Daddy unload the bricks, but only one person can ride in Daddy's truck so I was engaged to bring the balance of children to help Daddy unload bricks. It was north of 90 degrees, the middle of the afternoon, and a good time was had by all. By the end of the day, however, it was apparent I had made acquaintance with a veritable colony of chiggers who had enjoyed feasting upon my tender skins.
Tuesday was a horror of itching and by Wednesday morning, my ability to resist the urge to scratch was waning fast. "We are going swimming," I announced suddenly at about 10 o'clock in the morning, thinking the water might could lessen the itch.
Unlike the well-planned and prepared outing I had hoped for at the end of the last swimming trip, this was a circus of cat herding. Desperate times and all. Nothing was together. The children's swimsuits were damp from sprinkler running the previous day. I carried forth anyway. We finally got out of the house at 11:30am. No, I didn't bring any food this time either.
I signed Ella (and Sam and Marian) into childcare, remembering Ella's ridiculous crawling socks, at 11:55am. The lady pointedly asked me if I knew when childcare closed. "Yes. 1pm," I responded. "No, 12:55pm," she answered. "Or before that if possible," another woman chimed in. Sure, lady. I internally rolled my eyes. Out the door, big girls to the gym, and to the locker room.
I got into the pool with my green floaty noodle at 12:05. Sweet, sweet relief. I was right. The water *did* take the itch away. I swam back and forth. I was, by far, the slowest person in the lanes. Still, my newly purchased earplugs allowed me to put my head in the water without dying. I even once swam half the length of the pool and back without my floaty noodle! I will get stronger. I will. I enjoyed 30 minutes of itch free bliss.
Out of the pool and back to childcare by 12:45. Ella is crawling around without her socks. The woman hands me her socks and tells me these socks are insufficient because Ella keeps pulling them off and that I need to bring better socks next time. I blink. Does there exist a baby who does not pull off her socks? Has the person who created these rules ever met a baby? No matter. We carry on. I'll see if I can find the baby slippers.
I gather all the children and make ready for the pool. Sunscreen application is less hectic because it is cloudy so I am less concerned with total coverage on the big kids, and I bought a lotion for baby which is easier to apply. I blow up the baby floater ring I bought for Ella. This is my solution for two non-swimmers. Ella can sit in the ring, but I can let go of her in the moment if I need both hands for some reason. All kids into the pool. I walk with Ella in her float ring on one arm and Marian in the other arm. I also made sure that a big kid is assigned to Marian if ever I needed to turn my attention away from her. No attempted drownings this time.
Ella, once again, falls asleep. Is this stress? This is so weird to me for her to sleep every time she is in a pool. Her pool exposure has made bathtime a little less excruciating, though. She still cries, but not as long or as loud.
At ten minutes to 2, the whistle blows and it is time for everyone to exit the pool. I guess there is a ten minute break at the top of every hour? We are learning. This is our cue to leave. Still, in total a solid two hours of chigger itch relief. Everyone out of the pool and dried off and hurry, hurry, hurry because I have a hair appointment at 3. Time management is not my strong point. We still haven't eaten lunch.
I pull into the driveway at 2:40. It's pouring down rain. I run into the house, hastily nurse a baby, jump into the shower to soap off, get dressed, grab the baby in the car seat and run back out the door at 2:55. All the rest of the kids stay home with Dave to eat lunch. I roll into the salon at 3:15 for my 3pm appointment. My hairdresser looks at me and says, "I was starting to get worried. You are never late." She obviously doesn't know me very well.
I am going to do this summer swimming thing if I bust wide open.
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Morning Swim, First Attempt
(Note: I wrote about half of this yesterday before collapsing from exhaustion. Just pretend you are reading this yesterday.)
Back in April, I bought a summer pass to our local rec center because I wanted to give the children more opportunities to swim and also get myself into a swimming pool more often. It has long been a fantasy of mine to go swimming on a regular basis. If you dug around the interwebz, you'd probably find more than one place where I mentioned my desire to go swim laps. Or whined. I might have been whining. My goal for the summer is to try to hit the pool once a week. Today, after the bulk of the schoolwork has been finished at long last, I decided to do a trial run on a morning swim.
The indoor pool opens before I ever care to be awake and is largely reserved for lap swimmers. The outdoor pool opens at 10am. The plan was to leave home around 9, get Ella and Marian (and maybe Sam) signed into the babysitting room by 930, send the big kids to the gym, swim laps for 30 minutes in the indoor pool, round up all the children, and give them an hour in the outdoor pool. We should be home by noon, in time for lunch.
Here is what actually happened:
We didn't leave the house until 1015. Why the delay? Nobody got dressed when they got up like they had been told. Nothing was together. Breakfast wasn't finished until after nine. We ran around trying to get everything ready. Lots of arguing about goggles. I am slow. Children stare a lot.
Action Item #1: Get it all together the previous night.
We arrive at the rec center. I boldly walk to the front desk and declare my ignorance. I ask how to get into childcare and how to get a locker. I sign for a locker key and have to leave my car keys.
Sam and Marian agreed to stay with Ella in childcare. Since this was their first time, I had to fill out the information sheets for each of them. I learned that, surprise! all children must have some kind of foot covering in order to be allowed free movement. Even the 8m old. The lady told me Ella would have to be confined to a jumpy chair. Something, something protecting feet from getting stepped on? How socks accomplish this, I am unsure. Also siblings are not allowed to pick up baby. Oh yay. Certain this will not end well, the childcare worker picks Ella up and turns away from the door and I sneak out. The time is 1050.
Action Item #2: Find footwear for Ella.
I make my way into the locker room. I shove all our supplies into the locker, take my coverup off, grab my towel, and without shame, carry my green floaty noodle into the pool area. I discover all the swim lanes are claimed so I have to decide which person I get to bother and ask to share a lane. I decide to ask an older lady who seems to be swimming slowly. She agrees.
And there I am. In a pool! I am sorry to admit I have forgotten how to float. I need that green floaty noodle. However I am undeterred. I start kicking laps, back and forth. I try to float on my back. I remember how to do this, but discover that getting water in my ears makes my eardrums feel like they might explode. Was it always like this? No matter. The slow, older lady regularly laps me. My legs burn before I swim one length. No matter. I am swimming in a pool like a boss. A boss with a green floaty noodle. I swim for 30 entire minutes. I attempt to get out of the pool. I cannot pull myself out of the water. I have to cross two rope lines to get the steps. Under the water, ears exploding, under the rope, out of the pool. I did it! I swam by myself for exercise!
Action Item #3: Figure out how to stop the problem of the exploding eardrums.
Action Item #4: Remember how to float.
Action Item #5: Get stronger.
I dry off and go to retrieve Ella from childcare. It's been an hour and close to noon. (How does it take 15 minutes on either side of the pool?) I open the door to find her crawling all over the floor. They decided to make an exception to the no crawling without socks rule just this one time. Whatever. I am told she got significantly upset several times, but Sam and Marian did an outstanding job of calming her down. Everyone survived! Grace and Olivia appear out of nowhere.
Now back to the locker room to get all the children ready to swim in the outdoor pool. This takes a ridiculous amount of time. We finally go out to the pool and have to apply sunscreen. This takes an even more ridiculous amount of time. The Kroger brand spray sunscreen doesn't want to spray. It takes my two hands and a lot of pressure. I have to rely on the children to spray me. They could barely work the can. Ella has to be sprayed too. She is unimpressed. The stranger child watching her scream while I tried to cover her in sunscreen observed, "I feel sorry for that baby."
Action Item #6: Don't cheap out on sunscreen.
Finally the children are given leave to get in the pool. It is now 12:30, 30 minutes after I expect to be home. We are having a learning experience. Ella is hungry so I feed her. She and I get in the pool at about 12:40. She is unsure but splashes a little while I hold her on my hip. The lifeguard whistles everyone out of the pool at 12:50 for a ten minute break. We are, indeed, having a learning experience.
The children want a snack. We don't have food. I am that kind of mother. We decide to wait out the break, get back in the pool another 15-20 minutes and then go home.
While in the pool after the break, I have Ella on one hip and Marian on the other walking back and forth at 3.5 feet in the very crowded pool because neither can swim. Marian asks to go play on the slide that's at 1 foot depth. She quickly changes her mind and attempts to drown herself by walking back out to me further than she can touch. Fun times. (M was fine. It's mostly horrifying in retrospect since I didn't know she was coming and I turned around to find her flailing for me. She didn't even cough any water.) Ella, in the meantime, falls asleep on my hip. This makes twice she has conked out in a pool. Is it that relaxing or is this a stress response?
Action Item #7: Try to avoid the 1 o'clock pool break.
Action Item #8: Talk to Marian (again) about pool safety. (How do you keep two non-swimming children safe in a pool at the same time? There's only one of me.)
Finally, it is time to go. We get out, dry off, and head back home. We pull into the driveway at 230pm. We are starving. Crankily, children are tended and fed. I eat lunch at 3:20. I collapse in a heap for the rest of the day.
Action Item #9: Figure out how to go on a morning swim and eat lunch before late afternoon.
So there it is! I successfully executed a swim outing. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I managed to do it. I fought multiple rounds of discouragement but decided it was a preliminary run. We will try again next week.
Back in April, I bought a summer pass to our local rec center because I wanted to give the children more opportunities to swim and also get myself into a swimming pool more often. It has long been a fantasy of mine to go swimming on a regular basis. If you dug around the interwebz, you'd probably find more than one place where I mentioned my desire to go swim laps. Or whined. I might have been whining. My goal for the summer is to try to hit the pool once a week. Today, after the bulk of the schoolwork has been finished at long last, I decided to do a trial run on a morning swim.
The indoor pool opens before I ever care to be awake and is largely reserved for lap swimmers. The outdoor pool opens at 10am. The plan was to leave home around 9, get Ella and Marian (and maybe Sam) signed into the babysitting room by 930, send the big kids to the gym, swim laps for 30 minutes in the indoor pool, round up all the children, and give them an hour in the outdoor pool. We should be home by noon, in time for lunch.
Here is what actually happened:
We didn't leave the house until 1015. Why the delay? Nobody got dressed when they got up like they had been told. Nothing was together. Breakfast wasn't finished until after nine. We ran around trying to get everything ready. Lots of arguing about goggles. I am slow. Children stare a lot.
Action Item #1: Get it all together the previous night.
We arrive at the rec center. I boldly walk to the front desk and declare my ignorance. I ask how to get into childcare and how to get a locker. I sign for a locker key and have to leave my car keys.
Sam and Marian agreed to stay with Ella in childcare. Since this was their first time, I had to fill out the information sheets for each of them. I learned that, surprise! all children must have some kind of foot covering in order to be allowed free movement. Even the 8m old. The lady told me Ella would have to be confined to a jumpy chair. Something, something protecting feet from getting stepped on? How socks accomplish this, I am unsure. Also siblings are not allowed to pick up baby. Oh yay. Certain this will not end well, the childcare worker picks Ella up and turns away from the door and I sneak out. The time is 1050.
Action Item #2: Find footwear for Ella.
I make my way into the locker room. I shove all our supplies into the locker, take my coverup off, grab my towel, and without shame, carry my green floaty noodle into the pool area. I discover all the swim lanes are claimed so I have to decide which person I get to bother and ask to share a lane. I decide to ask an older lady who seems to be swimming slowly. She agrees.
And there I am. In a pool! I am sorry to admit I have forgotten how to float. I need that green floaty noodle. However I am undeterred. I start kicking laps, back and forth. I try to float on my back. I remember how to do this, but discover that getting water in my ears makes my eardrums feel like they might explode. Was it always like this? No matter. The slow, older lady regularly laps me. My legs burn before I swim one length. No matter. I am swimming in a pool like a boss. A boss with a green floaty noodle. I swim for 30 entire minutes. I attempt to get out of the pool. I cannot pull myself out of the water. I have to cross two rope lines to get the steps. Under the water, ears exploding, under the rope, out of the pool. I did it! I swam by myself for exercise!
Action Item #3: Figure out how to stop the problem of the exploding eardrums.
Action Item #4: Remember how to float.
Action Item #5: Get stronger.
I dry off and go to retrieve Ella from childcare. It's been an hour and close to noon. (How does it take 15 minutes on either side of the pool?) I open the door to find her crawling all over the floor. They decided to make an exception to the no crawling without socks rule just this one time. Whatever. I am told she got significantly upset several times, but Sam and Marian did an outstanding job of calming her down. Everyone survived! Grace and Olivia appear out of nowhere.
Now back to the locker room to get all the children ready to swim in the outdoor pool. This takes a ridiculous amount of time. We finally go out to the pool and have to apply sunscreen. This takes an even more ridiculous amount of time. The Kroger brand spray sunscreen doesn't want to spray. It takes my two hands and a lot of pressure. I have to rely on the children to spray me. They could barely work the can. Ella has to be sprayed too. She is unimpressed. The stranger child watching her scream while I tried to cover her in sunscreen observed, "I feel sorry for that baby."
Action Item #6: Don't cheap out on sunscreen.
Finally the children are given leave to get in the pool. It is now 12:30, 30 minutes after I expect to be home. We are having a learning experience. Ella is hungry so I feed her. She and I get in the pool at about 12:40. She is unsure but splashes a little while I hold her on my hip. The lifeguard whistles everyone out of the pool at 12:50 for a ten minute break. We are, indeed, having a learning experience.
The children want a snack. We don't have food. I am that kind of mother. We decide to wait out the break, get back in the pool another 15-20 minutes and then go home.
While in the pool after the break, I have Ella on one hip and Marian on the other walking back and forth at 3.5 feet in the very crowded pool because neither can swim. Marian asks to go play on the slide that's at 1 foot depth. She quickly changes her mind and attempts to drown herself by walking back out to me further than she can touch. Fun times. (M was fine. It's mostly horrifying in retrospect since I didn't know she was coming and I turned around to find her flailing for me. She didn't even cough any water.) Ella, in the meantime, falls asleep on my hip. This makes twice she has conked out in a pool. Is it that relaxing or is this a stress response?
Action Item #7: Try to avoid the 1 o'clock pool break.
Action Item #8: Talk to Marian (again) about pool safety. (How do you keep two non-swimming children safe in a pool at the same time? There's only one of me.)
Finally, it is time to go. We get out, dry off, and head back home. We pull into the driveway at 230pm. We are starving. Crankily, children are tended and fed. I eat lunch at 3:20. I collapse in a heap for the rest of the day.
Action Item #9: Figure out how to go on a morning swim and eat lunch before late afternoon.
So there it is! I successfully executed a swim outing. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I managed to do it. I fought multiple rounds of discouragement but decided it was a preliminary run. We will try again next week.
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