We love being downtown so much. There is always something to do: from playing in an empty Washington Market Park because it’s 26 degrees out, to enjoying the BEST cup of coffee and toasted bagel with cream cheese at Jack’s Stir Brew to a nice, warm dip in the pool at the Downtown Community Center. That’s right, even in the frigid weather we’ve been having, we all trekked with our ice skating gear AND our swimming gear.
Artwork courtesy of www.manhattanyouth.org
The Downtown Community Center has Family Swim time, which is perfect for families with babies to the tweens:
- Monday – Friday from 7-8:30 which works well during the summer months when there isn’t any school; not so much during the school year unless you live nearby.
- Saturday from 9-12 p.m. then from 2-5 p.m.
- Sunday from 9-1 p.m.
Things to remember to bring other than towels and your bathing suits:
- Goggles: there’s a lot of chlorine in the water, as there should be. A lot of kids = a lot of germs
- Flip-flops: when you want to take a shower, you want to be wearing flip-flops instead of walking around barefoot. You just feel cleaner if you’ve got the flip-flops.
- Shampoo, body wash and washcloth / pouf: They supply soap, but if you want to be clean, bring your own stuff.
- Blow-dryer: In this weather, you have to remember the blow-dryer. You just can’t have the kids go out with wet hair in this weather, especially if you are like us and are going to go ice skating at Battery Park City Ice afterwards.
We’ve become the family with all the sports equipment in the trunk of the SUV, only the trunk in this case are the two bags The Hubby and I carry full of gear, and the SUV, well, that would be the Maclaren Quest that S sits in. It’s the urban version of the soccer mom, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.