Hanging out by the Pool

Summers in Virginia are too hot to go pool-less, and since our neighborhood is still working on selling enough houses to support the neighborhood pool we were promised would be up within a year of us moving in (so bitter), it was up to us to squeeze a little pool into our backyard.

After relocating some plants, we laid out our soon-to-be pool.  I was pretty sure the 12' model would be too big, but it looks like we have a little more room.  We'll upgrade from this 10' next year, and gain a whole extra 6" of depth.

Usually, cheap stuff is harder to set up.  Not this guy.  All we had to do was inflate the upper ring...

Attach the filter hoses, and fill... 

Smooth out as many wrinkles as possible, and fill some more...

And fill...

It sets up pretty much all by itself, which was pretty neat to watch.  It took a few hours to fill up completely, and we have a little bit of a "deep end" because our lot slopes gently and I wasn't about to get a truck full of dirt to level it out.

It's one step up from a teeny sit-and-soak pool.  Not big enough for the grownups to swim, but plenty large for the Kiddo to practice in between swim lessons and splash around.  

But, it is totally big enough for my floatie.  The cupholders are a nice perk.

All that was left was a place to hang wet towels.  There are a LOT of cute hook options - whale tails, mermaids, other various body parts of marine creatures.  Ultimately, I decided on something a little less theme-y.  It didn't have anyyything to do with me happening upon 3 perfectly serviceable hooks at Marshall's for $4 each.  

I just screwed directly into the deck post, and hung these guys on the 3 sides closest to the pool.  I made sure to hang them low enough to have some hope of the Kiddo hanging his towel up.

Pro tip: Make sure the head of your screws actually fit inside the hangers BEFORE you screw them into the post.

Anybody else having a backyard Summer?  Any words of wisdom/experience with little above ground pools?