Wet!

Now that summer has finally kicked in, we've been enjoying our fair share of water play.  We've got the usual backyard spray, splash and swim gear.  But this past weekend my family experienced an aquatic first.  My sister-in-law and husband invited the family to their condo on Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana.  Lovely.  They rented a double-decker pontoon boat with a slide.  We motored to a cove, dropped anchor, and jumped in the lake.  Other than playing on the beach, which allows a gradual entry into the water, my children have never jumped right into a lake.  Tulip, 4, wanted to go down the slide.  I was concerned that if her entry into the water was at all traumatic, she would shy away from swimming in the lake all afternoon.  So I denied her this experience.  Wolfie, 6, knows his limits and said he did not want to go down the slide but he definitely wanted to see Mama go down that slide.  Luna, 2, heard her sister say she wanted to go down the slide so Luna said, "I go down slide tooooo."  Hysterical.

The kids wore float vests and all of my sister-in-law's in-laws lined up to help hold my children in the water.  The grown ups had noodles.  Man, I wish I invented those.

I was so proud of my children.  They loved the lake.  They loved the boats.  They were gleeful to play in the lake all afternoon.  At 5:30 when it was time to return the pontoon boat, Tulip stood at the railing, watching the water rush by the side of the boat creating a gentle wake, and fell asleep standing up.  Seriously.

Now we are in our backyard and I am evaluating my children's preferences for getting wet.

Wolfgang, 6

• Loves pools
• Loves super soakers
• Not crazy about sprinklers
• So-so about slip 'n slide
• Liked the water slide at the water park, but preferred the wave pool both in the wave-on and wave-off positions
• Enjoys the beach
• Apparently loves a pontoon boat and swimming in the lake
• Especially loves driving a speed boat (look for video soon)

Tulip, 4

• Loves pools
• Likes super soakers a lot
• Not crazy about sprinklers
• Likes the slip 'n slide
• Will experience a water park in the near future
• Enjoys the beach for sure
• Loves a pontoon boat and swimming in the lake - especially if you spin her in circles
• Is at peace looking at water

Luna, 2

• Loves pools
• So-so with the super soakers
• Not crazy about sprinklers
• Likes the slip 'n slide
• Will experience a water park in the near future
• Enjoys the beach
• Loves a pontoon boat and swimming in the lake
• Her preferred water play, however, is of the fill and spill variety - buckets and watering cans.

How do your children play with water?