Just Keep Swimming…

The summer’s flying by, & we’ve spent most of it either at home or at the town pool. As I look back on our last five or six summers, I can probably say we’ve spent them doing the same exact thing.

But THIS summer? A total game changer, baby!

First, here’s the deal with our town pool:  it’s cheap. By cheap, I mean $160 for a summer pass for the whole family, & for a family of 8, I’ll take an entire summer at the pool for the cost of a single family trip to the movies with popcorn.

It’s also close by. I have found that my motivation to take the kids out for the day has a direct correlation to the proximity of the destination to my house. As in:

(See? It’s science. Or math? Is this math?)

Coordinating a day at the pool with six kids is a lot more realistic if the trip is 10 minutes or less, so pool is IN.

We’ve been doing the annual summer pool pass for years now. While I’m thankful to have a pool to take the kids to, it’s been an exhausting venture- especially when the kids were younger.

Here’s a visual of what it was like when my crew & I would arrive:

via ytCropper</a

(Spoiler Alert: We’re the caddies.)

The pool is a blast for the kids, but hasn’t always been for the Mom. When you’re juggling multiple kids and water, you spend most of your time ensuring that the kids are not under the water. Or splashing the water at people. Or peeing IN the water. Or drinking the water that someone else has likely peed in.

5y.o: “Why is the kiddie pool always warmer than the big pool?”

Me: “It’s smaller, so the sun-“

9: “-warms all the pee inside it up faster.”

— Stephanie Ortiz (@Six_Pack_Mom) July 11, 2018

A town pool has a lot of… town in it. And the kiddie pool, well… has a lot of other things in it.

Despite the ick factor, the kids have always loved spending the day at the pool. So much fun that they want me to know exactly how much fun they’re having. I’d watch the parents of older kids sitting in their chairs, relaxing with a book, & I’d wonder,

“How is that even possible?“

Because with little kids, it’s more like this:

Taking them to the pool felt more like an act of love than a relaxing day for me; it was standing instead of sitting. Watching. Checking. Double checking. Trips to the bathroom. And of course the litany of:

“Stop splashing!”

“Stop running!”

“Stop drinking the pool water!”

“No peeing in the pool!”

“Stop running and splashing while peeing from drinking the pool water!”

(What’s with kids & running at the town pool, anyway? Why is this a thing? They all do it. And when they’re told not to, they all do this:)

At the town pool, where the lifeguards say, “No running!” to every kid.

Followed by every kid doing THIS. pic.twitter.com/MMe19GCbws

— Stephanie Ortiz (@Six_Pack_Mom) July 19, 2018

I have fond memories from our town pool from when the kids were little, but it was anything but relaxing.

But now… I have finally arrived.

It was a subtle shift; I didn’t notice at first. I took most of my crew to the pool yesterday. Two of the older kids went off to swim with friends. My younger three were all in the pool together. The BIG pool.

Because we’ve graduated. 

After nine years…. no.more.kiddie.pool.

They splashed & played together while I sat in a chair and read a book. And it took me ten minutes to even realize that I was,

Sitting in a chair & reading a book.

My kids are finally old enough to be playing safely without my constant supervision. It’s an odd feeling for someone who has been firmly in the “baby/toddler trenches” for years.

I even did something I’d never really gotten to do: I swam with my kids.

I was able to swim with them without having to worry about a soggy toddler swim diaper. Or an overtired baby needing a nap. Or splitting my time between the kiddie pool and the “big” pool.

I’ve finally arrived. And I was elated, because though I miss so much about their tender tiny stages, I love this new phase of our life together.

I’m thankful for our town pool being the source of so many memories- BandAids & all.