Poolside princess

This story is going to be told a little backward, because how could I not put this photo right at the top?

The playground I wrote about yesterday wasn't the only place we found a slide during our weekend trip to Silver Bay. The motel had a fun frog slide leading into the kiddie pool. Sydney slid down it over and over again.

That is, during the alternate moments when she wasn't deathly afraid of it.

On Friday, our first night there, she wanted nothing to do with it. By Saturday I told her to stop being so silly, plopped her on the bottom of the frog's tongue and slid her into the pool. Suddenly, she realized it wasn't scary at all, and proceeded to climb up the steps and slide back down - oh, about 5,000 times. It kind of reminded me of the slide at the outdoor pool we went to last summer. After a while, I didn't even have to catch her, she got so brave. I just sat on the edge and watched.

And then she tripped.

And went under water.

And that was the end of that.

Sunday morning, she was still quite leery of the kiddie pool. We at last got her into the water by giving her a small bowl to play with, which we'd snagged from the breakfast bar in the lobby. That kept her happily busy for quite a while. We did eventually get her to go back down the slide two more times before we had to pack up, and then it was her favorite game again. Before we could leave the pool, she insisted on saying goodbye to the frog.

Or maybe she just wanted to show it her fancy new robe. It's a size 6X, but with the sleeves rolled up, it fit just fine. (I'm guessing it's supposed to be a shorter robe.) It was a gift from Auntie Barbie, and you'd think, based on Sydney's reaction, that it was a mink coat. The little glamour girl holds the lapels and rubs her cheek against the collar. Clearly, it was her favorite part of the pool experience.