Oracle Database Discussions

We're on our first major move to production for a .NET application which rolled out about 1.5 hours ago, & I'm trying to get a handle on how it's connection pooling works through ODP.NET.

I currently have a connection string setup as follows:

Connection Lifetime = 300
Pooling = True
Max Pool Size = 4
Min Pool Size = 2
Incr Pool Size = 1
Decr Pool Size = 2

At this point I have 14 connections opened in the database, two about 1.5 hours old which stopped showing any activity about 1.5 hours ago.

The other 12 connections started within the last 40 minutes, the oldest of which shows activity within the last 7 minutes. So I'm a bit confused as to

1) why are there are 14 accounts open when I have a max pool size of 4?
2) why is a 40 minute old connection still showing activity, if it has a lifespan set to 300 seconds (Connection Lifetime = 300)?

Thanks for your help,
--=Chuck