Pools are for play

I envy all those swimmers and triathletes who have the discipline to use swimming pools for work and not play. Sure, I have the discipline to train for a 26.2-mile run. But spend hours swimming laps rather than splashing and lounging around? No, thank you. And it's really too bad, since the pool provides such a great workout if you use it for such. At some point during my childhood summers spent in California pools, though, the sentiment was firmly planted in my mind that pools are for play, not work!

We whipped out our underwater case for two of our recent pool visits; first for our ward party and then for our lazy summer afternoon at my friend Ashley's backyard pool.

Matt and I had a lot of fun at our ward's pool party--perhaps too much fun, as a matter of fact! See, we team teach the four- and five-year-olds in primary (like Sunday School for little kids). We had a blast splashing around in the pool with "our" kids, and they especially loved playing with Matt. I had already put the camera away by the time Matt got into a crazy splashing/noodle fountain shooting (you know how you do that with noodles?) water fight that pitted every primary child (and maybe myself) against Brother D. The kids were loving it, and Matt was acting like the biggest kid there! It was great.

But.

Two days later, I taught sharing time for the senior primary and therefore left Matt alone for about twenty minutes. And when I came back to our classroom, it was all too obvious that the kids still remembered what a fun friend he was and had decided to treat him as such that day. Holy cow, it was pure mayhem in there! Clearly they saw class as a perfect time to continue Friday's party. The singing teacher had given each child cupcakes at the beginning of class, so there were cupcake crumbs all over the floor and chocolate frosting all over the kids' faces. Meanwhile, the kids who were now hopped up on sugar were hopping all over the room and just having a grand ol' time.

I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head as I brought the kids back down to earth and engaged them in a much quieter game and lesson. It was just another testament to me that I am indeed destined to become the "bad cop" in our marriage since my sweet Matt doesn't have the heart to stop any sort of fun!

Meanwhile, Ashley's parents' pool in Bakersfield provided a much more calm atmosphere. It is honestly the most beautiful backyard pool I have ever seen (check it out during her reception here). Ashley's parents were kind enough to take me and Matt in for a few weeks while we were "homeless" last year and we were more than a little spoiled. Their pool is bordered with real rocks, so this time we brought our snorkel gear to check them out. Between our pool snorkeling adventure, Ashley and her husband Brandon's company, and a delicious BBQ at her sister Tarin and Marc's house that night, it was a great day in Bakersfield!

Needless to say, I don't see my stance on pools changing anytime soon.