No pool time

Although summer has officially arrived, we here in Seattle have not yet seen the signs of it. Most days my heat still kicks on, so we were pleasantly surprised on Friday to see that it was going to be warm enough to hit the outdoor pool at the gym.

We'd planned to meet Amy and her kids in the early afternoon. Fortunately, my tardiness paid off this time. She called to tell me the gym's pool heater was broken, and the pool was closed. We then planned to meet at the local public pool. Before we even left the house, Amy had called with the bad news: that pool was closed too. Finally, we agreed to meet at a new spray park just down the road. It wasn't as comfortable sitting on our towels on the concrete, but it was hot out and the kids were getting their chance to get wet.

As we were sitting there in our swim suits (looking quite out of place with all of the other fully dressed moms), the water abruptly stopped. There was some confusion for a while -- maybe it was a break? Maybe it shuts down every x minutes so you can reapply sunscreen? No -- it shut down because the filter was full of sand, and had to be replaced.

Now I ask you: why would you build a spray pad whose system was so sensitive to sand, and install a large sandbox within feet of the drain?

Like Seinfeld's Soup Nazi -- there must have been someone out there blackballing us from enjoying water on one of the few pool-worthy days this year. "No pool for you!"

So we sat there, in swimsuits on the concrete ground with no water in sight, eating warm grapes. Next time I'll just spread out on my driveway at home.