Because that’s about the only redeeming reason to go anymore.
Today I got up the gumption to take the three chilluns to the pool, as you can probably deduce from the title of this post. I think this is what, the third time this summer I’ve ventured to the pool by myself? The first two trips are documented here and here.
Today when we arrived at the pool, laden with sack lunches and all the paraphernalia that accompanies three children and one delusional housewife to the pool, I noticed a sign on the front desk.
“No children wearing diapers allowed in the main pool.”
What’s up with that, I wondered briefly. Oh, well, no matter. I can hang out in the kiddie pool with the baby.
But no. When we got into the pool area, I noticed bright yellow tape surrounding the kiddie pool and a sign clearly stating “CLOSED”. I asked the nearest employee where my baby is supposed to swim, and she said, “Just the splash pad today.”
Mmmm’kay.
The “splash pad” is an area with showers, streams, and water sprays but no standing water. It’s enclosed by glass panels that are supposed to keep out the harmful UVA and UVB rays, but in 95-degree heat, all it does is produce a sauna effect — not exactly my first choice for where to spend the better part of my afternoon.
And then of course I had to ask why the kiddie pool was closed. This is information I could have done without. Evidently there has been an “outbreak of intestinal infections”. You can imagine how eager I was to dive into that pool!
Needless to say, we didn’t spend a long time at the pool today.
When we got home, I filled the wading pool and the children spent the remainder of their afternoon happily splashing about while I sat on the porch and roasted like rotisserie chicken.
Did I mention it’s NINETY-FIVE DEGREES in Philly today? Not that I mind. Honestly, I love the summer. I love the heat. WHEN I CAN SIT IN THE POOL WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT CONTRACTING AN INTESTINAL INFECTION.
Maybe next year we should cancel our swim club membership and buy a bigger wading pool. One big enough for my adult self.
Or I might have to eat my self-righteous words and invest in one of those behemoth backyard water slides.
14 Responses
My entire family contracted a parasite from the local water park. Well, it started with my then 2yo and then spread like wildfire because you know how nasty those creatures can be. (Both the 2yos and the parasites)
I’d never been contacted by DHEC before. I hope to never need to again.
OK, now I can lay aside my guilt for not venturing to the pool with my 4 yr old and infant son! Thank you for the laughs and I’m sorry you had to go through all that!!
Oh the joys of summer. Thankfully I’ve finally hit the stage where my kids can swim and I don’t have to. I wear my bathing suit with a cover up over it and it just looks like I might get in, but I don’t! I go in the morning, so I don’t die from the heat and we’re out of there before the big kids get up. This is the first summer I’ve been able to actually enjoy going to the pool. Better luck next time!
Georgia Mom
The water slides are great I do have to admit. D and T have a blast on it with all of their friends. The best part is when you turn off the motor the air goes out of it and you can store it in the garage out of site!
Hummmmm isn’t that ‘sight’? DUH!
I had figured out that you live in the Philly area, but this must be too coincidental. The moms in my playgroup and I were just talking about the same exact thing. The buzz is that an older man had a problem in one of the pools and that might have been what started the infection. The Y told my friend that they were going to cancel all the swimming classes for babies too, although I have a hard time believing that.
I dont belong there, but what a pain if you went to all the trouble to get over there!
intestional infections??? from a POOL?!?!?
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Four wading pools in a city in Alberta have been shut down in two weeks because of high counts of bacteria. Ewww.
May I just say that I am so happy we invested on our little pool?
🙂
Ugh. That would be enough to put me off the pool for the rest of the summer, at least. And maybe saving my pennies until we could get our own pool. Of course, we’d be too old to use it before we could afford it, but still…a girl can dream!
That no diapers in the big pool thing is a little harsh. Have they not heard of Lil Swimmers? I’d go for the backyard behemoth water slide. I would. You’d get wetter.
Disgusting! I think maybe the sign should have said something about intestinal infections instead of the very informative “closed”. Ew.
Ok now I understand why my midwife told me to be careful in the pool this summer being pregnant and all. We have a family size wadding pool we got from Target about three years ago at this time which it was on sale! It lasted us three years and now has a whole but it was a great deal.
We bought the waterslide…we were going to buy the above ground pool and make it look nice but by the time we realized 5000 was a little more than the 400 it was to buy the waterslide…we decided on the waterslide…now, advice on the waterslide, BEFORE YOU BUY, come up with a way to store it that you can actually get to…my husband has ours suspended from the ceiling in our garage…even on my best ELASTICGIRL days, I cannot get it down…sigh…