Not the beach?

You'd think with this incredible heat wave we've been having that anyone in their right mind would be heading to the beach or to the pool. And so perhaps it is an indication of our sanity (or lack of?), but yesterday, instead of the beach, we spent our afternoon at Atlantic Playland. On one hand, it seems a very reasonable place to go in the heat – big water slides and other water-based fun! But I knew that Alex wouldn't want to go on the water slides, so their presence was pretty irrelevant to us. And I was worried about crowds. Would a hot day bring lots of people, or would the hot day mean everyone was at the beach? Oh, the uncertainty, the stress! Nevertheless, we braved it, and went for Alex's first time to Atlantic Playland.

Thankfully, it wasn't busy at all (crowds make me cranky, and I was already cranky enough with the heat). And even though the big water slides were out for us, we still had lots of fun with mini-golf, go-karting and the kiddie pool. There was lots of other things to do that Alex would have liked (such as kiddie rides), but unfortunately we ran out of time.

It was another big weekend of firsts for the little guy: his first time playing mini-golf, on a go-kart, or going down a 'water slide' (there was a little one in the kiddie pool). It's not that we've had the poor child locked in a closet for the first five years of his life; he's just a cautious little dude. But this summer he is really blossoming and trying lots of new things. It's amazing to see. (OK, OK, he wouldn't have been scared of mini-golf before now! We just never got around to playing it until now.)

I definitely recommend Atlantic Playland for kids over 36 inches – yup, that's the magical height when you are allowed to go on a fair number of the rides. Of course, once you hit 48 inches you are laughing. I think the next time we will go for the day, bring a cooler of food and drinks, and buy the bracelets, which give you unlimited use of most attractions. This wouldn't be a cheap day (a family bracelet is over $65), but we were there for just a couple of hours and spent about $30 – much better value to spend the day for twice as much, I think.

Atlantic Playland is located at 1200 Lucasville Road in Hammonds Plains. It is open 10am-6pm daily until Labour Day. More information on their location, rates, attractions, etc is available on their website.