ChChChCh...Changes!

Big things are happening here!

Almost five full years ago, we bought our house and were quite pleased with the fact that it had a swimming pool. This pool was an aboveground pool that had been sunk inground a few feet and because of that, when you walked out of our house onto the attached deck, it was sort of like walking out to an inground pool...except not quite.

The swimming pool was a blessing that first summer, when I was many months pregnant and floating in the pool felt very nice. I used it whenever it was remotely warm enough, and Andrew might have used it five times or less that year. Then we had Emily. And life as we knew it came to a grinding halt as caring for her was a full-time job and then some. No more lounging in the pool!

The next couple of years, we enjoyed mainly looking at the pool, but rarely ever getting in it. If we used it five times a summer, I would be surprised. The lack of truly hot weather combined with the effort of getting a finicky toddler ready for swimming, in the pool and then back out approximately ten minutes later, just wasn't worth the effort.


Over the next couple of years, we tried to keep the pool looking nice. The deck was showing some serious wear and tear, since it had not been properly sealed/stained and spends almost all day facing due south in the full sun. Then we started having issues with the pump and filter...and then we had Ethan....and well, one day this winter I looked out the kitchen window, where everything was covered with feet of snow, and noticed that the pool didn't seem quite right. It somehow looked, emptier.

And it was. When all the snow had melted, we discovered a major leak in the deep end. Somehow, approximately 9,750 gallons of the 10,000 gallons of water had leaked out over the course of the winter when the pool liner just gave way. Of course, if you look closely at the picture, you'll notice that there was duct tape holding the wooden seam together behind the liner. Perhaps this wasn't the best constructed pool, huh? (It came with the house and the previous owner liked to do a lot of the work himself.)

And so, this was what we were left with. In conjunction with the fact that the deck need major cosmetic repairs and the pool would cost more to fix than remove, we decided that it was time to get rid of the pool and actually have a back yard.