SWIMMING MADE FUN @ NO FANCY AQUA CENTER!

     Many of times when my grandkids were very young and came to visit the one thing  we did on a regular basis was go out to the Americinn Hotel out on old highway 30 on the south edge of Marshalltown and swim. They had a program that you could pay $3.00 or so per person to the general public and swim as long as you wanted. Especially in the winter that was a great deal and  also a fun way to entertain and be totally involved with my grandkids.

       This place had no diving board or any other "extra's" except a hot tub and pool table. I always came up with games to play in the pool. One that always made the girls giggle and scream was when I played the "Shark" and started the sounds from the movie Jaws! Everyone I was after would always head toward getting out of the pool. Loved those little screams!

       Another fun game I came up with was putting one grandchild on my back and pretend I was a bucking bronco. They would put a pretend quarter in the pretend slot around my neck and it would start me a bucking and twisting all around. They loved it! Or, I would put someone up on my shoulders and let them dive off.

        It was amazing that we could swim and play for 3 hours or so and no one wanted to leave and no one ever asked for food or drink. Sometimes it is fun to make your own fun and not rely on "things" to do it for us.