We built (well my husband did) a pond in our backyard in Dallas.
We hated moving away from that backyard. We (I did the planting, except for large plants/trees) did a ton of work back there. My husband dug and built the pond all by himself. Built and designed the deck but we had someone build the arbor.
I talked my husband into building another pond in our backyard here in Austin. We are also going to build a deck.
I kind of would like to have a pool again. I know that our youngest would use it everyday (she is a fish) but they are a ton of work (and we have a neighborhood pool). My husband doesn't seem open to a pool again.