Portage La Prairie Splash Island

We went there today.  Payton has been wanting to go to a water slide for so long.  Splash Island is in Portage La Prairie, MB  I've been hearing about it all summer and almost all the news feeds on FB have been about how great it is. I just needed Dustin to take time off of work to come with us.  They have rules about kids being 8 and under being at arms reach. So I needed an extra hand encase one of the kids just wanted to sit, and someone had to be near the slide to keep an eye on the kids.  Although the lifeguards did a great job of keeping track of who went down the slides and who was at the bottom of the slides.  Payton did at one time run into someone because that kids wasn't paying attention. There is a fence around it, so there is a capacity of people who can be there at one time.  It cost us about $35.00, we did the family rate of $25.00 plus one extra kid at $5.00.

 This is the slides.  There are only 2 of them. But the darker one is a fast tunnel. They call it funnel tunnel it is completely enclosed and goes really fast.  The lighter purple is open all the way.  This one can be slower but it can go fast too.  Dustin went down this one sitting up and he said he almost got stuck half way down.  His method for going fast was laying down and up on the heels and on the shoulder blades.  That method worked for Faith as well.  For me I sat up and leaned forward and swung my hips into each curve.  Although at one time I did hit my head on the side of the slide because I was sliding side to side; in my defense I did have a kid on my lap.  They have signs there that you had to be this tall to ride alone.  Nathan just meet the requirements, but I didn't feel comfortable with him at the end of the tunnels by himself.  They had signs saying that catching kids at the bottom was against the rules.  Luckily I had asked Dustin to grab Nathan's life jacket before we left.  You can ride down the open tunnel with a life jacket and with a partner if you wanted.  The covered tunnel there are no shirts, no partners and no goggles.  Nathan went up the stairs and down the slides without either Dustin or I with him.

They have a lazy river there.  Basically it's just a bit separate area from the main pool.  This is were we spent most of our time.  1 because Dustin could hide on the kids going around the centre isle there. 2 because our stuff was just behind me where I took the picture. The river has "jets" that push the water so that you float down the river. Clayton loved being on the tubes and just floating there.  The water here is 1.07m so everyone could touch.  Just to the left the water got deeper it was 1.5m, the kids had a harder time touching there.

 This is the little kid slide.  But all my kids went on it.  It's a small slide that goes into a shallow pool.
They also had a basketball net and ball there for anyone to use.

Just to the left in this picture you can see the little splash pad/wadding pool.  It was in a u shaped hole.  There wasn't a lot there, some tunnel sprays and a mushroom and a little blue slide like the ones you find at swimming lessons in the shallow pool.  You can also see in the background the entrance to the pool. You can find the change rooms, concession, bathrooms and medical.

They have beach entry over by the little splash pad area.  It slowly gets deeper, I could touch but my face was in the water.  Too deep for the kids to touch.  There was another U shaped area by the little slide. I'm not sure what you would call it.  They had a bench in the water there, in some of the spots on the bench they had smaller little jets come up from the bottom. The water was colder water then the pool.  This was a popular place, I think because most of the kids can touch here. 

There is a bit of green space around the edges.  There are some chairs to use, and picnic tables and some benches.  We managed to snag a bench; it was nice to have to put our towels on.  They do have a picnic area with a cover and some picnic tables under there.  The ride there was about an hour from our place, but let's face it going anywhere from my place takes at least 30 minutes.  We got there at 12:18 and stayed till 4:40.  You can bring in outside food as long as you don't have glass.  We brought our swimming tubes and goggles.  There were no problems with it.  I did see some kids with water guns and pool noodles.

All in all it was a good day.  The kids and I and even Dustin had fun.  This is definitely one place we will go back too.  Just not this year as their last day is September 1.

Assiniboine Park and Zoo

The zoo has finally done some decent upgrades.  We have been waiting for the journey to Churchill exhibit to open for a while now.  It finally did this July.  With that prices went up as well Adults are now $18.50, Youth 13-17 are $14.81 and child 3-12 are $10.00.  So for me to go with my whole family it would cost me $81.81.  That's a lot of money for one outing for a family of 6.  I choose to buy a membership which cost me $219.00.  This way we can go throughout the whole year.

Before I bought the membership I went on cheap Tuesday; everyone gets in for $10.00.  I went on the very first one before the news got around of cheap Tuesday so the line up wasn't that busy.  I was SUPER disappointed the polar bears weren't swimming at all.  No one told me why and I did ask a few of the keepers.  Hudson was out but he was napping.  That was the only bear we saw.  I came to find out later watching the news that the wolves had dug a tunnel under their enclosure and were in the girl polar bear enclosure.  So they had to be removed so the keepers could fix the problem.

They built a new front entrance. It looks wonderful.  Not sure why the building is so long as on the left is the gift shop and on the right is the admission.  If you were at the zoo before the renovations this entrance is located near the duck pond, were barely anyone went before.

After you exit the entrance there is not much right there but the butterflies are up the path on the left and Bison's are on the right.  I can remember when I was a little girl the last time the Bison Snack Shack was open.  They have finally reopened it!

Here is a map of the zoo.

I have been to the zoo three times this year.  First time on cheap Tuesday; no bears swimming.  Second time was a Monday it was later in the morning about 11:00.  No bears were out, only Hudson who likes to sleep near the people.  Third time I had the kids up and we were there at 8:30.  The zoo doesn't open till 9:00.  Yes we sat and waited and it was worth it.  The bears were FINALLY swimming! More on that later.

There are a few changes to the zoo nothing really to speak of it's just minor things.  Some animals have been changed around some new ones brought in.  The zoo says there are 80 acres and close to 200 different species of animals.

They are redoing the Asia cat closure. It's going to be really nice.  The tigers are going to have a lot more space.  It is a work in progress, slow and steady.  Don't get me wrong there is still TONS of improvement that needs to happen, but like everything it takes time and money.

One thing that has improved is there are now lots of bathrooms everywhere.  Which is nice to have.

The zoo has what they call an Australian walkabout.  They were selling it as a get in and interact with the kangaroos and emus.  Over time they have added some rules to this enclosure.  You can only walk on the crushed tree path.  The kangaroos all hide up in the corner where 1 you can barely see them and 2 there is NO WAY you are interacting with them.  Which is fine but make the distance between the 2 smaller so that you can actually see the kangaroos.  My kids don't like this exhibit and would rather by pass it.  In the year it's been there I have only seen the kangaroos active once and that was this past visit.  I saw a mom and her joey walking around.

 

The Shirley Richardson Butterfly garden is a big hit with my kids.   They love to go in an sit and watch all the different kinds of butterflies.  The best part is when one lands on you.  You're not suppose to pick up the butterflies but everyone does it.  I think all the kids have had a butterfly on them at some point.  The only problem is they have a gift shop right in the middle of the two gardens.  Of course the kids bug me every time, or have to touch everything as we pass from one to the next.

The Kinsmen discovery centre is still there.  The one with the hands all over the wall and the catfish used to be in there.  I keep missing it because now it's "out of the way".  You get caught up in the polar bears you don't think to go over there.  The farm yard barn is over there too.  They have redone that, they took out the plastic eggs that used to be there for years.  The kids loved to sit in there and pretend to be babies.  They even have a sloth in there now.

The journey to Churchill is wonderful.  It has a lot of open space, but the only thing is that there are places for the animals to hide so they can not be seen.

This is the start of the exhibit.  Popular place for pictures.  When it's busy it's hard to get a picture without someone else in it.

You can just see the wolves on top of the hill.  Which is really the only place I've seen them.

The polar bears girls have a place to swim.  They are separate from the boys.  I asked one of the keepers and they said that eventually the boys will get to swim as well.  The girls names are Aurora and Kaska.  They were so frisky that morning.  It was awesome.  I was so excited to see them in the water.  I had seen friends videos of them in the water but to experience it yourself is completely different.  My three youngest were not that excited.  They were more interested in the games and information around the exhibit then actually seeing the bears.

Hudson likes to sit in front of the interactive gate.  He has always been around people; he was raised by people after his mother in the Toronto zoo had rejected him and his 2 brothers.

Storm on the other hand is more likely to sleep or walk around the exhibit.  If you are in the Tundra Grill he is the one likely to stand up there and put his paws on the glass.  He's super dirty because he rolls around in the mud.

There is a helicopter, canoe, bear trap, and 4 wheelers that the kids can explore.  There is also a few inukshuks there and an interactive panel that tells you what each inukshuk means.  Some mean people, some mean food and some mean the direction.

It is well worth the money to go and experience this exhibit alone.  The other parts of the zoo will catch up.  My kids and I highly recommend attending.  I would just recommend going on a cooler day.  The animals are more active on cool days.  I can't wait to go during the fall/winter and spring when it's not so hot out.

Our Cabin

My husband Dustin and his father have been building our cabin by themselves; with the help of friends of course.  This has been going on for the past 4 years.  It's been along time.  Growing up we didn't have anything like this.  My dad was in the military so we didn't stay places long enough to have a cabin/cottage/camp site type of thing.  We lived in a bunch of different places so made it hard to have something like this.  We did have a camping trailer when we lived in New Brunswick but dad sold it when we got posted to Manitoba.

this is what our lot looked like when we first picked our spot.  Lots of open space.

Dustin built it on piles. This is because there is lot of rocks in the ground up here making it almost impossible to dip in the ground.

Doesn't it look wonderful?  Dustin did a wonderful job.  There is still some work on the inside.  The kids and I have spent a couple days there but not much.  There is no running water and no working toilet.  These are things Dustin is still working on.

This is the inside.  I had to do some cleaning up.  There is still a ton of stuff laying around.  Dustin gets so frustrated with me when I clean up.  He claims he can't find anything.

I can't wait to get to spend 90% of my summer up there.  It's going to be great.  Now I just need get some things to keep the kids busy outside.

Kildonan Park Pool

I've heard so much about this pool.  Everyone says it's great and heated.  I told the kids about it and thought why not.  Payton has been wanting to go to the water slides ever since Faith went to Fun Mountain with her class.

Don't even get me started on fun mountain, as I am not paying $20.00 a person to get in then have to buy their food.

So KP pool has bathrooms and change rooms there.  There is a lot of space.  I was not aware that you could pull your chairs right up to the side of the pool.  If I knew that was an option I would have taken it.  It fits lots of people and it doesn't make you feel that you are sitting on someone elses lap. 
The pool is beach entry which means that it gradually gets deeper.   I wouldn't say the pool was "warm" but it certainly wasn't cold.  They have a black line the width of the pool.  If your kid doesn't prove they can swim then they have to stay on the shallow side of the pool.  The kids had to prove they could swim so they could take advantage of the whole pool.  You basically just swim 2 laps and you get a wrist band.  Nathan couldn't/wouldn't do the two laps without stopping mostly because some kid was bugging him.  So he had to wear a life jacket.  which is fine he could still do most things.  There are two water slides there.  The kids spent most of their time on there. 

Nathan would go super slow on there and I would have to remind him to get out of the way and move faster or he would be plowed by the other kids coming down the slides. 

They have an amazing splash pad.  It is so big and has a ton of things to do.  They also have a little pool in the splash area. 

All the kids are old enough now that I don't "have" to be within arms reach.  They can go and explore without me saying "hey stop and wait for me."  I did stay near Nathan just because you can never be too careful.  We had a bit of lunch there, we brought in our own food and ate it on the side of the pool, near the grass.

They had toys in the pool for you to use.  You can see the girls here in one of the toys.  They also had pool noodles and a ride on floating bike.  The only problem with them is that everyone wants one so it takes a long time to get one.  Then once you have it kids want it and trying to take it away from you.

We got there about 10:30 and there was no line up. Super quick to get in; cost me about $13.00 for 1 adult and 4 kids.  All in all the kids give it a thumbs up.  I almost had to walk out without Payton because she wouldn't get out of the pool. 

Our next adventure is going to be a Splash Island in Portage La Prairie.