Oh Essjay..... I feel so badly for you and your kids! But especially for your frustration!!!! It's an awful way to feel - I know, I've been there with different things.
I'm in Cypress, also. My pool has been filled for 3 weeks, so obviously, I'm a newbie. From what I read above, it sounds like you have to drain the pool and refill.
What I thought I'd offer is this: my son and I could come help you scrub the pool before you refill. THEN..... once it's filled, I can come use my test kit (from TFP) and help run some tests and add chemicals. I'm comfortable with the easy stuff like chlorine and pH. This would give me even more practice. The pool builder's guy who still comes to check the pool until they release me says I have best pool water of any of his customers! I'm on my way to being an expert! Well, I hope! LOL!!! And as anything else pops up, all we (I) have to do is ask on here. I even have extra chlorine, stabilizer, muriatic acid, and borax that I'd love to share with you. (I over-bought thinking this would all be harder than it has been.... that's a newbie for you!)
Maybe this would let your kiddos swim through September if not longer. It's a great way for them to burn off energy after school. And if you have a minute to yourself (I don't know the ages of your kids), a 15 minute float on water does wonders.
I realize it may be too late to get rid of the bad taste you have about pools (and I can understand why!!!!), but you never know what a little bit of teamwork can do, right?!
I'm retired so most days, I could work around your schedule. I'm not a weird stalker or anything. I know, you can't take my word for it, but I think there are some people who have followed my build thread and would vouch for me. And if you'd be more comfortable with more distant support, I'll invest in the kit for you to use. If you still want to get rid of the pool, I'll take it back and use it myself. It's a win-win for me..... Either I get the joy of knowing kids will get more than one season of pool fun (I'm a retired elementary teacher from CFISD) which is big for me cuz I don't have students anymore or even grandchildren, OR I will have the test kit stuff to replace mine as it is used up!!!
Think about it, but I understand if you've already decided to move on.
All the best!
Suz.
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P.S. I meant to let you know, it was a very kind TFP member who told me about your post. He has seen my build thread and noticed I'm also from Cypress and thought we might make our proximity work. I didn't ask his permission to give his username, so I won't. But his private message to me about your post really speaks volumes about what a great group of people are on this forum!!!
Hugs,
Suz.