San Leandro's Family Aquatic Center

This place is Amazing! I am really sad I didn't go earlier. I knew about it, but it was all the way in San Leandro, and the open swim is from 1:00-4:45 which is like Holly's typical nap time. Well last Friday my East Bay Mom's Playgroup scheduled a meet-up there, so it was an excuse to go.

Holly fell asleep in the car on the drive over, even though it was only twenty minutes.. Oh Geeze, I just remembered, let me tell you about my morning.. So on this particular day I had a Doctor's Appointment so Joel stayed home in the morning with Holly.I got home and he was nice enough to help me change, get sun screen on me, and help get me out the door. I heated some left over noodles in Tupperware to eat int he car and we were on our way. Driving Joel to work the car "bottomed out" over a speed bump so he checked the tires when I dropped him off, it was 12:45 and it was flat.

Luckily the Big-o tire is like a block from our house and I headed over, Optimistic that I would NOT miss this play date. I sweet talked my way into a rush job and they took me without a wait. there was a screw in the tire, they check that the integrity was fine, patched it and 15 minutes and 20 Dollars later we were on our way. It only cost 5$ to get into the "Pool" which is actually cheaper then Swim Class, and it was amazing.I woke Holly when I opened the back car door, but she was in a good mood, and when she saw the water and the park she was thrilled. She had about half a bottle left from earlier which i gave her as I changed her into her swim suit, I was wearing mine, and we were off. She was tentative for about 60 seconds and then walking into the water. She did hold my hand, and for the first 45 minutes or so she didn't want to get her face wet or splashed. There were a number of places where water was squirting, including on the stairs up to the slide, so for a while she was happy to play near the structure and watch the kids. I was sitting in the water, which was about chest level when seated, and refreshing. there was a slight breeze when we arrived so the water was warmer then the air.
It didn't take long for Holly to head up the stairs and play in the fountains, and squirters. Her favorite spot was at the base of the slide, someone would come down the other side and it would splash her, her face would get all wet and she loved it. I would hand walk or scoot and follow her around so I could stay int he water and be at her height she loved it.
At one point she was near the entrance sitting by a spout and I was a few feet away on my belly with my hands on my face leaning on my elbows. I was kicking my legs and she was laughing, she would run to me and then back to the edge, and then she crawled over to me with a head butt and a kiss, she was so happy. A few times she even put her face in the water like she was "lapping" it and then just laughed.

Around the corner from the Play Structure was the second section. It was about 2 and a half feet deep here and Holly couldn't touch the ground without going under, but it was very shallow. There was a rope and I let her hang on it and she sort of floated, she jumped in from the edge and we went under. Around the corner from that it was about 3 and a half feet deep and I could stand fully here, so we floated and sand the Mighty Duke of York and I tossed her up for fun.

She was amazed with the Grown up Water Slide and liked watching the people land and splash. We never found any of the people we were supposed to meet but we had the most amazing time anyways. I actually talked to one of the mom's from the playgroup that I hadn't met before but didn't know she was in the group, which is funny, but that group has like 200 moms, so its hard to know everyone. I can;t wait to go back and bring Joel so Holly can go down the tube slide and I can go down the water slide.