The Indoor Playground!!

Snow, snow and more snow...winter's "outdoor playground"

So...in a town where the temperature has been subzero for months and the snow is packed so high we're at risk of our first flood in decades - how many indoor playgrounds do we have? Counting Snoopers, fast food joints and the Gateway Mall: about 3. (unless something is hiding in Bismarck that I don't know about...) Embarrassing, isn't it?

So, the Park Board is building it's very first indoor playground inside the Aquatic Center!!! As a mom of little kids, this makes me VERY EXCITED (hear me cheer!)!!! Finally, a place to go during that too-short-but-too-long hour while Big Kid is at after-school activities, or I find myself with a restless Tiny Girl and Little Guy during yet another snowy day...

So, what exactly are the specifics? Well, that's debatable - a final design is not set in stone, but I can tell you what I know:

1. About 1500 square feet of playspace with a ramp leading down leaving about 10 feet in height - high enough for 6-7 foot slides

2. Seating for moms and dads, as well as cubbies to stash the kids' stuff

3. Located directly behind the reception desk, adjacent to the Community Rooms - so birthday parties may be an option during off-peak times

4. A preliminary plan shows a movable wall revealing windows to the warm pool - this should allow parents to sit in the Community Room area and have eyes on both the lesson pool and the playground simultaneously - NICE!

5. The same plan also shows a Family Restroom - the door is just up the ramp from the play area - a potential nursing area may be located here (yay for forward thinking park planners!)

6. Big Kids and Little Kids should be happy with the final design - it is not yet available, but park planners are trying their best to provide a "big kid" bouldering section in addition to little kiddo slides and climbing equipment

7. The park system is NOT planning "gerbil cages" such as climbing tubes and places inaccessible to parents - making the area easy to keep clean and handicapped accessible - also eliminating the need for me to climb through 50 feet of tubes to catch Little Guy when he doesn't want to come out (yes, this has happened!!!)

The design and theme are still under debate, but some fun possibilities (at least I think they'd be fun) would be a theme such as "Under the Sea" or "Mr Bubble's Tub" (see Why "The Bubble?" post below) or even an island theme - kind of an escape from the winter blahs. What do you think???

To see the playground's location, view the layout of the aquatic center - visit http://www.bisparks.org/ and scroll to the bottom of the page, click on the picture of the Aquatic Center and visit the 2nd page. Keep in mind the area between the community rooms and playground is NOT THE FINAL plan - park planners are still coming up with the best situation for the use of the space for both parents and kids. Go Park Board!

So what's inside?

Picture of a diving platform from the U of MN pool - highest is 10 meters, the new Aquatic Center can accomodate a 7.5 meter platform (second from the top)

Inside of the U of MN pool - the new Aquatic center will be very similar to this - ceilings not quite as high, and spectators just on one side, but distance and position of pools pretty close to what we will have here!
to link to the U of M pool site: http://www.recsports.umn.edu/facilities/uaqua.html

Question of the day: what exactly is inside this new Aquatics/Wellness center?
Okay, make that Question of the week. Today: the pool area itself.

I've been to a few swim meets in my day - my siblings and I swam competitively for years, and even went to a few Zone and larger meets, so I have a pretty good idea of what makes a good competitition pool. I also have kids - so definitely know what makes a good lesson pool!

#1 - 50 meter pool with diving well - bulkheads at each end slide together to convert to 2x25 yard pools
50 meters is the distance USS swimmers use in the summertime, and is the official "Olympic size" pool. Zone swim meets are summertime meets, so will use the 50 meter pool (bringing 800 age-group swimmers and their families to our city!)

25 yards is the distance for winter USS meets, and both girls and boys high school meets. They also run short course nationals and regional meets in the 25 yard pools. This makes it possible for Bismarck to host dozens of state-caliber meets yearly while the rest of the pool area is still available for lap swimming and lessons.

(The pool is also 25 yards wide so a 3rd configuration could be 3 x 8 lane 25 yard pools or 2 x 8 lanes and an open diving well)

#2 - 25 yard x 6 lane warm pool

This is a primarily recreational (fun and laps) and lesson pool - great for little kids who would get too chilly in the colder, larger pool! This pool is also for aquasize, as it is not nearly as deep as a competition pool. With 50 meters of pool space in the larger pool, this will likely be open to the public most of the time, unless it's full of families and kids for swimming lessons. Warm pools are fabulous for people with arthritis as well as a nice place to get some exercise when you are pregnant (been there, done that!).

(just a plug: I'm also hoping someday they will put a small modular waterslide in there - think the small ones at the Elks pool)

#3 - Diving well - appears to be part of the 50 meter pool

The plan is to have a 7.5 meter diving platform at the highest point of this pool, necessitating a VERY deep pool (think 16-20 feet) - think Olympic diving you've seen on TV. Not as high as the highest 10 meter platform, but high enough to host regional youth diving meets. Depth of the pool lends itself to scuba diving classes!

Above are pictures of the U of M pool - representative of the larger pools used for swim teams and recreation as well.