Swimmer!

The kids have been working hard on learning to swim this summer.  They are both doing great - Tyler is a champ at underwater swimming and "hold your breath" competitions, and Katie is all about cannonballs and "real" swimming "with arms."  At day camp they have to wear life jackets during pool time because they are "purple armband" campers - aka non-swimmers.  Katie has been determined, all summer, to pass the swim test and get to play sans life jacket.  She didn't pass the swim test the two times she attempted previously this summer, but the third time was the charm!  She took it today and passed and was absolutely beaming with pride.  She said that the lifeguard was very proud of her too (she took it yesterday and was told she had to use her legs more and today really worked on that to swim the length of the pool well enough to earn her "green armband" - aka SWIMMER)!

Tyler has no desire to take the test.  He is not quite there yet with the "real" swimming, anyway, but for some reason he is very reluctant to try and even discouraged Katie from her attempts, too.  He tells me that he likes having a life jacket and wanted Katie to have to wear hers too, but he told her he was proud of her today - he knows it was important to her.  I am secretly glad that this was the week for Katie to pass - there are only two days left of camp this week (and for the whole summer) and we will miss Friday which is water day.  I like them wearing life jackets, too!  I know, though, that it is a kid milestone to learn to swim, and I am so proud of Katie who really has been doing a great job trying to learn to swim and practicing every chance she gets.   I am confident that she earned the armband (the lifeguards were pretty strict on pass/fail), and I truly believe that she learned a lot from sticking with something, and having to work hard to accomplish the goal! 

On A Roll

I just had to chronicle the last few days, especially of Tyler's antics.  This week was busy, busy, busy.  They had camp (Art for Tyler, Sports for Katie) and then VBS each evening from 6:30 - 8:30.  They were getting home late, getting to bed late, having to be woken up in order to get to camp on time and generally just exhausted.  But, they had a ton of fun.  The week ended with a carnival type of event and the kids had an absolute ball. 

Yes, Katie has pink streaks in her hair and Tyler's is all orange.  

 They couldn't make it very far up, but they were determined! 

 The wait for the face painting was worth it to K & T - they convinced us to let them sleep in the paint and woke up ecstatic that they were still a tiger and a princess this morning!

Earlier in the week we went to Sonic right before VBS started and a very large woman sat next to us with her family.  Tyler asked, loudly, "how fat can somebody's body even get?"  He followed that up with a query of "that big?" as I was pleading with him to be quiet and talk about it later. That wasn't the end of him embarrassing us lately, though.  Tonight when some friends were over for dinner their children were terrified of Marley.  Their children were afraid that Marley was going to bite them and Tyler helpfully told them "don't worry, she hasn't bit any of us in a long time."  Then, when our friends were leaving, the house was a mess of toys and I told them not to worry about it and to just get their youngest home and to bed.  Tyler reassured them that "it's not a big deal, we are used to mess around here."  That boy has no filter!

4th of July!

A little late - I thought I had already posted about our super fun 4th of July, but apparently not!

We really did have a great day.  Lance played in a golf tournament that morning and the kids and I went with some friends out to Pegram for a parade, bounce houses, and yummy, but oh so unhealthy fair-type food (funnel cakes, corn dogs, chicken on a stick).  The kids racked up on candy thrown in the parade and are still selecting pieces to put in their backpacks each day at camp.  Katie was so proud of her 4th of July t-shirt that she made at camp (Tyler made a pillowcase so he couldn't wear his).

It was a gorgeous and not too hot day, so we spent longer than expected at the Pegram celebration and didn't make it to the pool for the 4th of July party, as intended.  We had our own backyard party though!  On the way home we stopped to pick up some low-key fireworks (sparklers, colored smoke bombs, pops, and snakes) and that afternoon Lance relented and let me get a blow-up pool.  Epic fail, since our sloped yard had no space for it anywhere and it wouldn't work.  We now have a giant baby pool (depth wise) in the yard, with water that needs to be drained already (the pump wouldn't work because it couldn't get tall enough), and that is killing the grass and is an eyesore.  I will say, though, that the kids do get it in some afternoons and like splashing around - they just would like it better if it was 3 feet deep!  We had a good time, despite the lame pool (or rather yard) - Lance was grilling and the kids were dancing fools!  I love watching Tyler dance!

We have just two weeks left of camp after this one - eek!  That means school is about to start!!!  I have been picking up shirts and shorts lately, and need to get shoes, supplies, and lunchboxes and then we'll be set.  We are actually going to the beach right before school starts (just for a long weekend) since there are no camps available and school doesn't start until Wednesday.  We decided to celebrate our anniversary (13 years) a little early and bring the kids along!  We thought about different trips - Vegas, Kings Island, a cruise - but for us nothing beats the beach and especially the beach where we got married - and we thought it would be good to get away one last time before the craziness begins.  We will have their birthday and Fall Break not too long after school starts, too, but this will be like our last hooray of the summer!  The first week of school will be kind of trying since the first day is a half day, they have no school on Thursday, and then do have school on Friday - but after the first week we have aftercare and they can sign up for school's out care, too so I won't complain, too much!

The kids are doing great swimming, although Tyler refuses to take the camp swim test (he has gotten it in his head that it is dangerous for some reason).  Katie did take it this week, but started doggie paddling halfway through (which is a no-no) so she didn't pass.  She plans to take it again next week and she should pass since she can swim the length of the pool by herself  nowadays.  Tyler is still firmly in dog paddle stage but getting better about holding his head up and they are both fish underwater and not afraid to jump in at all.  We should have another month of good pool weather and they don't close until Labor Day, so hopefully by the official end of summer we'll have two swimmers!