gaylordhub.com

On Wednesday night, August 27th, we closed our doors for this season and go figure! Thunder, lightning and rain cut our last night short! Amazingly ironic, as since June 20th when we opened we NEVER had an evening that ended this way!

We recorded 11,241 swimmers this summer during our OPEN SWIM TIMES. As I went through the attendance, I realized that from the day we opened, we were only closed one day! Other than that it was just a few hours as this year, we started to monitor the weather not just two times a day and make a decision as to our schedule but we upped this to five different times each day! Hooray, you all got more time to swim right here with us at our cool little pool!

But alas, “if a fallen leaf is nothing more than summer waving GOOD BYE,” then it truly is FALL. School has now begun so we are done, but wasn’t the summer fun?

We counted the days of the summer for next year! Since Sibley East graduates on Sunday, June 7th, and we are going to stay open next summer through Labor Day, Monday, September 7th (remember the State Amateur Baseball Tournament is here) we could have over 90 days to our summer! That would be over 20 more days (weather permitting) than we had to enjoy the ever-cool Gaylord Pool this year! I LOVE that idea!

As we look ahead, we have several changes to look forward to also. The first is that we have begun the steps to get our wading pool fixed and up to state code with the needed two anti-entrapment drains and automatic shut-off.

Second, next summer the Gaylord Pool will be SMOKE-FREE not just within our fenced in areas but now we are going to enforce SMOKE-FREE within 25 feet of our pool complex! I love this idea! I mean think about it, we send the smoker outside and then they stand right outside the fence! If the winds are blowing, all the “uck” blows right back in on all of us! EECKS! Our lungs are working here; we are trying to swim and stay as healthy as possible! So if we have to ask a smoker to leave starting next summer, they will have to go across the street towards the lake (north boundary), on the other side of the light pole (on the east side, out to the lilacs (the south side) or on the other side of our parking lot (the west side).

Third, we have not only three full sessions of lessons to choose from (each being two weeks and two days in length) but in 2009, we are also adding four mini-sessions of lessons, each being one full week and at least two more days in length! This year we taught lessons to a record 783 children but we want more and so the goal for lessons at the Gaylord Pool in 2009 is 800 participants at least! We plan to create an 800 CLUB! Plan now to join our elite club!

Fourth, our end of the summer party/day is going to have a new activity: the end of the summer dead swimsuit burn! So next summer when your swimsuit goes belly-up cuz’ you have been wearing that suit so much, save it! We’ll put it on a stick and roast it on our last night. After this new annual end of summer rite, we’ll make s’mores! Sounds like fun, huh?

And of course, there will more more new stuff too, but I like to keep some things for a surprise, so stay tuned! Keep your eyes on the Gaylord Pool!

So for now, this is good-bye.

On the 27th when we closed, a little boy asked as they left our place, “Mom, how many days do we have to wait for summer to come back again?”

My answer was fast, “276 days….give or take one or two! So don’t be too blue! We’ll be back and waiting for YOU!”

Thanks for another truly memorable summer everyone!

See you at the DESIGN TEAM get-togethers this week-end!