Summer may be here, but sometimes -- even on those fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot days -- you wouldn't know that as you drive by the swimming pool.

Sure, the kids are still making those daring dives off the pool deck into water where they can't touch. The kids are still trying to make a full flip from the diving board, only to make it half way and landing on their backs.

But the number of kids who head to the swimming pool from June to August is down. While we can never know all the reasons kids don't make that journey to the pool, there are a few obvious answers.

Video games is one of the obvious. Sitting in front of the tube with their hands flying across the controller, kids can while away an entire day without knowing the sun came up and has now set. Computers and the Internet can also steal away an entire sun-filled days. And air-conditioning can also be blamed. Why does anyone need a pool to cool off when the living room is just as cold? And are we asking too much of kids to bear all that heat during the trek from the house to pool ... venturing out into the sun without air conditioning.

Maybe I wasn't creative growing up because all we did the entire summer was go to the pool. Every day was devoted to making it to the pool as the doors opened for the day. You knew it was going to be a good day if you got there so early that the lifeguards were still skimming the bugs and leaves off the top of the water.

Hour after hour was spent doing handstands, sometimes getting tricky with the use of only one hand or even one finger, and somersaults, seeing how many times we could flip around before passing out from lack of air or hitting our head on the pool bottom. These were tricks that few of us could accomplish out of the water, but could easily bring bragging rights within the confines of the pool.

The second half of the day was spent getting up the nerve to go off the high dive board, back when pools were still allowed to have them. I'm not sure what I thought would happen since all I was doing was jumping in feet first.

But the threat of landing on my back or hitting bottom instilled a sense of fear. I think I made more trips backing down the ladder than I did actually jumping off the high-dive.

Despite all the reasons that kids may not head to the pool, I know of one personal reason for the not heading to the pool and it has nothing to do with the heat. Rather it's the organization and patience needed to make it from the house to the swimming pool -- all before the pool closes for the night.

First, there is the location of a swimsuit, preferably not wet, preferably which fits. This is followed by the attempts to put on the suit. While it may seem simple to pull on a pair of shorts, anyone who has dealt with a mesh, inner-lining knows it is harder than it looks.

After pulling two feet out of the one-leg hole for the sixth time and finding the string around the waist on the first try, it's time for the sunscreen.

Everyone has their own preference on sunscreen application. One of mine can only be coated if he is running at full speed across the kitchen floor.

Another can have every spot on his body coated, but will continue to ask for more lotion until his nose is completely white. While yet another feels an amount the size of a dime is enough to cover his entire body.

Despite the liberal use of sunscreen each time we head to the pool or to the lake, my boys still sport that unmistakable sign of summer: A dark, tan back immediately ending at a stark, white derriere.

Even the youngest, who wears a one-piece, full-body swimsuit, has managed to obtain a summer butt. He must get that lower-back line from those times he sprints away as we change from the suit to his diaper.

Technically, my kids shouldn't have any tan lines at all. I stock up on sunscreen at the end of each summer because I know we will go through at least six bottles of the stuff each year. Even with five kids, that's a lot of sunscreen. But when a child thinks that a thick coat of sunscreen is meant to keep a person cool, rather than protect from the sun. I guess a half-inch layer of sunscreen will keep you cool, since heat, nor water or soap, is going to penetrate that coating.

Even if fewer kids are taking advantage of the summer heat and using the swimming pool, one thing has never changed -- snacks after swimming.

My kids know that if they start asking for snacks too soon into the swimming pool trip, we'll just head home and be forced to eat a lone piece of fruit for afternoon snack.

But following an afternoon splashing around the pool, a person has worked up an appetite. And there's nothing like a pop and a candy bar to squelch that hunger, at least in the eyes of a seven-year-old.

Not that I have any room to talk. Every afternoon of my summers ended with a Pepsi and a peanut butter granola bar. Nutrition at its peak.

-- Ronda Graff continues to head to the pool nearly every day -- to accompany her kids. She's not sure what excuse she will use to head to the pool once all her children are grown.