Wim in the Poo!

Come on everyone!  Let's go wim in the poo!

Oh, it would make total sense if you heard Lollypop say it.  It's way cuter that way.

We have an above ground Intex pool, that we take down during the winter months that has been GREAT.  We splurged on it last summer, getting a salt water generator for it, and it's about as hassle-free as a pool can be.  You can find these at Walmart, Kmart, ToysRUs, all kinds of places!  The kids have learned more about swimming by just playing in this than they did in the much more expensive swimming lessons that they took.  (Not including the lessons they took at the Y.  Those weren't too bad, cost-wise, but having the pool in the backyard has been a better teacher).

Although, I will admit that watching Poodle during her pricey lessons (she took these a few years ago) gave me tips and hints on how to help Lollypop learn what she needs to know.  The wee one is now very comfortable in the water, and can "monkey walk" on the side of the pool around to get to the ladder.  Which is good!  Although, she is NOT swimming, so she has to be held and helped the whole time.  She CAN, however, climb up and down the ladder and get herself in and out of the pool on her own.  So we have to be very careful to remove the ladder every time the pool isn't in use.

Poodle and Toot are little fishies now.  They will sometimes use masks, sometimes not.  The pool isn't actually large enough, diameter-wise, for them to really learn strokes of any sort, but as far as swimming under water and that sort of thing, it has been great!  They dolphin dive, and do handstands, and cannonballs, and play all sorts of goof-ball games.

AND, I can just let them outside any time during the day, without having to load up everything and everyone and go to the neighborhood pool.  They get a lot more pool time this way!

It DOES kill a big ole circle in the grass.  Not gonna lie to you about that.  And, just about the time that the grass grew back at the beginning of the summer, it was time to put the pool back up.  Soooo, I wouldn't recommend this for anyone planning to put their house on the market.

It's been great, and I've been meaning to share this with everyone, so here ya go!  Happy last month of summer!  (I know most everyone heads back to school this month, but I grew up in the 70's and 80's and we didn't go back to school until after Labor Day.  In MY world, it's still summer.  Can I get an amen?!?)  :-)