Pool opening traditions

[pool-o-rama]

Hi all! Well, we are gearing up for the opening of our above ground pools this weekend. Yep, that was plural. We have a Paradise 27' above ground pool and so do my parents. We help them open theirs as well. Our tradition for the past few years has been to open them over Memorial Day weekend. We have the family over for a cookout and everyone pitches in to get the pools open. It's nice to have the extra help! Their reward for helping is a summer swimming pass courtesy of us

So I was wondering....

What pool opening traditions do you have?

 

[NWMNMom]

Ummmm, I think the tradition is that I do all the work and my teenagers invite all their friends over to swim, walk in the house all wet, leave apparently extra articles of clothing all over and deposit garbage on my deck. Ok, kidding - kind of. We always try to open and have the pool ready for swimming the first weekend of June. We have some friends over for barbeque and beverages that require a blender.

 

[poolgirl22]

I usually have it open around Easter or Mid to late April. I just can't look at that cover any longer than that. Plus that gives me time to get it all balanced and clean so when the nice days hit I don't have to chain the kids to the swingset and say no swimming. Memorial day weekend is usually the first big free for all.

 

[queenofmyswamp]

NWMNMom pretty much described our pool's opening. Just this evening, the kids were complaining about no clean towels. Uh...just like every year, they are out on the deck, on the front porch and on the living room floor, wadded up wet. With 5 kids and each kid using 3 towels for the pool each day......ugh - it's a good thing I love them so much!

 

[whoozer]

Traditionally I am saying......no it's not done yet, no you can't go in when I'm shocking it, no it won't be ready in 5 minutes, no I don't care if dad said you can go in it's not ready yet and so on.

 

[poolgirl22]

Oh queen! I can't imagine!

We started to get into that pattern with our little person a few years ago. And I only have one!!! lol! I finally said no more! She and the other regular kiddos around here must use the same towel they pick that day. It's their responsibility to hang it up on the fence or a chair so it dries in between. Then each evening I collect all the towels and I just run them through the dryer, fold them, and put them on the stack. Then they are dry the next day. Once a week (or more if really necessary) I run the whole lot through the washer. I gave up trying to wash them every day. If it's really busy or particularly humid I will collect them halfway thru the day and put them in the dryer too.

 

[rcy]

I usually open as soon as there's no ice in the pool, which was the last week of March where I am. I do it myself because I'm obsessive. The water was 46 if I remember correctly. Solar had it up to 65 in a couple days. Tradition is the kids (9 and 11) go in as soon as it hits 60. My tradition is not to go in until it hits 80. I don't plan on changing my tradition any year soon.

Wet towels, wet kids, wet dogs, wet floors...it's all par for the course. In the summer with all their little friends over, it's daily laundry of towels.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Opening?? What's that? :-D
Oh yeah, opening is the day it was filled with water. It hasn't been closed since!

 

[Shane1]

This is our first pool so our very first opening was last weekend! :-D. About 10 kids from 1.5 yrs old to 9 yrs old and all the parents to go along with it. I pretty much chased kids around the pool all day telling them not to throw rocks or adult beverages in the pool

 

[saxxlane]

Well, no tradition yet--this is our first opening! Today is going to be the first day for my boys (7 and 9) to go swimming, as it's 87 degrees outside! So, I'm going to have them each jump in. No putting their big toes in and saying it's cold. Just GO FOR IT! LOL! I think that'll be our tradition, along with pictures of them doing it.

Mine will be teens in a few years... hope they leave all their stuff around and have friends tracking in wet stuff through my house. Means the house is ALIVE. That's a great thing...

 

[BennyMG]

I generally keep ours up and running year round. I still am not confident enough to start using the BBB method and found that I actually save money on chemicals by keeping it open. The kids usually hop in on the first halfway warm day regardless of the water temp. I very rarely get in the pool anymore.