A few weeks ago, when it became apparent that this summer isn’t going to be like any other summer, and the vacation plans that we had were canceled, and we were trying to figure out how to make our continuing attempt to isolate bearable, we had a family discussion. The result was that we decided to get a small pool for the backyard.

Now, my long-term plans, as a lifelong swimmer, are to eventually have a “real” swimming pool that I can swim laps in, but given our budget and time frame, that wasn’t going to happen now. We started shopping online and discovered that for about the same amount of money that we would have normally spent on our annual Mother’s Day weekend at the shore, we could have a pool big enough to contain and entertain three kids and a dog for at least a summer or two.

We came to this momentous decision at approximately the same time as every other family on the planet, and stalking inventory at every single store within 100 miles began. I was delighted when a pool that was 2 feet bigger than the one we had originally planned to purchase became available at a local store and I was able to order it online and pickup in store. Additionally, the store was advertising curbside pickup, and I felt like it was meant to be.

A few days earlier, I had received an alert that the pool was in stock, and by the time I got to the store and waited in the curbside line for 20 minutes, their inventory had managed to be depleted. So, I stayed within the speed limit as best I could and hustled.

I pulled into the curbside slot and dialed the number. And, the message I got was, “I’m sorry but we’re going to need you to come into the store.” My heart sank. I was sure that the inventory was depleted again. On top of that, I had successfully stayed outside of stores for almost three weeks straight, and I was not eager to break my streak. It turned out that she only needed to verify my ID and I was able to be on my way with the pool in minutes.

My kids have been swimmers from the time they were 6 months old. They’ve traveled extensively for competitive swimming and they’ve been in some pretty impressive facilities, but I don’t think I ever saw three kids with bigger smiles than when we brought home our little 4-foot pool. Score another win for the pandemic: I’m grateful to see that my kids can still be satisfied with simple and small and our backyard.

Maybe I used the word simple too soon. As is typical in our household, simple isn’t something we do well. After reading the reviews and the instructions and reviewing everything he could find online about the setup and installation of our little pool, the Wonderful Husband decided that if we kicked things up a notch or two, we could probably get more than just a season or two out of our investment. Even though we had picked a relatively flat spot for the pool, the WH felt that with a little excavation, and then the installation of a small retaining wall, we could have the optimal pad for the pool, which would of course help increase the longevity of all components.

Pretty soon, the crew was hard at work, digging rocks out of one pile and adding them to another. Of course, after a hot day of shoveling and piling, the ultimate insult was that they didn’t have a nice cool pool to enjoy. As is tradition in such projects, several new vocabulary words were added, as everyone tried to work together to get 22 supports leveled and stabilized. As is also typical with such projects, things were assembled incorrectly three or four times until we finally looked up a YouTube video with a “tip or a trick.”

After about two solid weeks of intense labor, we were finally ready to start filling the pool. Although we had a water delivery scheduled, we added about 3 inches to keep the liner flat and some pressure on the supports.

For the next three days, two of my little fish didn’t get out of those 3 inches. (By this time, A had had more than enough family time and was heartily sick of the entire project.) It turns out that it was just deep enough to fill up their super soakers and G and E chased each other around for hours. The only member of the family who was not a fan of this activity was Duncan. Since the kids were usually flopping around on their bellies on the bottom of the pool, he could hear them but he couldn’t see them, and this was more than a little distressful for him, but I wasn’t about to let his sharp little claws do a number on the bottom of the pool.

Finally, the big day arrived, and the water was delivered. It didn’t matter that it was about 60 degrees, the kids stayed in all day. I’ve relocated my home office so that I can watch them out the window while I work. It’s only been up for a little over a week, but based on an hourly usage, we’ve already more than gotten our money’s worth out of it. Of course, along with pool time comes water tracks on the floor, and wet towels left all over the place. It’s not all a bowl of cherries.

To no one’s surprise, maintaining the chemicals and doing the pool maintenance quickly became a chore that usually ends up being done by mom or dad, but it still takes less time than packing up all our gear to relocate to a public pool, and it has the advantage of being open first thing in the morning and staying open all night, if we want it to be. It may not be fancy, or the height of luxury, but it just right for our family for this summer.

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.