Surfs Up

Saturday
So which kiddie pool to buy???  The lowest priced one was the simple, 3 ft. round, 6 inches deep, blue plastic pool.  The upgrade deluxe version was about 5 ft. round,8 inches deep, blue or green, with pictures on it.  The top of the line, super deluxe, was a whopping 6 ft. round, 10 inches deep, blue or green, with pictures on it AND a slide.  Guess which one I chose??? You got it, go big or go home....in this case we went big and went home with the super deluxe, blue plastic pool, with the slide and pictures for the bargain price of $30 at Walmart.  I think I was more excited about it than Christian was :)

I asked for assistance to put it on top of my car and tie it down, and then remembered I was at Walmart and that kind of assistance doesn't typically happen....or at least in my past experiences it hasn't.  So the "mature" short stature cashier, said she would assist me.  So we flop the pool on top of the car and she holds it while I start tying it down. Now I must confess, I did get some advice from an expert on the best way to tie this down so it wouldn't blow off the top of my car.  A former Navy man, who also moved his six kids around the country to colleges and new homes, has the expert knowledge and vast experience in packing and tying knots. That would be my Dad. So I did a phone shout out, and after several minutes of knot tying consultation, I felt confident in my ability to tie the pool down and make it home.

As the Walmart lady held the pool, I tied a few knots to my luggage rack, wrapped the rope around the pool in every direction possible, tying knots every so often, until it was secure enough that she could let go without it sliding off.  I had alot of rope length left, so I just kept wrapping it around, across, over, under, until I ran out of rope.  When I was making the last tie off, a young male employee came over to ask if I needed assistance (and yes he called me ma'am...ugh I hate that)  :)  So he galantly took the end of the rope and made the last knot.  If I can brag for a minute, my knots were much better than his one sympathy knot for the older lady trying to get this tied down by herself.  I think my Dad would have been proud of my knot tying, even though I KNOW it wasn't up to Navy standards :)

Off I go, and yes, I did slow down my usual fast driving to the speed limit or below (smile here) and made my way across town, the 20 minute drive, to arrive at home with the pool still attached to the top of my car. YAY!!!!!  I got it all untied, flopped it into the yard and we made our way into the house to get the necessary tools needed to attached the handrail (and I use that term loosely) to the side of the slide.  Now here is where the frustration came into play, in this otherwise joyous event.  The holes in the pool did not line up with the holes in the PVC pipe handrail.  So with sweat pouring down my face and back and after alot of pushing, pulling, forcing, sitting on (and yes some not nice choice words) I finally got the screws through the handrail and pool to get it attached. Then to find a level place in the yard.  That was a challenge that couldn't be met, so I opted for the most level place possible and turned the pool so the deepest water level would be at the end of the slide for great splashdowns.  I put the water hose in the pool to fill up and we headed into the house.

I was finally able to hold Christian still long enough to get his swim trunks on and he raced for the door.  As he was racing for the pool, it occured to me that I should warn him that the water will be cold, but the ornery side of me wanted to see his shocked expression when he jumped in. Yes I know, that borders on being mean but I choose to see it as being mischevious :)  So he did just that. He scrambled over the side of the pool, his feet hit the water and he immediately started dancing from one foot to the other saying, "cold, cold!"  I got in, and yep he was right, it WAS COLD!  I picked him up and we waded around while I dipped his feet and legs in, over and over, until that initial cold shock wore off. He wanted to try the slide so bad, so this time I did warn him that it would be cold when his body went in the water. But with some sort of kid gibberish, he mounted the two steps, flopped down and sailed down the slide, landing in almost a laying down position with only his head above the water. He squealed because it was cold but he scrambled to the slide again.  Over and over and over he went, down that slide. The bottom of the pool is a little slippery so he was falling down and rolling around in the water on his trips back and forth to the slide.  At one point his head went completely under, but he was fine with it, got up laughing and headed for the slide again.

I was worried about the pool because when he came home with me, he had issues with water and the bathtub if you remember. He has overcome his fear of water in the bathtub, but the pool water is deeper and the head going under the water, I thought might freak him out.  But he was a champ and did great!!!
So springing for the super deluxe pool with the slide was a wise choice.  We spent alot of time in that pool this weekend and good thing, it was a HOT weekend.

Back to work tomorrow and Christian's first day at the new daycare. Fingers crossed he does ok with the transition :)
~Amy