a Pool of myself

We had an ingenious idea.

We were of one accord.

Well, as much of an accord as two people can be.

We got pool passes. We had three pools to choose from.

Yesterday we ventured there.

The way the Lord has been whispering to me, I'm pretty sure it was his idea.

I wish I would have remembered this later.

We walk in - and the pool is broken up into nifty little areas.
To our left is the big pool. All the way left are two slides. All the way left in the opposite corner are two diving boards.

To our right - a sprinkler pad. And to our right and just way in the corner is a really nifty little wading pool. (For kids 6 & under, thank you.)

The pool is has a gradual depth. It starts on dry land and you can walk as deep as you want to be. We start there. Mini-Me wants to see the slides so we go down and see how deep the pool is. 3ft 6in. GREAT!! She can touch and we do a check to make sure.

She's set. Slides here she comes. (she even makes a friend!)

G & J-man and Mini-E and I try the other end of the pool. There's a giant sprinkler here - kind of like a toad stool that pours water. Picture a giant shower. Mini-E wants NOTHING to do with anything. So I'm carrying her and watching the boys and looking around to get a feel for things.

I lose J-man.
He's decided to head toward the slides.
I'm calling out to him and walking as fast as my chubby self can with a baby on my hip -- and hollering to J...He hears me and stops briefly on the steps to grin and acknowledge my calling. I'm pretty sure he was excited to see me. He kept going.

The life guard behind me asked "What's wrong?" I point up and say "That's my three year old."
I knew, with Mini-E on my hip, that if I went up there to drag J down it would be more of a problem than a help. The lifeguard at the top looked down at me as she helped J onto the slide.

What was she going to do? I say "I'll hop in and grab him." the lifeguard behind me says "Are you sure?" "yeah."

I put Mini-E down and jump in. J-man comes down the slide, wide-eyed. It was not my original intention for him to go under. But he did. Probably a good thing. I pick him up and carry him to the side and put him on the pool deck. I climb out. I retrieve Mini-E and restrained myself from yelling at J-man. Instead, I pretty much growled.

"Don't do that without Mommy EVER AGAIN!"

Yes, Mama...Yes, mama.

We head to the wading pool. It's fenced in - and actually G wants to play in the wading pool.

Time elapses and my heart stops pounding. (10 minutes and I'm already stressed. This didn't look promising)

Mini-E ventures into the water. She's having a good time walking around, until she gets splashed in the face and that makes her lose her footing and she falls down. Which wasn't so awful, I think, but the way she stands up is by putting her hands on the ground and sticking her end quarters into the air. That's a hard thing to do in the water.

She's rescued by me. And she cries.
She wants nothing to do with the water any more. She never wanted to be splashed in the first place...now she doesn't want into the water. Unless I sit in the water. Then she'll sit in my lap.

More time elapses. She's still not interested in playing by herself. Mini-Me, though, gets a life jacket from her friend and dives off the diving boards and then heads back to the slides. She's having a great time.

We head for the sprinkler pad. Mini-E wants nothing to do with the sprinklers. Luckily this is where the picnic tables are set up. She goes and meets a grandma while her brothers play in the sprinklers.

The grandma is very nice. J-man falls down and bites his tongue. Mini-E and I get ice for J's tongue. And then She goes over and meets the other grandma sitting under the umbrellas.

I decide to head over to where we'd dropped all our stuff. Maybe Mini-E would want to sit on the chair. While the boys play in the shallow end of the pool. Everything is great for a little while. Mini-E wants to walk around.....she wants up. I pick her up and wade into the water.

I see G heading up a ladder where the water is NOT deep for him.
J-man is trying to follow. The water is deeper for my little linebacker. I'm hollering and trying to get to him before he walks into water that's over his head. I'm a little too late. I put Mini-E on the pool deck again and help J get his feet on steadier ground. We do a test. He can touch here...but if a wave comes and he'll get water in his face. Which is what happened before. He got water in his face and lost his footing. It just looked like he was "in over his head."

I let him climb up the ladder and explain to G that J-man was following him. (His favorite big brother.) I explained to G that some places that he can go - J-man can not follow. He said he would be more careful and he was sorry.

I climb out and find Erica loving on the second grandma who had come over to offer and hand. I think she was heading out of the pool.

We left very soon thereafter. If I could have gotten my hands on chocolate, I would have.
If we were nearer to a Starbucks I'd have gotten something expensive. I settled for a Diet Coke. Large and at full price at Sonic. (Did come home and find my hubby home and brownies in the oven. My man loves me.)

I know that once we get the system figured out - everything will work wonderfully. J-man might need to wear a life jacket or he can't go beyond a certain point.

I regaled my story to someone and she said "I thought you bit off more than you could chew."
Thanks.

I think the Professor is concerned. I signed the big kids up for swim lessons and he has already said that I'll be stressed after one session of swim lessons because they are every day for 2 weeks.

Thanks honey. Sorry in advance.

So now I'm rather miffed at myself for not remembering that it was the Holy Spirit's idea that we try it out. And the good news was - the pool was NOT crowded. Mini-E actually flirted with two very cute lifeguards.
They have life jackets we can use.
And I don't have to clean the pool or set it up.

Mini-Me had such a great time, I'd hate to not go back.
I just need to figure out the system.

But that's how I made a pool out of myself yesterday.