ZKQ Blog

Wet 'n Wild - That 'n More

Our trip to the Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe water park in Greensboro, NC, was wet, wild and loads of fun! It was a perfect family outing. Our crew ranged in ages from 11 to over 50.

The park offered all levels of thrills from gently floating along on the Lazee River to the high thrill adventure in Dr. Von Dark's Tunnel of Terror (only one in our group had the nerve to meet the Terror challenge). This was my first trip to a water park and it's already on the list of things to do next summer.

(Correction: My mistake, 5 out of our group of 9, slid down the Tunnel of Terror!)

My list of what to bring included: sunscreen, towels, sunglasses, and the Olympus Stylus Tough waterproof camera. Next year, I'm adding "pack a picnic" to the list because I discovered they have a terrific shelter and they will store your cooler for you so it does not have to sit in a hot car.

It was so awesome to use a waterproof camera at a water park. I never had to worry about hurting the camera. It went everywhere I went and almost everyone in our group took turns taking photos as we floated from one event to another.

 

Thunder Bay - a 2 million gallon wave pool with 84-foot wide tsunami waves to ride on.

 All photos were taken using the Olympus Stylus Tough 6000. This camera was loaned to me by Olympus. I do not work for them, but I do use the loaner camera and evaluate its usefulness in my life as a blogger and a mom.

A Mother's Money Lesson

My son takes piano lessons from an amazing musician and student from Radford University. The RU student comes to our house to give an hour long lesson every week. Grateful cannot begin to describe how my husband and I feel about this arrangement or about the incredible quality of instruction our son receives.

Early on, the instructor shared his philosophy with us that playing music, including practicing, should be something the child wants to do, not something forced. And, that the music played should be music that interests the child. As parents, we agreed philosophically with the instructor and, consequently, my son has picked the songs he wants to play and practices when he wants to which works out to be about twice per week. Even though we agreed this was OK, I could not get rid of that nagging feeling that more practice by my budding musician was needed.

In a recent conversation with another mom about how much time our sons spent practicing (her son is taught by the same instructor) she shared with me her clever plan to get her son to practice regularly. She told him she would pay him $1 per day for 30 minutes of practice for 30 days, providing he did not miss a single day. If he did miss, then he would have to start the 30-day count all over and lose his "investment." Her son, like mine, enjoys a challenge. He agreed to the arrangement. When I presented this option to my son, he, too, jumped at the chance to earn what he considered to be an easy $30.

The result has been successful on many levels. I'm thrilled to hear my son practice more often. His skill and confidence improve daily, and he's looking forward to buying a new skateboard with his money. Meanwhile, our home is now regularly filled with Beatles' tunes ("Paperback Writer" and "Your Mother Should Know"), as well as the rhythmic jazz of Booker T & the MGs. There's definitely more than one person getting rewarded in this deal.

Market to Me, Mother of Kids

I just read the specs on the Stylus Tough 8000 camera by Olympus. It sports impressive ratings: shockproof (6.6ft), waterproof to 33ft, freezeproof to -10oC/14°F, and crushproof to up to 220lbf. What it doesn't say, however, is "kid proof."

Based on the images of rock and ice mountain climbers and water-sport daredevils on the product web page, I'm guessing mothers and active kids are not the target audience. However,if the images depicted a kid falling into a pool while trying to take picture, or a skateboarding teen falling and landing on the side where his camera is stashed in a pocket, or even a snowy, gloved hand reaching for the camera from the seat of car after the car has been unburied from several feet of snowfall, then I'd be picking up the phone or clicking my way to an order page. 

Can the camera stand being tossed from one kid to another? At what distance? Is the strap on the camera strong enough to endure being swung round and round like a watch chain while a distracted teen chats with friends? What about rollercoasters, log rides, trampolines and crashes on bikes?

If the Stylus Tough is Kid Tough, then I'm interested, but you'll have to show me first.