We Go For A Family S-W-I-M

We have to spell this word out in code whenever we use it in front of the kids. Mere mention of the possibility of swimming provokes a strong reaction from our oldest daughter, and now also from her younger twins. Both girls love swimming and would probably go to the pool every day if we let them. Our boy doesn't have quite the same level of passion for it, but he does have a good time once he gets there.

We can't even tell our oldest ahead of time that we are planning to go swimming. We spring it on her as we are getting ready. I was reluctant to go, mostly because I hate having to be a lifeguard for all three kids. It's hardly a relaxing trip to the pool for me.

We live on a resort and the hotel pool is open for our use. It is perfect for the kids. Most of it is shallow, maybe one or two feet deep, going to a max of four and a half feet. Our oldest daughter in the past few months has grown tall enough to be able to touch bottom in all but the deepest parts. The twin daughter acts like she was born to live in the water; her nickname is "the mermaid." She doesn't know how to swim yet, but she loves jumping in the pool, going underwater, and floating on her back.

Our favorite part of the pool is the slide. Only on Guam can you have a waterslide with no restrictions on it, no rules as to how you can or cannot use it, no lifeguard at the top to make sure you follow those rules. Our oldest has been going down the waterslide in our laps since she was 18 months old, and her younger brother and sister started even earlier.

We spent most of our day climbing the stairs to the slide as a family, with my wife and I each taking one of the twins down the slide with us and with our oldest daughter going down by herself. My wife and I realized that this might be the last time we go to this pool. For our last slide down we all made a train and slid down as a family. It was slow going - I think the hard water wears out the sliding surface quickly. We all laughed and giggled and ended up in the pool together at the end.

What are we going to tell the kids when the lifeguards on the mainland keep them from going down waterslides for the next 5 years because they're not old/big enough?

I think our little mermaid will sneak past them and go down anyway.