This summer my wife finally talked me into buying a small above ground pool for my youngest daughter. (Ok the truth is she got tired of waiting for me and went out and bought one herself) I admit I was reluctant to buy one, mainly because I was too lazy to level the ground.

I have to say it was easier and faster than I thought it would be and my daughter who is 9 has been it everyday now for 2 weeks. She is at the least very happy and has had her friends come over everyday. We where kind of worried on what we were going to do with her during the summer holidays, because we are not going anywhere this summer. To my surprise my older daughter who is 15 has also been goofing around in it with her friends, they all seem to enjoy it on hot days. The older girls dont try to swim in it, they mostly just sit around on floating chairs and talk. Fun for them I guess, and it is cooling and a great sun tan area.

I purchased the 36 X 12 foot intex easy set above ground pool. It doesnt sound very big but you would be surprised. I have 28 inches of water in it and can float anything that a large pool can. 4 kids fit very comfortably playing around and I have seen 6 teenagers sitting in it like a hot tub.

The most important part of installation is leveling of the ground. This has to be as near as perfect as possible. Do not place on sand or soft dirt it has to been on grass or hardpan. The reason for no slope is because the sides are soft so it could roll over on it self with the water pressure leaning to one side. The installation instructions say to make an area of about 12 feet across. I found that you need 14 feet because the sides bulge out.

The intex pool took 6 hours to fill up with the garden hose. The pump that came with took 5 minutes to install. The chemicals mainly chlorine and shockit took 5 minutes but they couldnt swim in it until the next day. You do need to buy a testing kit for ph and chlorine levels of the water to keep it clean all summer. The test kit only cost me 6 dollars. I found the walls to be stronger than I originally thought. The inflated top ring filled up in minutes with a bicycle pump. I did place a tarp underneath it just incase I missed a twig or other sharp object in the grass.

One draw back that I have found is you still need to buy a small net to clean it every day. Small pieces of grass and leaves seem to find there way into the water. Yesterday my daughter came running into the house and said there was a small animal swimming in it. It was a grey squirrel; I guess he was looking for a drink of water because it was so dry here. I scooped him out with the net and off he ran.

I would recommend the Intex above ground pool for anyone that has kids and needs entertainment on hot days. If you think they are not deep enough to have fun in you are wrong. I have friends that have in-ground pools and they have said they will never have another pool deeper than four feet. They considered it a waste of money because most people only play around in water and do not dive. Besides the beauty of these soft-sided pools is at the end of summer I can simply drain it and store it away for the winter.

Next year I am going to buy the 18 foot model that is 4 feet deep so the older kids can goof around in it more. Price of these pools is very low as far as I am concerned around 500 dollars for the larger ones. I paid 84 dollars for mine and that included the pump. You can get framed intex pools in larger sizes but its too much work for me.