Email   Print   Share By Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Facebook Digg Delicious July 5, 2012 | Leisure

Children at the Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center have more than 10,000 square feet of kid-friendly shallow pool space to play in, with smaller water slides, water guns, beach-like shores and spray grounds for smaller children to play safely. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

A kid emerges from a water slide at Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center. The orange and turquoise water slides are a step-up from the kiddie-water slides, because they go much higher. They are still kid friendly because the pool they drop into isn’t as deep as the other water slide pools. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Wyatt Davis, 15, tries to make it from one side to the other across the rock wall before splashing into the 8-foot pool below at Lion’s Club Family Aquatic Center. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

A guest at the Lion’s Club Family Aquatic Center shoots out of the tunnel into the water bowl slide, twisting around the bowl at least three more times before dropping out of the bottom into the 8-foot pool below. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Patrons fill up the Lion’s Club Family Aquatic Center, which has water slides and pools for every age and level of swimmer. There are beach-like shores in the shallow pools and a water playground for children to play safely in. There are also diving boards, deep pools and steep water slides for the more experienced water park guests. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Braver guests at the Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center can show off their acrobatic and diving skills in the half-Olympic-sized pool at Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Tyler Salis, 15, catches some air during his side-flip off of the diving board into the half Olympic-szed pool at Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center. Erin Rogers, Sentinel Leisure Editor

Living in Central Texas, we are lucky enough to be in the same state as one of the biggest water park attractions in the country – Schlitterbahn.

But because Texas is so big and like a country in itself, Schlitterbahn isn’t exactly a trip that can be made every weekend when seeking an escape from the Texas summer sun. (And that could quickly become expensive.)

Luckily, there are a few smaller water parks just short drives away in the cities surrounding Fort Hood, complete with water slides and high-dives. Families can have these smaller water park adventures all in one afternoon and still be home in time to make dinner.

Starting in Killeen, located on Stan Schlueter Loop, is Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Lion’s Park water park by my long-time friend, Nicole Crook, and her mother, Barb Krakowiak. We took Nicole’s children, Brayden and Caleb, to the park to check it out and see if it’s worth going – by the end of the day, we would have Brayden’s seal of approval.

After finding a spot under one of the many shaded areas, we spent the entire afternoon being entertained by Brayden, who is about to have his third birthday, while he wore himself out on the kid-friendly water slides and shallow, beach-like pools. He was really getting a kick out of the water guns,

spraying Nicole and I any time we tried to get close enough to talk to him.

There was one water slide in particular that Brayden enjoyed most of all, but it took some coaxing to convince him to be brave enough to go down it. I suppose to a 2-year-old it would look a little menacing. It is dark purple, and even with the sun shining on it, the dark color shades the tube enough so that not very much light makes it into the tunnel.

I ended up going down the purple slide with Brayden a few times before he braved it on his own. Needless to say, I was the oldest person on it.

Nicole and I left the boys with Barb so they could have some pizza from the concession and decided to move on to the more adult-friendly attractions of the park. We made our way over to the giant yellow and blue bowl slide that we had been watching people shoot out of all day.

We’ve all seen the big bowls that museums and theaters have to collect money – you put the coin in and it swirls around the bowl like a tornado as it picks up speed before dropping into the tiny hole at the bottom with everyone else’s coins.

That coin-collecting bowl was the inspiration for this water slide, because that is exactly how it works. After Nicole and I climbed more than 90 feet to the top, we looked out over the water park and everyone looked like ants. The lifeguard at the top was monitoring the slide and determining when it was safe for the next person to go down, as she could see when the previous rider dropped out of the giant bowl into its own pool below.

Nicole had already decided that I would go down first, and right before I sat down to go, the lifeguard said, “Just make sure you keep your chin tucked in when you come out of the tunnel.”

OK, noted.

I didn’t actually take time to think about the lifeguard’s tip before I hastily shot myself into the slide’s tunnel, but when I came out into the bowl, my body was going so fast that my head flew back, as now it wasn’t being guided in a tube anymore. I swirled around the bowl about three times (it felt like 10 times) before dropping out of the bottom of the bowl into the pool.

After scrambling to find my Army baseball cap that came off during the madness, I reoriented myself and found the steps. The lifeguard at the bottom was laughing at me as I came out of the pool and repositioned my cap, because he said with the sounds I was making coming down the slide, he was expecting a 10-year-old girl, not a 23-year-old girl.

It goes without saying that this slide is surprising, but very exciting. Nicole came out of the pool not long after I did, but she was laughing and had the same chin-tucking problem I experienced.

We checked out the three other very tall water slides and the rock climbing wall, where you can drop into a deep pool below it, and then we headed back over to Barb and the boys and had some pizza.

After the break, I turned my attention to the lap pool where there were a bunch of guys doing some acrobatic tricks off of the diving boards. The 25-meter lap pool is half the size of an Olympic pool and has two diving boards that lead into a 12-foot deep end.

We left the park after I snapped some photos of the divers who seemed to have no fear, because Brayden had completely worn himself out. Since it was so close to home, we were all able to make it home in time to take a nap and make dinner.

I will be going back to Lion’s Club Family Aquatic Center in the near future, because it wasn’t overly crowded or expensive, it’s an easy trip and it has Brayden’s official “fun seal.”

Going to Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center exceeded my expectations of a water park so close to home. Fort Hood is fortunate to have it around.

Along with Lion’s Park, there are a few other water parks that provide close-to-home Family fun.

Check out future Traveling Soldier articles over the summer for a look inside Central Texas’ largest water park, Hawaiian Falls Waterpark, in Waco, and also two aquatic attraction in Belton – Summer Fun and Belton Lake Outdoor Reacreation Area.

The escape from the heat that Killeen’s Lion’s Park Family Aquatic Center is something to take advantage of this summer, but make sure you don’t plan a picnic with food from home, because they do not allow outside food or drinks. They do, however, offer a variety of refreshments and snacks at their concession, and there are tables outside of the park where your homemade picnic can still happen.

For more information on Killeen’s Lion’s Park, hours of operation or event scheduling, call or visit their website at 501-7600 or www.killeentexas.gov/index.php?section. To research some of the other parks mentioned, visit their websites at www.hfalls.com/waco, summerfunwaterpark.com or www.hoodmwr.com/lake_activities.htm.