Oasis Horror

No, not the band or the green flower foam stuff either. The Oasis Leisure Center. This is a pool in Swindon with 4 big slides, several smaller ones of differing heights, a water cannon and a wave machine. It is heaven to all water babies and bigger kids alike. This is where we went today.

The Big One asked if we could go during the holidays and as I can't take all the boys on my own we could only go on a weekend when my husband was home. We arranged to take Bigs mate with us too so we all piled into two cars and set off.
When you get there you are given a coloured arm band for the locker. There is a timer in the pool for each colour so when your hour is up you have to get out. I managed to get the timing right so we had a whole hour in the pool. I realise this isn't long but I think it was long enough for us today. Big and his mate disappeared once we had paid and given them their locker key. We got changed and went out with the babies.

Squish has never been swimming before. The place was pretty busy and noisy so he was clinging on to me for dear life. I sat in the shallow end with him so he could get used to the water. The floor gradually slopes out towards the deep end which is great for building confidence. My husband came out with Chaos, who looked a little overwhelmed for a couple of minutes. Then he realised it was a swimming pool and he started wriggling about to get down.


The water was pretty cold so I took Squish over to the small pool to see if it was warmer. It was a bit better so we stayed in there. Chaos started to shiver so my husband brought him in too. They both took a good 15 minutes of looking around before they were happy enough to start playing and splashing. Squish did so very well, I am really proud of him. The only time he cried out was when my husband tried to lie him on his back in the water. He doesn't even like that in the bath at home. I gently bounced him and got him used to moving through the water. I sat him on the edge and he was quite happy to wriggle off the side into my waiting hands. He wasn't too keen on getting splashed so we stayed away from all things splashy. I wanted to build his confidence today as he can be quite a quiet, nervous little thing.

The Oasis

Chaos took to it like a duck to water, no pun intended - honest! It wasn't long before he was busy splashing everyone and laughing his head off. He hasn't been swimming since we had Squish but he doesn't seem to have lost his confidence. He was soon asking to go down the little elephant slide. He loved it despite slipping on his second go. Then he had a go on the bigger slides on the pirate ship. There was water running down these ones so he came flying down them like he was shot from a cannon! I had a job to catch him if I'm honest. It was like trying to hang onto an eel! I didn't drop him so that was all good. We took him in the other pool so he could feel the wave machine. He didn't mind being a bit deeper and bobbing about in the water but he didn't like being in the shallow part where the waves broke over him.

As he was trying to jump in off the side of the pool and having such a great time on the slides, my husband took him on the slowest of the big slides. I had Squish with me. Big wandered passed so I asked where they were. He said they were at the top of the slide waiting to come down. Wanting to see Chaos come down his first big tunnel, I headed over to the pool where the tunnels come out.

People came shooting out of the tunnels all over the place. Some skimmed the water, some sank like a stone and some were quite non eventful. Then there they were! They came round the last bend in the tunnel into view. Just before they hit the water my husband held Chaos up so he wouldn't go under and they splashed into the water. Unfortunately, my husband lost his footing in the churning water and was underwater for what seemed like ages. Imagine a cross between a movie shark attack and a cartoon fountain surfer and that was what Chaos looked like. I have honestly never been more terrified! I thought my husband would just stand up but when it became obvious he couldn't I started to panic. I know I shouted "Get him out" several times but the life guard was shite. She didn't even move until I was halfway down the steps into the water to grab my drowning baby! I was honestly the most horrific thing I have ever seen. His little body being tossed about in the water and his eyes wide with fear. I reached him just as my husband found his feet and stood up. I grabbed my little Chaos and carried him up the steps. By the time we had walked the three meters to the small pool he was laughing again and wanting to get back in the water. I think this had more of an emotional effect on me than him. I love his spirit, nothing gets him down for long! "Woah, that was a bit scary, never mind. What's next??" He's amazing. That said, my husband and I agreed on no more slides!!

On the whole we all had a fantastic day and really enjoyed it. The babies had a great time and Big enjoyed mucking about with his mate and doing something for him for a change. A great family day.