Austin's Stock Tank Pool

Stock tank pools are a hot idea right now. Lots of people want outdoor pools since swimming in public pools is so limited because of the pandemic. It's impossible to find pools and trampolines since all people can do for fun is go outside and everyone wants to make their yards more enjoyable. When you live in Elizabeth and the closest public pool is 30 minutes away, it makes even more sense to have your own pool. Austin and Melissa both love water and swimming, so this is perfect for them! They invited us (Dagny, Lincoln, and I) over to swim one afternoon. Austin managed to sneak out without the kids seeing him and got some time to himself to relax.

What fun! They have all the pool toys to go with it--floaties, noodles,  beach balls, and goggles.

There was plenty of room for everyone. I didn't realize the adults were also swimming, next time I will bring my swimming suit!

So much fun for everyone!

Austin sent me this picture when he got the tank and was just starting to set it up.

He's worked really hard getting it all fixed up with a little deck, some chairs, rock, edging, and signs. He also has a place to hang towels. It's all so fancy and nice!

Austin covers the pool with bubble wrap when they aren't using it and it works to keep the water warm. He's got an idea to make a solar panel heater with some black pipe to heat it even better.

Lincoln got out of the pool for awhile to swing,

but the girls stayed in the pool all afternoon.

Best summer day!

It was almost 5:00 pm when they finally decided to be done for the day. Perfect deck chairs to relax and dry off.

 Then it was inside for popsicles. What a perfect summer day! Sure love these cute people!

Swimming

The plan for today was to go paddle boarding at Chatfield. We loaded up the paddleboards and kayaks and drove to the lake. There was not a single parking spot to be found near the gravel ponds!!! We knew that tons of people were spending more time outdoors since that's about all you can do right now, but we were not expecting Chatfield to be full. There were cones and ropes across the parking lot entrances and park rangers were standing there. Apparently it's full by 9:30 am. We decided we better go on a late afternoon weekday from now on. We were so disappointed and a little grumpy. Since we were ready for a water activity, we decided to go swimming at Burgess Pool. We got on line and made a reservation. You are allowed to swim for 90 minutes and then the lifeguards clean and disinfect for 30 minutes and then the next group comes in. The pool is limited to 50 percent capacity. Covid is certainly causing strange times. Masks are required when entering, paying, and if you aren't swimming. We had to wait in line for a few minutes.

Trying to make smiles with their goggle straps.

There are no beach chairs or tables because of Covid, so we found a spot on the grass to set out our towels. The sky had become quite overcast, and you can see the pool is practically empty.

My favorite girls!

Jumping in!

Just playing around together and having fun. My kids have always loved the water. They spent a day or two each week swimming when they were younger. Just like old times.

A contest to see the best handstand and who could stay under the water longest. Ryan won for staying under the water, they all did great hand stands and I couldn't say who won. You can definitely tell Denya had a lot of dancing lessons because her toes are so pointed.

There isn't much room in this pool to swim laps, but Britta gave it a try.

Denya wanted some tips to become better at swimming, so Ryan helped her with the backstroke and the

 free style. Just a few minutes of practice and she made some good progress. Our 90 minutes of swimming went by pretty fast and we were done! We had fun together. We would have preferred to paddleboard, but this was a fun second option.