Beat the heat

Today we crossed two more things off our summer bucket list as I took the kids to the Oppenheimer playground and the Liberty Splashland. We had never been to either place before. I picked these for today when I saw the temps were forecasted to be in the 90's. Bella's dad (she's the girl who played the part of Annie) dropped Bella off at 10:20 at the Lewisburg pool where the kids have their swimming lessons. I then took the four kids first to the playground in Sunbury. It's a very nice playground as it includes a ping pong table, basketball hoops (and basketballs and other balls as well as hula hoops), and a splash pad. There are also buildings where the kids can go in to play games, do crafts, etc. The playground is supervised for about 10 hours a day during the summer, and kids get a free lunch. We spent about an hour there. The kids played on the dry part of the playground a little bit, but most of the time they spent in the splash pad. I had brought some fruit, snacks, and drinks, and the kids each received a chocolate milk, bologna and cheese sandwich, grapes, and a banana from the staff at the playground.

After they finished their lunches, we drove about 5 minutes to the Liberty Splashland where we swam for about 2 1/2 hours. The splash pad at that place was much smaller than the one at the Oppenheimer playground. The swimming pool was a nice size though, and they had many large inner tubes available that all four kids enjoyed using in the pool. Nadia and Bella went down the two small water slides. None of them made use of the diving board or the large Liberty Bowl slide. Bella was the only one tall enough to go down that large slide, but once she walked to the very top she decided it was too scary, and she opted to walk back down. The girls would have lasted at the pool a longer time, but the boys were very ready to leave. They both fell asleep on the way home, and the girls just chattered away in the back seat. They played together at our house for a few hours before it was time to take Nadia and Ian to their musical rehearsal. Bella's dad was performing in a concert in a park in Lewisburg at 7:00, and I dropped her off with her mom at that park after I took Nadia and Ian to the church for their rehearsal. Given how hot it was today, it was a perfect day to spend time either in the water or in the air conditioning at home. The first playground was free, and the second only cost $13 total for the five of us.

I took some pics using my cell phone today. I definitely need to learn how to better use that camera although I am still mostly using my DSLR. I used the DSLR at the Oppenheimer playground but left it in the van when we were at the Liberty Splashland. Now to figure out how to get the photos from my phone to the blog. Well until then, here are the photos from my good camera.