It's Fun to be at the Y-M-C-A (or not)

Yesterday we checked out the all "new" YMCA on the west shore with our friends Rocky and ADRI-ran! and their kids. We heard they were offering free guest passes and after ADRI-ran! called 3 times we finally understood we could come for free. They are trying to get people to come out and try it to boost their membership rate. Trust me, I had no desire to join after the way we were treated.

We were greeted by a grumpy receptionist who looked at our "large" families with disdain and instructed ADRI-ran! as she was counting out passes "you can't take the whole pile!". She explained she was counting out what we needed and was going to put the rest back. We then moved to the "water park" which is in a separate room from the lap pool and the water slide (translated to mean if you have a 4-year old and an 8-year old you can't bring them to the pool alone while hubby is at work since you wouldn't be able to watch both at the same time).

The water park was great.

If you're three years old and under.

My youngest is 5 so you can do the math. It held our kid's (age range 5-11) attention for about.....15 minutes then they wanted to go to the next room and go down the water slide. BUT WAIT!!! A very serious, firm, stern lifeguard informed us you must be 7 and take a swimming test to get a wristband that allows you to go down the slide.... ummm, we're only here for a few hours, folks. That seemed a little extreme, but we complied. The swimming test consisted of swimming a lap in the pool and treading water for a minute. While the older ones were going down the slide I took #3 to one of the lap pools and we played in a 2x2 corner of the shallow end as to not disturb the little old ladies frowning in our direction. After about 10 minutes one of the ladies informed me that a class was starting in 5 minutes and we would need to leave. So, I assured her when the class started we would leave. In the meantime, the older kids came and jumped in the pool and I told them we only had 5 minutes to swim before a class started and then we had to switch pools. About 2 minutes later the instructor came in and frantically waved her arms at me YELLING that we must get out the pool NOW, they have a class, GET OUT! That was about the time I started thinking they could take their pool and .......but I'm a good Christian gal so I'll stop there.

We decided it's no wonder they are having trouble getting new members so we left and had lunch and played at a nearby park. Thank goodness we were with friends who we could laugh with about our experience. We ended up enjoying a marathon day with this other family and we didn't say good-bye until midnight. I love having friends that don't care if my house is dirty (in fact, they get offended if I clean it just cause they're coming over), who we can play a good competitive game of "Pigs and Chickens" with (I WON!!! Woo-hoo!) and our kids love each other like brothers and sisters. We can all be real together without passing judgement. That's one of the many things I love about Rocky and ADRI-ran!.

So, here's the consensus: thumbs down- YMCA, thumbs up - sharing Jelly Bellies with cool friends.