Cool, we got a Pool!

We had a yardsale a few weeks ago, and we told Kolten and Morgan if we could get rid of enough of our "junk", then we could take some of the money and get a pool. (One of the above ground kind that are everywhere, including our yard, now!!) So we did! We put it up on Memorial Day, which was the worst day to try to put up a pool, because it was very windy. We had worked in the yard and garden all day so we didn't start putting up the pool until later in the day, so it didn't get filled with water until the next day. (I can't wait to get my water bill this month!)Kolten and Morgan are all about the pool. "Can we go swimming?" is a new and very common phrase at our house now. I love having a new "toy" to "use over them" - "Not until your chores are done." "Not until you've practiced the piano." "Not until you do everything I say and more" - okay so I'm not that bad but it has helped to get things done a little quicker around here! In every prayer since we got the pool, (and I am not exaggerating when I say EVERY) Morgan says "we're thankful for the pool" - "we're so grateful we have a pool". The top of the pool is 5 feet, but the water is not that high. Kolten is fine in it, but it is obviously over Morgan's head. She loves it, too, though, in a "unique way". Since Morgan has had tubes in her ears twice, she is very sensitive about her ears. She is freaked out about getting water in them and is very freaked out about going under water. We have tried to coax, persuade, and yes, even bribe her to go under, but ... no way! So when we are in the pool, she is usually in my arms, or sitting on the ladder with her feet in the water, or holding onto the edge as she works her way around the pool. By the way she wears her life jacket the whole time, too. Well she and Kolten started swimming lessons Monday. (Kolten has had them before and he does pretty good, but Morgan has never had them.) Let's just say Morgan was less than thrilled about swimming lessons - when I told her I had signed them up, she said, "I didn't want to take swimming lessons until I was 12." Hmmmm... I told her she has to at least go under when she is 8 and baptized, so 12 is too late! She has had a pretty good first 2 days at swimming, though, and hasn't pried herself to the fence or anything like that. We told her it was like school- just like she had to do what her teacher said, she needed to do what her swim teacher says. So far it's working, and it helps that the lifeguards are very patient with her since I told them about her "situation". Probably it helps her, too, that she is so cute and tiny in her swimsuit that they just can't help but like her!! Anyway, I was gone yesterday and when I got home, Kolten, Morgan and Brad were all in the pool. Morgan was actually out in the pool (with her life jacket on) dog-paddling all around by herself. I guess between the lessons and us constantly reassuring her she figured out she could float and be okay. She was so excited to show me and so excited to be "swimming". Well they were getting out, and Morgan decided to jump off the ladder into the pool - she had no idea the force of the jump would put her under the pool. We were thinking she was just climbing out, then splash - gurgle, gurgle, sputter, gasp, sputter! She went under, barely, and only for a second before the life jacket brought her back up, but SHE WENT UNDER!!! She was a little surprised - to say the least, but recovered pretty quick. She got out and was laying her towel out to dry off in the sun, when she said loudly, "That was totally AWESOME! I can't believe I went under water!" Brad and I were laughing so hard - she is so funny! She is so excited to tell her swim teacher about it! Who knows maybe she'll even get the nerve up to do it again before she's baptized!!:) Anyway the pool has been lots of fun and well worth the investment. We did put a fence around it to keep Jack-oops, I mean unwanted and uninvited people out. No really we did it for safety precautions of course. We'd love to have anyone swim with us! If they can stomach Brad and me in our swimsuits, then they are welcome for the fun!