Coming in this morning, there was a car in the lot with the license plate: DRD PYR8

So the day is starting out well.

Also got Bev spambot mail. And one from Deb Grabien last week.

When I was a Casper-and-Dillo aged kid, I remember public pools being much more fun than private pools, precisely for the tons of kids factor; the year my grandparents joined the private club, swimming changed from nonstop playtime to "you and a handful of other kids can mess around in between the adult times". Certainly a much better situation for the grandparents, and if I were into swimming now, it'd be a totally different vibe for me too, I'm sure.

We're lucky -- my area has several nice pools, and the summer family rates are pretty reasonable, but I have friends with kids that live in different areas with nice pools, so we vary our summer pool visits between places when M is here, so we don't pony up for a family pass to any one pool.

And the closest pool, which is pretty nice, with a grown-ups only pool area adjacent to the kid pool, and water slides and a diving board separate pool, is not that crowded when it opens at 11, and M is old enough, and a good enough swimmer, that I can float in the grown-up pool on my raft and keep an eye on him in the nearby kid pool at the same time when we go to the pool by ourselves.

And when I go with a girfriend and their kids, the kids entertain themselves and we can float for a while after playing with the kids for a while, then one of us can run and do a round up if we see 'em running off to the waterslide without asking permission, which they rarely do, since they're good kids.

When I was 10, my sister and I spent the whole day at the pool without adult supervision, but I am a little more paranoid, since our pool was an apartment complex pool, and this is a big public pool. I'd like a waterproof GPS to attach to his swim trunks, actually. Is that too much to ask?

M thinks he knows how to swim, but he can just dog paddle from the diving board to the side, only when I dive first and wait for him at the side, so we are definitely getting him swimming lessons this summer. I am a good swimmer, and I try to teach him, but when we're at the pool together, all he wants to do is play, and I get that. So -- lessons with someone else.

Serial: I got Bev spam too.

I'm not really sure what people get from a private swim club that they don't get from CRC pools, other than a feeling of superiority and, frankly, virtually no minorities.

I get a huge green space, lots more shade and fewer people in the pool where I'm swimming with my 2 year old. I'm a little insulted by your assumption above.

Sparky, I'm sorry. I was talking about my experience with private swim clubs in Cincinnati. I have no way of knowing what other cities are like, and I wasn't trying to imply anything about them.

wrong thread

me too, but at least I thought it looked weird before opening it this time. "keen detective instincts"

DRD PYR8

??

I went to Dread Pirate, after a little confusion thinking about "pay rate."

Oh! I couldn't figure that out either.