Cheap Summer Entertainment

Tankini for Mom: $30
Inflatable Chair with Canopy for baby: $12
Pool: FREE
This face:











PRICELESS

This was the most fun I've had in a while doing something that is FREE! We took WEB to our friends' pool over the weekend and he loved it. At first he was afraid...he was petrified! But as soon as he got used to the temperature, he was having a blast! His little legs were kicking like crazy in the water and he was starting to splash around a little bit.

I had been wanting to take WEB to the pool for a while, but we were held up by my lack of swimwear. I was procrastinating on trying on swim suits all summer knowing that it would probably be a less than stellar experience. I went to Old Navy and tried on a few tankinis. They would have done the trick but were not as supportive of my girls as I would have liked. I tested my luck with WEB being calm at the mall and headed over to Macy's. I perused the sale racks of swim suits and found a few to try on. I found 2 tanks and a pair of bottoms that held me in at all the right places. I will never understand why department stores don't have swim suits year round, especially in California. Stop rushing me into the next season when it's too hot to even think about wearing jeans and sweaters!

I saw the inflatable chair for WEB at Target a few weeks back but didn't pick it up. I figured I'd get it a little later after I got myself a mom-kini. Since then, I have looked at every Target in Orange County and I haven't seen it. We were at Walmart getting our eyes checked before our pool rendezvous, and found one there. WEB loves the color red, so picking up the crab one was a no brainer.

I stocked up on diapers last week and ordered a pack of swim diapers, too, anticipating this event. I had a coupon so it was a bonus!

The total cost was less than $50 and it will last us for several months and if the crab doesn't spring a leak, we can use it for next summer too. It's a great excuse to get out of the house and partake in an activity that doesn't cost us a dime, which is hard to come by. Plus, I find that WEB does better during the day if he gets outside for at least a little bit at some point during the day. He just loves the outdoors. Even when he was a newborn, Hubby would take him outside on our balcony and if he was fussy, he'd immediately calm down.

I'm glad I sucked it up and squeezed myself into a tankini. I still have quite a few L-B's to drop, but all of that thinking went out the window when I saw how much fun my little man was having. Plus, once you're in the water, no one can see the stretch marks on my thighs. I'm not admitting defeat forever though. Next summer, me and my bikinis have a date!