The Aqualife Academy at Brookstreet Hotel.

I have always been a believer that swimming is an essential life skill. I had very little swimming lessons when I was a child and as such can pretty much only do the doggy paddle now LOL. As soon as Jax was born, I decided I wanted him in swim as soon as he could, and had him in the water just shy of 3 months old at the City of Ottawa swim lessons. I did the same for Hudson. If you have ever experienced these type of classes, it’s not that they learn how to swim… they are of course, just babies. But the purpose is to get them comfortable in the water. You can expect to mostly be floating around in the pool, singing songs and splashing around with the odd head dunk. But I do feel strongly that it’s important.

Crazy how time flies and now I don’t even have to go into the pool with Jax. At the age of 3, it’s no longer parent and tot, thank god! Now I’m a proud spectator on the pool deck. Now that he is a big boy learning more skills, we felt it was the perfect time to step it up a notch with his swim lessons. And so, we decided to try semi private lessons with The Aqualife Swim Academy. I had heard so many amazing stories from various mom groups on Facebook and from a few friends.  Many moms went on to say that their children who previously struggled in the City of Ottawa classes actually excelled after only a few classes with Aqualife, and passed with flying colours.

We couldn’t wait to start and decided on the Brookstreet Hotel location since we like the facilities and it was close to home. There are about five other hotels that they operate out of as well. Classes range from parent and tot right up to adult swim lessons. We decided to start at 3 years old with the semi private… the idea is that when Hudson turns 3 the two of them will be able to take the same semi private class together. Perfect!

Jax was super pumped for his first class, as were we. He takes his swim lessons very seriously and he literally doesn’t say a peep during the lessons. It’s actually pretty hilarious given he is normally very chatty. Not the Jax I know, but he’s focused which is great. He is showing greater confidence in all aspects of the lesson such as dunking his head for more and more time each week, jumping of the edge of the pool that he wouldn’t do before and he even floated on his back on his own during the last class. I couldn’t believe it when she let go. Suffice to say, we are super happy already with these classes. AND, we’ve only completed four so far! I can’t believe the immediate progress.

Another reason why we chose Brookstreet over the other Kanata location is that we could also pay the entrance fee to swim before and/or after and make a day of it. Your entry gets you access to the indoor saltwater pool where the lessons are held, the kiddie pool with a little slide structure and a teeter totter and hot tub. There is also an outdoor pool, wading pool, hot tub and a sauna. Bonus: you are also able to use the gym facilities with your pass! They offer summer and yearly memberships in addition to just drop ins. We love it!

Today we went with our friends for a fun day of swimming followed by a nice patio lunch at Perspectives, their onsite restaurant. We started out indoors in the kid pool which is cool because they can run around and go down the mini slides, as well as on the teeter totter which they seemed to love. Then they frolicked around in the indoor pool and practiced jumps. We were getting hungry, but decided to play around the outdoor pool and let the lunch rush pass before heading in. We were really trying to soak it all in while we still have some nice summer days! The food was wonderful and the waiter was excellent, I forget his name, but I’m going to write an email to applaud his customer service (something which I find lacking these days, so bravo to the staff there).

After lunch, we burned off some more energy running through the grounds beside the outdoor pool and playing on some of the small structures they have. We wrapped it up in the outdoor entrance where they have some neat little musical structures. After a super fun day, we ended with popsicles from the Brookstreet’s little café open in the front with a Starbucks and all sorts of snacks.

Depending on the weather over the next month, we might try to squeeze at least one more day in before the summer ends. I do recall from last year, that they don’t have a set closing date for the pool and keep it open if the weather continues to be warm, regardless of the date. Fingers crossed for an extended Ottawa summer!

For more info on Aqualife, visit their website at www.theaqualife.ca, and for more information on Brookstreet click here.

Have you heard of Aqualife Academy? I never had before and am super curious to hear your experiences with lessons. Obviously, I highly recommend it.

Is there any other activity you want to see me cover? I’m happy to hear it, and up to trying just about anything! Leave me a message, happy to hear from you!