Last Wednesday, we got invited to go with a couple friends from the ward to a new swimming pool. The pool isn't actually new, it's been around for years, but it is new to us in that we have never been to it. It was a very nice, hot day, perfect for swimming, so we were very glad to be able to go.
We followed our friend, Julie S. to the pool, since a human is even more accurate than GPS. :) I laughed when I saw it, I must drive past that thing at least once a week, but I never realized there was a pool down that road. I just always thought it was the soccer field and nothing else. In my defense, the pool area is quite a ways down the road, and there are tons of huge trees blocking your view, but still, there is a huge sign with a picture of a guy swimming and an arrow pointing towards it. Doh!
The pool is fantastic. Way nicer than the one we usually go to just down the hill from our house. It is a bit further away, but the cost is the same, so I think we may come here on a regular basis from now on. The kids loved the water slide, the foam mats that were floating around you use as rafts, and the cement bridge going over the pool, separating the deep end from the shallower end. There was one small incident that could have put quite a damper on the whole afternoon, but it ended well.
Sarah and Alexandra were sitting in the middle of one of the foam mats. Sophie was holding on the side, with her body in the water, and I was holding on to the other side pulling them around the pool, with Noah riding on my hip. Sarah decided she wanted to change positions on the mat, and started crawling around towards the back. This caused part of the side of the mat to dip down underneath the surface of the water. Alexandra fell backwards with the mat, and proceeded to roll off the edge, away from me and into the water.
It all kind of happened in that odd, slow-motion effect that they use in the movies. I saw her going face down in the water, sinking lower and lower, but I coudln't get my body to go fast enough through the water. I could have been there in a flash, if I had dropped Noah, but then he would have started drowning. Plus, I had to go around Sarah's body, that was also falling off the raft in between myself and Alexandra. I am sure I was screaming at the top of my lungs, but don't remember at all what I was saying. I scooped her up out of the water and onto my shoulder, and she didn't even start crying. She spluttered a bit, but didn't seem to have swallowed that much water at all. The other kids were more shook up than she was.
We all went back over to the super shallow end, and decided that maybe we should go hang out in the baby pool for a while. :) It was at this point that the lifeguard comes over and asks if we are okay, and reminds me that I had been in the slightly deeper end, and that they have a lovely baby pool for the youngsters. Apparently, he saw the whole thing, but felt that a lecture was more appropriate than actually HELPING me. Maybe, not being related to any of the children who were near death made the situation appear less dire than it actually was, I don't know. I was in full panic mode.
The day did end on a good note. In fact, we had such a great time, that we completely forgot about Nicholas' piano lessons at 5. We could have gotten home in plenty of time, but I totally spaced it. Oops.
Wow, I'm glad Alexandria was ok! That is so scary! I hate how the lifeguards so that. Ethan almost drowned once while he was surrounded by people and the lifeguard was sitting right there! Pete had to race across the whole pool and grab him, and no body did anything to help! Frustrating. I'm glad it ended well, though. Babies can be pretty tough sometimes.