Rules, Pools and Pumpkins

You know what is totally awesome - paying an exorbitant amount of money each month to have other people give you rule after rule for living in your own home! Rules like - you are not allowed to hang anything outside your door, you can't vacuum after 9 PM, and you child is not allowed to swim in the pool that YOUR MONEY pays for!! Ya, super awesome.

So, around the first of June the entire building received an email with a reminder of our pool rules - a long list of rules, most of which were common sense - except for one. One that stated that children who are not potty trained are not allowed in the pool. That was news to me - who reads the chapters and chapters of HOA rules ever? And we were in the pool with Miles the summer before with no problems, what so ever. Tony and I talked about it a little - but we both decided that the rule was antiquated, created before people knew about swim diapers, and surely wasn't going to be enforced.

Until...

We got another reminder with just that excerpt cut out.

So I did what any mom of a toddler would do -- ignore it. What? I'm busy! Who has time for rules that stupid!

Until...

We get a call from the Management Co. telling us that we are in violation of the rules for having Miles in the pool.

I tried to remain calm and not shoot the messenger - "So the rule states that Miles has to be potty trained to be in the pool. Ok. He's potty trained and just wears that swim diaper as an extra precaution."

Because, please tell me how you plan on verifying whether or not my child is potty trained! Ya, you can't...

The manager was very nice and supportive (she also has a 2 year old boy) and said to just write a letter stating that he was potty trained and they would remove the violation.

So I did. In the letter I also stated that the rule is completely un-enforceable and it would be wise to change the rules to something that makes sense. Something like - proper swimwear, including swim diapers, are necessary.

And they completely ignored me.

We swam the rest of the summer whenever we wanted to without incident. We did get several dirty looks and a few snide comments. But you can make all the snide comments you want - and as long as I get to swim with MY family in MY pool that MY money pays for - all I will do is laugh at you.

I do plan on following up until the rule is changed, but as it's fall and no longer pool weather I've been less motivated. Hopefully this post can re-motivate me!

So... incase that story was anti-climactic after all the buildup - here are some cute pics from our trip to the Pumpkin Village at the Arboretum this year.