My three boys thoroughly enjoying swimming in our pool. The days here in Minnesota have been hot, hot, hot – and this makes swimming all the more fun. Of course the boys swim laps, see who does the most creative dive, and they demand to have their big splashes rated on a scale of 1 to 10.

They have a lot of pool toys – from inflatables to diving toys to 144 yellow rubber duckies, and everything in between.

The giant inflatable alligator becomes a creature to wrestle with in the murky waters of the Everglades. The large white raft becomes a life boat from a capsized ship, lost at sea. Sometimes it even becomes an iceberg or even a cloud floating effortlessly. The Diving Subs become spy ships on secret missions. The AquaVue becomes a porthole in a submarine, used for discovering alien life forms at the bottom of the sea.

Needless to say, my boys have very active imaginations, and there is never a dull moment in our pool.

I enjoy swimming with my kids, but I also enjoy a little relaxation while sitting in a chaise lounge at the edge of the pool. While sitting around the pool, I use our old cloth baby diapers to keep cool (no worries, they’re new and have never been used). We always used these cotton diapers as “burp cloths” when our kids where young, and we have dozens of them. The fine cloth holds water well, and they work great to put around the back of your neck on hot summer days. Today, I took one of the diapers out of my pool bag, dipped it in the water, and draped it around the back of my neck – so refreshing. My boys asked what this cloth was, and I explained to them that we used them when they were babies. One of my kids asked if he could see it, so I gave it to him. He started playing with it in the pool and suddenly, all three boys had to have their own “burp cloth”. Their imaginations were in full gear as the diapers became parachutes and submersibles. One of my sons threw his cloth onto the water and noticed how there were air pockets in the cloth. The other two boys followed and soon they were all tossing the cloths into the pool, and were popping the bubbles that formed under the cloths. Soon, the cloths became islands at sea, snake skin, jelly fish, and catapults. Who knew such a simple piece of cloth could inspire so many imaginative uses! My kids played with their cloths in the pool all afternoon – creating one invention after the other.

I love simple pleasures and enjoy watching my kids use their imaginations to invent creative activities, toys, and games out of everyday items.

From baby diapers, to creative pool toys…. who knew!