Every year in the early Spring, we get a notice to pay the dues for our neighborhood’s Homeowners Association. Last year, they took a vote to try to roll membership to the pool in to the annual dues, but thankfully that didn’t happen. The pool membership is on the order of a few hundred dollars, and you can’t take pets there.
Andrea had so much fun at the lake earlier this week that she wanted to take me back up there yesterday. Turns out there was a wakeboarding contest going on at Wildwood Park, which we feared would make the place a zoo, but it actually did little more than provide us some additional visual interest, as our picnicking site had an excellent view of the contest route. We didn’t stick around to see the expert level competition, so we saw more wipe-outs than cool tricks, but it looked like everyone was having a good time so who cares? I took a few snapshots of everyone enjoying the day, but sometimes a baby and a puppy are enough of a handful you can’t really worry too much about taking pictures.
“What do those two paragraphs have in common?” I’m glad you asked! The lake costs only $2.00 per car for a day pass, we can take Elizabeth AND Finley swimming, and it’s got a lot of shade from all the tall trees, which of course the developers cut down when they built our neighborhood. Even if you consider gas and the inconvenience of driving ten miles to the lake, that’s a lot of visits before its cost begins to approach that of a pool membership. Andrea and I talked it over, and we would also like Elizabeth and Finley to have varied experiences as they grow, rather than spending all their time doing one thing, like going to the pool. There’ll be plenty of time for repetition later!