Summer Survival Tip #2 - Innertubes & Pool Toys

We have spent a lot of time at the pool so far (Week 2, Day 1), usually with 3 kids, many times with a "plus 1," for better or worse.

Blow-up (or inflate-able, if you've got the right gadget!) innertubes are a wonderful thing, but here's the tip:

Buy many. Buy all the same color.

I first purchased ONE green ring. I didn't want to schlepp around a bunch of rings, and I thought -- really -- only one kid at a time would be interested...(and I have been doing this for almost thirteen years, I know. I'm still learning!)

I went back to Target and purchased two more rings: one pink; one blue.

The green ring popped -- tragedy! Well then of course there was the big fight over the pink one -- who it "belonged" to (Hello?! I bought all of them!), and so on and so forth. The pink one popped (an act of revenge). (I only had 2 kids that day, I had left the blue ring in the package upstairs in the condo, because I don't have the blowing-up gadget, and blowing up even one ring makes me all light-headed.)

OMG. The fight went on and on for hours...long after we left the pool. (Yes, you can imagine that scene.)

I went back to Target and purchased three more rings: all blue.

Life has been happily ever after, ever since, with FOUR BLUE RINGS:
There is an extra ring, for a friend, or in case of emergency.
No one knows who's is whose, or can claim ownership of any certain ring, which has brought peace, finally, to the Kingdom...at least for now.