It seemed they had found the perfect weather conditions.
Planting themselves under a blue mushroom-shaped waterfall, two young girls found shelter from the sweltering sun on June 5, while keeping their hovering mother at a distance.
It was a typical scene for the shallow end of the pool at the Family Aquatic Center, 6400 Abbott Road — parents followed their excited children through the sparkling blue water, friends applied sunscreen to friends, and lifeguards looked bored but happy to be outside.
The center, in its sixth year, is one of the handful of destinations available for East Lansing residents seeking relief from the menacing summer heat. The center has a tube slide, drop slide, a zero depth entry area for the roughly 15,000 square-foot pool and plenty of space for sunbathing.
Cosmetology student Katie Beals, 21, chose to do her sunbathing poolside at the center instead of at her apartment at Capstone Commons.
"It's a lot calmer than the apartments. The pool at (Capstone) is crazy, like spring break," she said.
Charlotte residents Rochelle Napier and Jamie McKay, both 28, brought their daughters to enjoy the playground and pool at the center.
"There's nothing to do in Charlotte. We're always in East Lansing to shop and swim — this is our hang-out town," Napier said.
There are also options for those seeking real sand and a beach — Ingham County Parks — each with different types of summer activities and all equipped with beaches.
Hawk Island Park, 1601 E. Cavanaugh Road in Lansing, has a 30-acre, man-made lake surrounding the uninhabited island, which is the result of a gravel-pit excavation.
The park has a 12-foot-wide, mile-and-a-half-long paved path for running and biking, row boats and paddle boats available to rent and a boardwalk where visitors can fish for bass or catfish.
Lansing resident Phil Brown, 71, was fishing on the boardwalk Monday afternoon. Brown, a retired Lansing middle school teacher, hadn't brought any worms to fish with, but said he still looks forward to each time he casts his line.
"Sometimes you can enjoy an act or a person or a thing without having to consume it," he said.
"You got the water, you got the trees, you got the sky, you got the clouds and the warmth of the breeze. What else do you need?"
The parks at Lake Lansing offer residents the chance to sail on the largest body of water in 40 miles. The lake serves as the practice waters for the MSU Sailing Team and the training area for the MSU Sailing Center, an extension of the IM Sports and Recreative Services Department that is open to the public. The grounds, which are divided into three parks — Park North, Park South, and Boat Launch — have volleyball courts and sand beaches.
MSU elementary education junior Jen Epstein and her friend Bayna Gold were among the few families and volleyball players who came to Park South at Lake Lansing on Sunday.
"I've only been here twice, but it's never been that busy, but I kind of like it that way; it's private," Epstein said of the park.
William Burchfield Park, 881 Grovenberg Road in Holt, is larger and farther away from East Lansing than Hawk Island and the parks at Lake Lansing.
In addition to being the most rural, the park is the only one in the county that offers canoe and kayak rentals. There's also a trail for extreme mountain biking, separate from its 6-mile-long regular biking trail.
There are also a variety of choices for people who need nothing more than a pool to get cool in East Lansing.
The Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, has swimming classes for all ages, senior aerobics, and designated times to swim laps in the pool's six lanes.
On campus, the outdoor pool at IM Sports-West has open swim seven days a week.
Robert Wilson called to his friend Adam Zipple, both 10, across the outdoor pool located at IM-Sports West on Monday afternoon. Wilson was making sure his friends were watching before he made the 5-meter drop into the deep end, bellowing while he fell.
Head lifeguard Matt Porter said the diving boards are popular among the pool's visitors, students in sports camps staying on campus, and MSU students and faculty who come to swim laps on their lunch breaks.
