What's Up Buttarcup: Ryder's Pool

We have a neighborhood pool and playground but they do NOT cater to little ones. This has been such a frustrating thing for me as a SAHM. We are lucky to have such great rec centers in our area and also belong to Lifetime, but having a neighborhood pool is something I LOVED as a kid. So many of my summer memories are at the pool and I loved every second of swimming and eating Popsicles with friends during the adult swim. I’ll never forget taking my swimming test (I may or may not have failed it a couple times - oops LOL) and the excitement I felt when I finally passed and got my pool ID card. OMG, I was clearly one of the cool kids now!!

Our neighborhood pool is small and nothing like the pool I grew up with. Which is totally ok, but it’s not even realistic for me to take Ryder there for any length of time. There is not a shallow end and the baby pool is gross and boring. Ryder much prefers the fountains at Lifetime and the fun toys and kids at the rec centers. But being so pregnant, I knew I would want something easier and more convenient this summer. Packing up and going to the pool is a full day event with little ones. It’s always worth it and so much fun, especially when we’re meeting friends! But I knew my pregnancy would wear on me and I wanted something fun in our yard for Ryder during the warm months. So I convinced Tooth that it would be a good idea to invest in a mini pool for him. He was on board and we got him a little bouncy house/slide/pool. It was worth every penny and is so much fun! We’ve had friends over a couple times and the kids just have a blast playing with toys in the water and running around in the yard.

This pool comes with a little electrical pump. DUH! I obviously don’t sit out there for 4 hours blowing this thing up every morning! LOL But even with the pump, it is still a little work to get it up and my pregnant self struggled to just assist Tim putting it up the first time. So we just blow it up and leave it out over night for a couple days at a time so we don’t have to go down there and start from scratch every morning. This has been so much fun and it’s close to our basement patio so I can sit in the shade and try to cool down if needed. We keep toys, towels, sunscreen, etc in the basement so it’s just there and ready for fun when we want to play in the pool. This has been so convenient for us this summer. I don’t have to pack up and spend hours planning and making snack bags for our daily outings. We just head downstairs and POOF! The fun begins!