Every single day this summer my children have gotten up and asked me one question, "Can we go to the pool now?" Which is followed by me saying, "When I get my chores done" which is then followed by a unanimous chorus of "I WANT TO GO TO THE POOL NOW!"
Don't get me wrong. The pool is pretty fabulous. My kids are great swimmers because they have been swimming almost every summer day since they were 2; SO the pool isn't a scary place for us and man does it burn the energy.
A typical 2 hour trip to the pool results in 1 hour of quiet time for me at home. I know, 1 hour doesn't seem like much. BUT when you have 4 kids that constantly need to destroy everything in your home....1 hour is pretty flippin awesome.
However, going to the pool for me entails lots of preparation. First there is the massive amount of sunscreen that I have to lather everyone up with, then there is usually the "where is my swimsuit?" battle that sends us all scampering throughout the house looking for that suit that Maisy just couldn't seem to put away.
Then it's getting the little two dressed. James Henry wears one of those swimsuits that has a floaty in it. SO he looks like this big old muscle stud with teeny little skinny legs. It's awesome for the pool though because he can float and swim in the deep end with the big kids. (which they just L O V E)
Getting him into this suit requires me to get the olive oil out and grease him down. No, it really isn't quite that bad...but it's close. It's a lot of me pulling, him jumping, lots of squeaking...it's about a 5 minute process...and that's just getting it on. Getting it off requires a shoe horn.
After James Henry is dressed he flees the house and goes to the car. Sitting patiently for me. This is the ONLY time he does this (unless we are going to Rural King to get tractors).
Violet is next up on the docket for getting dressed. Her swimmy diaper is about like James's suit and we do some skilled maneuvers to get that thing on. To which she says, "Uh oh Uh oh Uh oh" the entire time. (I feel the SAME way when putting on my suit). Her suit is a tad on the risque side. I know, how does that happen...right? The top flops down all the time. Thank God there aren't any boy babies in the baby pool with us....
Once everyone is locked and loaded I have to go get the "pool bag" which contains everything under the sun, but most importantly goggles, sunscreen, swimmy diapers, regular diapers, a book (just in case I actually get the chance to read) towels, toys. etc. Then there the regular diaper bag that I have to carry.
So I leave the house with 2 bags, one kid on my hip, and usually some kind of floaty ring around my head.
But first I have to get into my swim suit...and I don't even want to talk about the shoe horn that suit requires....
Once we get to the pool and set everything down James has to go to the bathroom. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So then, we have to go do some major Olympic activity to get that thin on and off again.
Then there is swimming swimming swimming. Cannonballs, wrestling, dunk attempts, underwater tea parties...all that fun stuff. For 2 hours. IN which I sit with Violet in the baby pool getting a righteous tan. However, Violet only lasts about an hour at the pool...so then I have to find a way to entertain her outside of the water for an hour. Which means she wants to get her clothes on and then crawl around picking up little pieces of crap and putting them in her mouth....for an hour.
The car ride home is always bliss. Everyone is worn out and tired. No one fights, no one fusses, it's so nice.
But then they recover and it all starts again....and they ask me "MOM CAN WE GO TO THE POOL NOW?"
Don't get me wrong. The pool is pretty fabulous. My kids are great swimmers because they have been swimming almost every summer day since they were 2; SO the pool isn't a scary place for us and man does it burn the energy.
A typical 2 hour trip to the pool results in 1 hour of quiet time for me at home. I know, 1 hour doesn't seem like much. BUT when you have 4 kids that constantly need to destroy everything in your home....1 hour is pretty flippin awesome.
However, going to the pool for me entails lots of preparation. First there is the massive amount of sunscreen that I have to lather everyone up with, then there is usually the "where is my swimsuit?" battle that sends us all scampering throughout the house looking for that suit that Maisy just couldn't seem to put away.
Then it's getting the little two dressed. James Henry wears one of those swimsuits that has a floaty in it. SO he looks like this big old muscle stud with teeny little skinny legs. It's awesome for the pool though because he can float and swim in the deep end with the big kids. (which they just L O V E)
Getting him into this suit requires me to get the olive oil out and grease him down. No, it really isn't quite that bad...but it's close. It's a lot of me pulling, him jumping, lots of squeaking...it's about a 5 minute process...and that's just getting it on. Getting it off requires a shoe horn.
After James Henry is dressed he flees the house and goes to the car. Sitting patiently for me. This is the ONLY time he does this (unless we are going to Rural King to get tractors).
Violet is next up on the docket for getting dressed. Her swimmy diaper is about like James's suit and we do some skilled maneuvers to get that thing on. To which she says, "Uh oh Uh oh Uh oh" the entire time. (I feel the SAME way when putting on my suit). Her suit is a tad on the risque side. I know, how does that happen...right? The top flops down all the time. Thank God there aren't any boy babies in the baby pool with us....
Once everyone is locked and loaded I have to go get the "pool bag" which contains everything under the sun, but most importantly goggles, sunscreen, swimmy diapers, regular diapers, a book (just in case I actually get the chance to read) towels, toys. etc. Then there the regular diaper bag that I have to carry.
So I leave the house with 2 bags, one kid on my hip, and usually some kind of floaty ring around my head.
But first I have to get into my swim suit...and I don't even want to talk about the shoe horn that suit requires....
Once we get to the pool and set everything down James has to go to the bathroom. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So then, we have to go do some major Olympic activity to get that thin on and off again.
Then there is swimming swimming swimming. Cannonballs, wrestling, dunk attempts, underwater tea parties...all that fun stuff. For 2 hours. IN which I sit with Violet in the baby pool getting a righteous tan. However, Violet only lasts about an hour at the pool...so then I have to find a way to entertain her outside of the water for an hour. Which means she wants to get her clothes on and then crawl around picking up little pieces of crap and putting them in her mouth....for an hour.
The car ride home is always bliss. Everyone is worn out and tired. No one fights, no one fusses, it's so nice.
But then they recover and it all starts again....and they ask me "MOM CAN WE GO TO THE POOL NOW?"
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