Pool days

Oh how you gotta love those pool days. Today we went to the pool and since we have been there before, I know how most everything works now. So, I had it in my mind before we left to lather the kids up with sunscreen and put their swim suits on ahead of time so there would be no fighting them once we got there. I packed up everything including a snack and drink this time. I also had some cash for the snack bar in case I needed an extra water or something. I thought I had everything packed up and then when we arrived at the pool, I realized that despite my preparation, I had forgotten the stroller. (A key tool in us being able to get everyone dressed after swimming. So, I decided to rough-it without the stroller this time and see how it worked. We were good until Grace had to go potty. We were in line to pay and only a few people away from the counter, when she says "Mommy, potty potty potty, Mommy." Now what???? So, the lady behind me offers to keep my place in line. I drop everything except for my purse and Eli and grab Grace's hand and go running into the bathroom. If you can imagine me doing this, it's much funnier than if you just read it. I'm holding Eli on my left hip with my arm and bending over to the right pulling off Grace's swimsuit. After I get both arms out, Eli's hanging sideways about to fall into the toilet whining every so quietly. I get Grace's swimsuit off, hop him back up on my hip and grab her with one arm and sit her up on the toilet. Eli's trying to grab her hair as I do this and then she's wanting to hold on to the sides of the toilet, which I think, by the way, is absolutely disgusting. I get her up on the toilet and am telling her the whole time, don't touch, don't touch anything. She grabs my leg and cuddles it like she does a teddy bear and I've still got Eli on my hip as I grab for some toilet paper, which by the way is on the other side of the toilet from where I am. I manage to pull some off without knocking either one of my kids into the toilet bowl and wipe her up then get her down. Once again Eli is hanging by his legs as I pull up Grace's swimsuit, flush the toilet and make it out of the handicap stall in one piece with neither child wet or crying. We wash our hands, very quickly, run out of the bathroom, just in time to pay at the counter before the people behind us in line get too angry. Oh, the joys of being a mother and compromising. Then we go to find a place to set our stuff down so we can play in the water. I grab a chair that is not occupied, but is next to a couple other chairs, but none of them have anything on them, which if you go to the pool, you know that you must set something on the chair if you don't want someone to take it. So, I grab the chair go over to a spot and sit it down and put my towel on it. Then this woman says, " I think that chair is occupied." She does not say that it is her daughter that is using it or that she knows for sure that it is taken, so I reply, well there was nothing on it or near it, so I'm going to use it. Then she says nothing. So, I go about what I'm doing and take the kids and go in the pool. I look over only to find her grabbing the chair, throwing my towels on the ground and putting over beside herself. What a @$@#$%!!! is what I think. So, later I go back over and say, "well, I guess you decided to take the chair from me, huh? " And she says, "well, I tried to tell you it was taken and that we were using it." I say, "there was nothing on it and nobody was sitting there and there was nothing near it and you didn't say that your family was using it." She proceeds to tell me all about how nobody has to be sitting on it and that her daughter was using that chair and how she got there early and that she shouldn't have to put up with all this stuff and gets all angry about it. I just say whatever and go back over to my stuff and deal with it. Then I went back in the pool and when I come back out, there is a chair magically back in its place for me to sit on. I'm wondering how this happened. So, I ask the lady and she says that she put it back because she asked one of her daughters if it was okay that she give it to me because I had two small children and no place to sit. Then she starts acting all nice to me like nothing happened before. So, instead of getting angry or ignoring her or whatever, I decide to apologize for just taking it and tell her that I wasn't trying to be rude since she wouldn't listen to me before, now she actually was. Then she apologized and all was well. Wow, people can get pretty protective when you're at the pool and it's $2 Tuesdays. I guess I'll pick a different day next time.