Take a Dip!! in the ice!!

All week long Madison has been asking "Can we go swimming today?". You would think the temp was in the 90's and we had no a/c. We tried to convince her that the pool was too cold which then resulted in a lesson about reading thermometers. Mark told her that the outside temp was to warm up this week so maybe by this weekend we would be able to get in. HA!!

Just let me stop here and ask why we tell our children 'maybe' when what we really mean is "there is no way in God's green earth that we are getting in that frigid water!" Why can't children just be logical and say "you're right mom, i didn't think about how the outside air also needs to be warmer so that my bones don't knock together trying to spark some sense of warmth in my body as I plunge into the sampling of ARCTIC water we have in our pool". But no, we continue to play the game I like to call the Maybe Later game. You know it well. Don't pretend you don't. When you dread the sound of disappointment and disgust from your child so much, you give them a glimmer of hope by not saying NO but saying, (say it with me now...) Maybe Later. I know I am not alone on this one.

So with the temperature being a big fat whopping 80 degrees today Madison reminded us, again, that today was Saturday and we did tell her that the weather would be warmer and that we did say that we could go in the pool this weekend. Funny how we say maybe and when they follow up that word disappears from the conversation. As though maybe we wont remember that it was a promise based on circumstance, but that it was just a flat promise. Well as I reminded her that it was still a bit chilly out for swimming she checks the temp of the pool water. 77 degrees. Better than 58, yes...but still cold! She assures me that we would get used to it after we are in there a while.

I throw out the olive branch and offer for her to put her feet in and sit on the ladder. WE HAVE A COMPROMISE!!! I am winning!! Then she works her magic on me... "Please momma"... those sweet lil eyes looking up at me..."just for a minute?"...my mind is racing...what's the big deal...she'll see it's cold before her booty hits the water..."OKAY" I say to her. next thing you know she is in. Not just a little but completely - in- the pool. "see momma, it's not bad!".

Morgan wakes from her nap and joins Madison in the pool. "THIS IS COLD!!" she calls out, however she didn't back down - couldn't be out done by her sister!

Then I thought to myself, why not...The next thing I know I am climbing the ladder praying that no one is looking out into our yard - and I am waist deep in ICE! Just as I am smacked back into reality and see how I have lost my mind - I lost all feeling in my legs!!!! The coldest South Dakota storm could not have been this cold! Mark was the smartest of us all - he stood there laughing at me! Madison was right - I got used to it - numbness does that - I stayed in until Morgans lips were blue and chattering strong like a machine gun. Madison persevered- she stayed in for a while - in her glory, she finally was able to swim!