Last Saturday and Sunday, Niko and I went to the community center where they have an indoor pool. He took swim lessons over the summer at the local high school, and now, he is a professional swimmer who loves showing off his skills. When we do pool, I strive to be there right when they open. Several times, we have been the only ones in the pool and the water for the kids area and adult slides haven’t even been turned on yet.
The community center is conveniently located about 5 miles from our house, and every time we go, we drive on a bridge over the Mississippi River. Each time, I feel like Clark Griswald as I say look, the Mississippi River! At an intersection just past it, there is a Walgreens on one side and a park on the other. I am determined to get to that park one day and take a walk on the Mississippi River (and get some pictures).
There is a men’s, a women’s and a family locker room, and we use the Family one. There are lockers, family bathroom, and several large private stalls with showers and a changing area if needed. Niko quickly takes off his clogs, and then he has to a wait a minute for me as I have to put my keys, phone, and wallet away – and, I can’t forget to take off my flip-flops. Finally, we can open the door from the locker room to the pool area, and it’s on!
Once Niko gets in the pool, he does flips, goes under water, swims on his back, and then he asks if I can do any of it, and my answer is an emphatically NO! I walk around and every few minutes, I dip my head under – and, mostly, I just follow Niko around the pool. On Saturday, he was playing the role of a rebounder for a family of three (dad, and his two boys) and was enjoying grabbing the ball and throwing it back to them.
The last time we pooled was on August 31, at an outdoor pool. It’s in the same family as the community center, so it didn’t cost us anything extra, and is about 10 miles from our house. When we arrived, I didn’t see any signage for the pool, but as Niko and I were walking around to find it, I did see a sign for free beach swimming (which we would’ve done, if I couldn’t find the pool). I then asked some other folks who were walking behind us if they knew where the pool was, and they pointed me to a map and to a location to where they thought it was. Niko and I got in the car and drive down a nondescript gravel road for about a half a mile, and then we saw the outdoor pool. Now that we know where the outdoor one is, we can visit again when it reopens on Sunday’s. The indoor pool was closed on Sundays during that time, but it is now open.
Getting him out of the pool is a challenge, as it usually takes a few minutes. For me, swimming is not one of my greater strengths as I am ready to be done after a few minutes, and when that happens, I get out, but keep my legs hanging over and watch Niko closely. There is a clock in the pool area, so I give him several minutes of leeway before he has to get out. On both days, he heard my countdowns and decided to float on his back from one end of the pool to the other end. And, after I do get him out, most of the time, he wants a snack at the snack bar, and I happily oblige. It’s mostly junk food and sugary drinks, but he will either get a bag of chips or some chocolate.
On Saturday, after we finished, we went to Panera Bread, and got a smoothie, bacon Mac and Cheese, and some brownie bites for him and a chicken noodle soup for me. I didn’t want to get sandwiches there as I had a leftover sandwich from Friday from a local restaurant that Niko and I dined at after school. We have had several meals from that local restaurant, and Niko really likes their cheeseburgers (they call them smashburgers). The sandwich I got was a country club and it had ham, turkey, bacon, lettuce, American cheese, and mayo. It was really good. I think Niko actually enjoyed mine more than his cheeseburger! I only ate half and we shared the other half when we arrived home from Panera and the pool.
On Sunday, after we finished, we took a 5 minute drive down a main street to see what all else is there, and we drove by a car that was on fire that must’ve just happened. I was actually secretly trying to locate a taco place as I really want to try it, but didn’t see it. It wasn’t until I got home, when I looked at the map and found it behind an Arby’s (which I did see). Thankfully, the driver of that car was out and there were already several people helping. Less than a minute later, I saw a police car approaching it. Once we were in our neighborhood, I saw a house that got “toilet papered” and I showed Niko and then we saw a few more as well. In our Facebook neighborhood group, people were complaining about the “toilet papering.” I am only in that group for the comments, and was like, really, it’s kids having fun and doing some pranks – plus it’s Homecoming week at the high school, so yeah, just deal with it. Niko was asking if ours would get “toilet papered”, and I was like not now, but possibly when you are older.
Oh, and hopefully, my final thought unless miraculously I come up with more verbiage about something completely off topic, whenever Niko and I go somewhere together, he has to be in charge of the music and that music is a playlist, and that playlist is called Our Favorite Songs (really his favorites, but I was jamming out the other day after I dropped him off at school to Taylor Swift. Don’t tell anybody, please!
