Hi ! We're your Hillbilly neighbors...

Where should I start?  Should I start with; It's 108* at 8 o'clock at night? Should I say; This is a childhood memory of mine?  How about; I am a hippie at heart and love my planet?? I guess it doesn't really matter. It's my story and it makes me giggle. AND I have no shame about this what-so-ever, but I know this will give some of my besties a chuckle so... Laugh, cringe, judge, I still think it's both fun and funny!

Let's just go with it is 108* out today and I filled the girls backyard pool this morning. We have used it very little this summer. Not because of the oppressive heat but because, well.... The girls can swim. It is thoroughly enjoyable not only to go to the pool with the girls but to spend hours there with them. Gigi needs nothing more than a pair of eyes on her and a playmate these days; and Lula is not far behind her sister when it comes to swimming unassisted.  For some reason though I felt like today might be a stay at home, splash around in the backyard kiddie pool and lay low kind of a day. No sooner had I filled the girls play pool did the phone ring with an invitation from our neighborhood swimming pals, asking us if we wanted to hit the pool for the afternoon.  Of course I cannot turn down a chance to float in water deep enough for...well.. me to float in or the chance to get all of us out of the house. Not to mention the energy the girls would expend swimming all day {always a BIG bonus}! So bags and lunch were packed and off we went.

Three and a half hours at the pool and my thought that we'd return home and get some use of the play pool looked less and less likely. However, while I fixed dinner Gigi splashed around in the pool and excitedly exclaimed that it was "Hot like a bath tub!!" { light bulb } Honestly, we've done it here before more than once and when I was little my mother was a big fan.... A 'post dinner dip' when I was a kid involved the warmed by sunshine all day kiddie pool water, a bar of soap and a washcloth.  While I have done it after the kids have played all day in the pool  before, it seemed a better idea today. To actually make good use of the pool filled with water rather than just empty it on the grass, barely used. seemed, right. We do after all live in the desert and well.... It just feels wrong to blatantly waste water {That's the hippie in me}.

So armed with a wash cloth, nail brush and a bottle of shampoo, I donned my swim suit, stripped the girls down and I gave the girls their evening bath in the pool. They love it!  The three of us more than fit in the pool.  They get to swim and splash all they want, they even get to wash mommy's hair. What could be more fun than that??  We put the water to good use and the kids got clean without wasting any more water!

I'm sure if any of our neighbors could see us they'd wonder who let the Hillbillies into the suburbs. I wouldn't be surprised if my HOA has a rule against backyard bathing but.... Hey it's an adventure and an environmental lesson. I am simply teaching the girls good hygiene while also teaching them how to be good stewards of the planet!