Our Swimming Pool Adventures: Getting Ready

It has been uncommonly hot this spring. The only problem with such high temperatures in the spring season is that none of the public aquatic centers are open. Our son and I have been longing for some water fun since late March (when we had a few days with temperatures in the high eighties). Knowing that we had a couple of months before the pools would open, I made sure that I had swimming suits for everyone. Last fall I bought a new swimming suit for our son when all of the swimming suits were on sale. Remarkably, his swimming suit from last summer still fits him really well (so we will just save the new suit for next summer). Around the same time that we were having summer temperatures in March, I found a nice pink long sleeved bathing suit with a hood at my favorite baby boutique for our daughter. Both my husband and my bathing suits were in storage, so I dug them out for the swimming pool season. The next step in our swimming pool preparations was to buy a pool pass. After some preliminary research, I discovered that I was the only one that needed a pass since both kids are free and my husband would only join us a few times for the entire swimming season (it would not be cost effective to buy him a pass too). Now that our son is almost three and quite independent, I wanted to get a bunch of pool toys together so that he can play in the water as he likes. I bought a couple of things on-line and have a few bath toys that can be used in the pool too. I also bought a little floaty boat for our daughter to sit in while in the water so that I can have easier access to both kids. Another step in our preparations for spending lots of time was to find a chemical free sunscreen. After reading lots of reviews and ingredient lists, I decided to make my own by adding zinc oxide (which is the ingredient that actually provides protection from the sun) to some grapeseed oil. Now we are ready for the pools to open and we cannot wait!