The North Liberty Aquatic Center http://www.northlibertyiowa.org/rec/poolinfo.htm is located at 520 W. Cherry Street at the North Liberty Community Center. This is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. You have the option of swimming indoors in their indoor pool or swimming outdoors on those nice sunny days. Both pools are heated.
The kids have lots of options as well... The indoor pool as a zero depth entry and a basketball hoop. The outdoor pool as a wide variety of slides, another basketball hoop and two of my daughter's favorites: a floatable walkway where you walk across floatable animal "pads" with the help of a crisscrossed ropes overhead and floatable sea animals that you can climb or sit on and that are tethered to the floor of the swimming pool.
One thing to note is the pool does not allow "floaties" of any type. If it is a floatation device that consists of air, it is not allowed. According to their rules http://www.northlibertyiowa.org/rec/pool/pool_rules.htm "Swim suits with built in floatation for younger children are not allowed, unless coast guard approved." Foam noodles, however, are okay to bring into the pool.
One afternoon, we were unable to go to our local outdoor pool which had closed early due to multiple thunderstorms in the area. However, the North Liberty pool was still open and when it was stormy, we swam indoors and when the storms passed over, we swam outdoors. It was a nice alternative.
One of the nicest features of this pool that I appreciate is that in addition to men's and women's locker rooms, they also have two family changing areas that consist of a toilet, sink, and shower where you and your family can change in private. Not only do I appreciate this feature now for privacy, I will also find this very nice when my toddler son is older and it starts getting "iffy" on bringing him into the women's locker room, but when I still don't trust him on his own yet... Give North Liberty's Aquatic Center a try, I think you'll like it!
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