Final YMCA Pool Rankings

Today the girls and I headed to the downtown YMCA; the last destination on our YMCA pool summer checklist. During dinner I asked the girls to rank the facilities.

There are seven YMCA locations in the the greater Wichita area. Here's a quick breakdown of their offerings:
Andover- Our local Y. Has a large outdoor pool with water slides, lily pads, and a lazy river.
East- Indoor pool only, but has an indoor water slide that both girls are tall enough to use.
Northwest- Large outdoor water park with water slides and a lazy river, indoor water slide as well, but Ruby is not tall enough to use it.
West- Indoor pool only, water slide that both girls could use and is bigger than the east water slide
Southwest- Large outdoor waterpark that has water slides, but also a diving board and an in-pool rock climbing wall.
North- Medium outdoor water park with water slides and here's the best part: every 20 minutes the pool turns into a wave pool.
Downtown- Indoor pool only. Nothing special, but wins for largest tv in the midwest (well, I made that up, but it's really big)

Honestly, if you asked my kids which pool was their favorite, they'd probably just say whichever one they swam in that day. However, here are their rankings.

Maia:
1. Southwest
2. Northwest
3. North
4. West
5. Andover
6. East
7. Downtown

Southwest was her favorite because the water slide was cool and the lazy river was fun. When I asked why she didn't like the downtown Y she said "oh! I love it! but there's no water slide."

Ruby:
1. Andover
2. Downtown
3. East
4. North
5. West
6. Northwest
7. Southwest

Poor Ruby is just about 47 1/2 inches tall and you have to be 48 inches to go down all the water slides. Next summer will be more fun for her. She loved the Andover Y because this year she was finally tall enough to do the lily pads, which are floating pads with a rope net extended above. She didn't like the southwest y because she wasn't tall enough to do the diving board and she wasn't very good at the rock wall.

Aleks:
1. Andover
2. North
3. East
4. Southwest
5. West
(He didn't go to the Downtown or Northwest)

Emily:
1. North
2. Andover
3. East
4. Northwest
5. Southwest
6. Downtown
(I didn't go to the West location)

Maia said once we went to all the indoor and outdoor pools, summer could be over. On Friday we find out the kids' teachers and then Maia starts school next Thursday (the Kindergarteners have a slightly different schedule). We're hoping to squeeze in a few more adventures before the fall schedule kicks into gear.

It's been a great summer. It's going to be a great fall.