pool planning and poor planning only differ by 1 letter

there are people who can go to the pool carrying their few essentials in their hand -- a towel, some sunscreen, and maybe a magazine. i used to be one of those people. you know, back when "going to the pool" was actually a relaxing thing to do. i'd meet a friend there, sip a cold soft drink, and actually drift off to sleep if the lounge chair was comfortable enough. "going to the pool" these days takes more planning than a meeting of the U.N. i have a 2- and 3-year old who both are convinced they can swim far better than they can. so, unless i want to be performing CPR on both of them on opposite sides of the deep end at the same time, life jackets are necessary. toys also prove to be rather helpful (until some random kid swipes them, who then always acts totally offended when i ask them nicely if we can have our own toys back.) then there's the hand sanitizer. goggles. hats. sunglasses. snacks. ice pack. juice boxes. napkins. chapstick. cover-ups. you get the idea. after liam had to ride home from the pool last week totally naked ("buck nekkid", as we say here in the south) because i'd forgotten to pack some dry underwear, i decided i'd type up a list of all the things we needed, print it out, and put it in a plastic sleeve to keep next to the pool bag in the laundry room. if that weren't type-A enough, i figured i could use a dry-erase marker to check off each item as i placed it into the bag, and then wipe it off for the next use. there were 42 things on that dadgum list -- just for a couple of hours in a contained facility! no wonder i could never make it to the pool with everything we required and still have my sanity intact. now that i've mastered the art of remembering of all the stuff to bring, my next mission is to find a bag that will hold it all without causing my arm to fall off in the process. there's nothing quite like being weighed down with half of our house on one shoulder while i've got 33-pound susanna hoisted on my other hip, liam tugging at my hand, all the while battling the 250-degree heat radiating from the pavement in the parking lot. at least all the effort is worth it -- they love every minute they're there! i'll take their excitement over relaxation any day. (i've kind of forgotten what that feels like, anyway.)