Tadpoles and a Clean Pool!

There was great excitement on Friday afternoon when Kirsten went to check on how the grass in the back garden was growing and found tadpoles (or tad-a-poles as she likes to call them) in the pool! I had to get the fishtanks out of the shed and the quest to save as many tadpoles as possible, before Daddy sucked them out with the pool water, began.

Kirsten even recruited Eve and Skylar, our neighbour's children, to help. It's amazing how much fun children can have with some yukky water, a cup and some tadpoles.
We went to see our friends Katrina and Bryan on Friday night, so we only started pumping the water out on Saturday morning. Adam rented a pump this year, rather than spending 2 days emptying in with a hose, so by lunch time the weather was hot and the pool was empty enough for the tadpole rescue to continue.
When Jaden and Kirsten are united in a mission they are so sweet to each other, so the weekend was one of our best and made me excited about spending the summer with them. The pool really wasn't as revolting as it looks, there was just a lot of algae and leaves on the bottom, but the water was clean.
Nicolas was very sad that he couldn't be in the pool too, but unless Adam or I are next to the pool with him, he has to watch from behind the gate, which he finds very frustrating. I dread the day when he can climb over the gate as I'm terrified of him drowning.
On Sunday we were down to the last few inches of water which had to be taken out with a bucket. Jaden's friend Blake had come to help too. I tried to help as much as I could but my bending is a bit limited and brushing the algae off the sides gave me siatica, so Adam did most of the work.
Again, Nicolas had to watch from behind the gate as we were worried he'd fall into the empty pool when we weren't looking!
After his nap and a quick change of clothes, he found some rope to keep himself occupied and then as the pool was filling up, he was allowed over the gate to be part of the action.
The water was freezing, but he was just glad to be with the big kids, and of course his favorite toy, the hose pipe!
The bottom of the pool became a giant slip and slide, much to Nicolas' confusion as the kids slid past him.

So a great weekend was had by all (except Adam who did all the work!) and now the pool is 3/4 full and FREEZING! It will be at least another month until I'm brave enough to get in it, but we are ready for summer now and I'm really looking forward to hanging out by the pool with the kids and our friends and getting my bump as brown as possible.