Hey! We're so cool, we got a pool!

But our neighbors think we're weird.......

It's been so hot here the past 2 weeks - around 85-90 degrees, so hubby and I broke down and a bought a small 8'x26" softside pool. Just big enough so we could have somewhere to cool off and have a little fun at the same time. Vacation plans are not really feasible right now so this was a great solution to beat the heat.

Since we're novice pool owners, we just wanted to make this project as simple as possible. We bought some sand to level out the ground. It was late in the day, so we were spreading it out at dusk...right when the bizillion mosquitos arrived to pick our flesh off. It's a good thing it was getting dark because then our neighbors could only hear us and not see how goofy we looked....hurrying around in the dark to level sand (while vigorously slapping our arms and legs).

After the "be kind to insects" hour was over, we rushed inside the house to wait for the water to fill in the pool. When it was full we shut off the valve and could hardly go to sleep - just knowing how exciting it would be in the morning to wake up and go for a refreshing dip!!!

The next day I decided to bring over a jar of freshly made strawberry jam to my next door neighbor. She has a small daycare run out of her home and everyone was outside having fun in the backyard. It was a great time for a quick chat.

Now, keeping in mind our pool is on the small side, she asked me where I got my pool. I told her the store name. But then came the real question that she wanted to ask....."Who is it for?"

Like a dummy, I told her that it was for me and my husband. I guess if I had said it was for our neices and nephews, or some family with kids, my neighbor would have been quite satisfied. But she had this look of shock on her face - probably just trying to imagine two grown adults swimming around in an 8' pool.

As I was about to leave, one of her daycare children who is a six year old little boy, stopped me to say, "You have a new pool." I replied very nicely, "Yes, we do."

His next question was too funny. It was as if he was on the same wave length as my neighbor because he asked, "Do you have kids?" I could just see his little mind trying to figure out just who was going to use this rather small pool. It certainly couldn't be 'big people.'

But alas, I had to assure him that no, we don't have our own children and that hubby and I were the ones who would be using our new backyard pool. He was quite confident he had seen children in our yard and couldn't they use the pool? No, no, no....we don't have children. Have a nice day.....Bye...

The next day when I saw the little boy as he was getting ready to go home, he stopped me to ask me a follow-up question. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud when he asked, "Do you have grandchildren?" He was still trying to figure out which kids would be using our pool.

Maybe it's because every pool advertisement shows kids having fun in a pool.... kids just think pools are for kids. And maybe there's some truth to that. I'd like to think that hubby and I are just kids at heart.

Now if I could only get him to share the raft!