Vacation - Swimming

Besides my family & friends (obviously), the one thing I miss the most about our trip to Florida is the swimming pool!

It seemed to be the answer to everything...
...bored - swim
...work on tan - swim
...eaten too much - swim
...want to save money - swim
...entertain the family/guests - swim
...don't feel like showering yet - swim
...practice no arm bands/diving with kid - swim

My husbands goal was to swim at least once a day with our daughter during the vacation, and he kept his promise.  I admit I did miss out once or twice, like the night we arrived in The States and they swam at 11PM!!!  There were days we only swam once due to the weather or plans, but there were also days we swam up to 5 times!  Since it was March in Florida we did need to heat the pool, even living in cold Dutch weather for 10yrs doesn't prepare your body for the icy water.  In general Florida is way too hot for me though, there were a couple days the sweat was dripping off as we were standing in lines at theme parks and I had to remind myself it was March and the temps would only continue going up and up.  We made the mistake and visited once in the summer, a quick reminder that I am a 70-75 degree kind of person (no warmer than that please)!  Anyway, I miss having a pool right off the house... no driving there, no paying entry fees, no dealing with the general public, I could go on and on.

Any of you have a pool?  Do you use it regularly or take it for granted?  When I lived in Florida I took pools for granted!

Bye! Dag! Adios! Namaste!

:) Danica

Kids Toilet

Have you ever had to use a public kids toilet?  A visit to the city pool reminded me of the torturous experience.  I've mentioned before my tot attends swimming class, well, next to the pool is a small bathroom for those kids who just can't wait until the end of class to go to the larger restrooms.  Since my tot is almost 4yrs old her class is the last of the morning, so you can only imagine what the single toilet bathroom smells like after the 3 classes prior to ours.  Out of desperation I was forced to use it also!  Normally we would have gone on to the larger restrooms but it was the last day of class and some kids were graduating.  This means treats and congratulations, there was no way my tot was going to miss that so I could walk the distance to the larger restrooms.  I knew I had no choice, I was going to have to suffer through it.  The first thing you're hit with is the pungent smell of all the kids who missed the toilet or didn't flush properly.  There were puddles of pool water and pee surrounding it on the tiled floor.  Then there's the size, it's a child's toilet, it's super small and barely off the ground.  And to top it off there is no toilet seat... who's idea was that, did they do it for the boys?  Of course we all know how difficult it is to get a wet bathing suit on and off so our visit to this foul toilet lasted much longer than I would have liked.  In the end we all survived of course, but it's definitely an experience I would not like to repeat.

Wordless Wednesday #52

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Our curious camera compilation can also be found here...

New Suit

Being a former Floridian I've owned many bathing suits in my lifetime.  There were the teenage years, skimpy bikinis held together by strings.  Then board shorts became popular, and of course I owned matching flip-flops and visors.  In my mid 20's I moved on to bikini's with shorts to ensure no slippage during activities, combining the idea of bikinis and board shorts (and to cover what I thought then was fat).  After having my daughter I decided it was only fair to everyone to conceal my stomach and start wearing a tankini, what a wonderful invention!  But as of late I'm realizing the tankini just isn't doing its job.  During my daughters swimming class as we jump around in the pool and chase each other, it's constantly raising up still revealing my stomach and nearly comes down flashing the class.  So I decided to try out a one piece bathing suit.  I put on the Speedo I use for water aerobics and lap swimming but it only accented the ring of blubber I've developed around my waistline.  I put it back in the closet and decided it would only be used for sports not toddler swimming class or fun visits to the pool.  I went online in search of my options, and of course the ones with waist control were screaming my name.  When I pulled the bathing suit out of the bag I just knew it would be a disaster, again helping to destroy my confidence (I hate trying on clothes).  But when I put it on I was amazed, it was flattering and suited me well.  I was a bit nervous about swimming class, all of us moms are quite observant and a new suit requires comments.  But the feedback was positive, jackpot!  So here I am, early 30's and I've already progressed to the one-piece bathing suit, what will I be wearing later in life, a full caftan in the water?  As of now I am content and wanted to show off my new suit (no, not while wearing it!) 

This week has been a busy pool week... three different activities, three different pools.  There was lap swimming at the pool on the north side of town.  Then there was babysitting my nieces which included swimming class with the 8 yr old at ZIB one town over.  And then we rounded off the week with normal toddler swimming at the pool on the south side of town.  Luckily I like the water!!!

Lap Swimming

In this ongoing quest to lose weight and keep it off I'm always coming up with great ideas to stay in shape... I just can't say I always follow through with them.  The only consistent fitness tool I use is my elliptical machine, other than that fads come and go.  Fads like, belly dancing & Zumba dvd's.  A friend and I used to regularly attend water aerobics, but we really slacked off the past year, something was always coming up and we just couldn't get our schedules aligned.  My friend was into swimming as a form of exercise way before I was, for me swimming was a fun activity to do with my kid.  As I mentioned we used to put ourselves through a grueling 30 minute water aerobic class (you might be chuckling as you imagine a pool full of senior citizens with dumbbells swaying back and forth, this class wasn't like that).  Once we were in the rhythm of attending class, we started adding laps to the routine.  So before or after class we'd swim the pool a few times.  Now a year or so down the road it crossed my mind again, I really should get back in the pool and I don't mean just for my toddlers swimming class.  I don't always have access to the car and the pool isn't close, but I do have a bike I'm willing to ride now.  (Our old bike wasn't meant for people who lack coordination.)  Taking things one step at a time, I decided just to give it a shot, no reason to get over enthusiastic if it doesn't suit me.  So today while my toddler was at preschool I headed to the pool (admittedly with a car).  I checked the schedule and options at both local pools and realized that only the 50 meter pool was open at the Tongelreep, despite my lack of understanding meters as I should, I knew that would be too much for me.  The Ottenbad didn't have their 25 meter pool open but their recreation pool was open for swimming laps, the same pool I used to take water aerobics in.  I'm not the bravest person in the world, and this was a big adventure to take on my own.  (I know, I know, I can move countries, but I'm nervous about swimming laps alone, silly, huh!)  Something I remembered about swimming laps was at the time it felt great and the next day my entire body ached.  So I set a small goal for myself, 15 minutes or 10 laps.  Surprisingly it wasn't my muscles that let me down, it was my breathing.  I was out of breath before I knew it.  This time I was mixed in with all the senior citizens (hooray for them, no need to stop exercising because you're over 60 or 70 yrs old) and they were putting me to shame.  No we weren't using the same stroke or speed, but they were consistent and not heaving for a breath on the side of the pool.  Maybe the muscle shock will come later today or tomorrow, but as of now I need to study up on breathing techniques if I plan on keeping this up.  I'm keeping my goals small, I plan to swim laps at least once every two weeks.  (I said small, and I meant it.)  We'll see where it goes from there.  With the winter nearing and not having my own car I can't exactly imagine myself biking through snow or -7C weather to get to the pool, but who knows.  All I know is I tried something different, I survived without utter embarrassment, and I fit in half a workout today (that means I only have to do 15 minutes on the elliptical machine in my cold shed!)