water, water, everywhere

today it's rainy and the weekend was too.  after such a lovely stretch of sunny weather, i'm finding it quite a delightful deviation.  i think the ideal ratio of sunny to cloudy days in the summer is something like 5:2.  two days of clouds and rain gives me enough time to catch up on the activities that i feel badly doing when it's blazingly gorgeous out.  it gives me a chance to laze or work, a chance to feel cozy in a sweater and welcome the next batch of lovely weather with new appreciation.

on thursday it was still in sunny, or at least warmish and hazy.  we hustled ourselves down to the second beach pool in stanley park, one of our favourites in the summer.  we brought a blanket and towels, wisely arrived wearing our bathing suits, and had a fine selection of snacks.  also along for the journey: cole's inflatable pool floaty who he refers to as "tarantula turtle" for reasons unknown.

the clouds were a little cloudy and the wind was a tad windy, but the water was nice.  a little cool but not actually cold.  just try telling that to a toddler who is used to the bathtub temperatures of the indoor tot pool!  he didn't protest though, and we went for a lovely paddling floaty swim around the "deep" end, investigating the float line, practicing kicking and checking out the big kid slides and the big kids who slide down them.

we eventually got out to warm up and cole settled down to the business of finding snacks to eat.  for a kid who doesn't necessarily eat a lot of food, he certainly enjoys the concept of snacks.

he also began clambering up the fence behind us, staring wistfully at the playground beyond the beach and lamenting his position pool-side.  i wasn't quite ready to give up on the idea of swimming on such a summer's day (also factored in: drive to get to pool, comfortably seated position surrounded by belongings, wrangling required to leave pool and change) so i convinced him to give the pool another shot.

he was a little reluctant initially, on account of the "freezy water" (it SO was not freezy), so we went to measure him against the "you must be 8 years old to swim by yourself" sign.

i suggested we get our feet wet and make footprints beside the pool.  he loved this and it got him excited to get wet again.  he went on to improvise: hand and knee prints, bum prints, body prints and head prints, each by dipping himself in water first and then pressing himself against the warm concrete.  eventually we went back in for another half hour of splashing and climbing the small slide.  time well spent!