New to pools in general and have a lot to learn!

[sunlove]

We have a safety ladder on our AGP where you always leave the in-pool half in, and you can remove the steps that are outside the pool, to prevent access. This might be a good solution for you to avoid wear/tear on the liner and also address the safety issue.

I have the Performance AG A-frame ladder and it is very well made, very solid, plus you can convert it for deck use if you ever build a deck.

We have rocks around our AG, so does my parents. Never had a problem and it looks nice. Don't plant grass or anything w/ spreading roots next to the pool. For more protection to your liner, you can get this foam pad thing to put between sand and liner...the name is escaping me right now, but my mom did that. Added benefit is it makes the bottom softer

[tokmom]

Thanks so much for the tips!
I will look into the safety ladder for sure. I really like that idea! My youngest kids are 10 and 8, so not small kids, and there are no kids around us as we are rural, so no sneaking neighbor kids. We have a plan B, with a large piece of board covering the stairs that the kids won't be able to move. Hard to explain what I mean. I would prefer the ladder though.
Watermom, we do plan on building a half deck like your picture showed, but next year, due to cost. I can't wait to have something nice like that.

Sunlove, I didn't want grass next to the pool, due to upkeep, but was thinking of ferns as they are wild around our property. I guess roots are a no-no. Good thought.

Once I gain access to see pictures I will look at what others did. I tried but I was denied. lol.

[Watermom]

I know what you mean about a large board covering the stairs. When my kids were younger, we had a treehouse. You had to climb about 5 steps if I am remembering correctly to reach the little deck on the treehouse. We blocked the steps with a big piece of plywood or something to keep the little ones from climbing up.

[PoolDoc]

Once I gain access to see pictures I will look at what others did. I tried but I was denied. lol.

I just checked with my test user ID -- you pretty much have access to all the pictures that can be seen. Most of the pictures you can't see, were handled by the vBulletin (forum software used here) attachment system. Unfortunately, the attachment system tends to 'lose' pictures at each major update. That is the reason I've switched to using Picasa, via the PoolForum Gmail account.