Swim Lessons: Week Two

The kids are currently on Week 3, but might as well share some pictures of Week 2.  There was no progression in stations for any of them...but they all worked hard and had fun!

I'm actually pretty surprised at how far she made it into backfloating and floating on her tummy.  She has surpassed my expectation this summer, for sure!

Wyatt and Reese have so many things to focus on when they're trying to Freestyle - their motions, their chin placement, their breathing - it's a lot!

And usual, no matter what they're working on, their favorite is always jumping!

Swim Lessons: Week One

For the first time EVER, all four of the kids are taking swim lessons.  At the same time.  With no one begging me for snacks.  It really is Christmas in July!

I spent the week leading up to their lessons in a panic.  Finley really only talks to us, she isn't always a fan of leaving my side, and she cried while we were at my mom's pool.  Guess what?  I wasted a lot of time worrying.  Because she walked off to the pool with her teacher and didn't look back.

She worked hard during her first class. She tried on life jackets, pulled her teacher with the noodle, and went under!

Hudson spent most of his time throwing things into the pool.

Reese and Wyatt are both working hard on their freestyle.  It is pretty tough to change stations.  Reese is a bit of a perfectionist, so Brian and I can even see her trying to fix herself mid-stroke because she's not doing it correctly.  Then she decides she wants to start all over from  the beginning!

Such a cutie.  Our friend works as the site supervisor and she told me today that all the instructors want to steal Finley and take her home with them!

These two are super competitive, so it's been funny to watch them try to beat each other, but also try to correct each other.

Finley became friends with this sweet girl the first week.  Finley couldn't stand on the third step, so she picked her up once and passed her to the teacher.  It was so sweet!

Everyone's favorite part of swim lessons is the jumping!

Finley passed Station One on her first day of lessons!  Brian and I were both totally surprised by that!

These two bobbed.  A lot.

Finley practiced her bubbles.

Hudson was a kamikaze on the steps.

This picture shows just what a perfectionist she is, Look at that hand.

Working on that freestyle!

On the third day she passed Station Two!  That was big!  It took Reesie almost two summers to pass that Station!

The relationship that Hudson and Finley share is very different from Wyatt and Reese's.  They aren't competitive at all.   Hudson is super easy going, and in case you can't tell from the hands on the hips, Finley is just a little opinionated! They get along for the most part, as long as Hudson listens to Finley when she tells him what to do! By the last day of class they were really ready to jump in at the end of lessons!

Final Weekend of Summmmmeeeeeer!

The kids and I spent the majority of this weekend trying to soak up the last weekend of summer.  They go back to school on tomorrow (?!), so I wanted to squeeze in some trips that we may not be able to make once school and carpools start.

We spent Friday morning at Meet the Teacher, and then we went over to my parents' house to hang out with my brother and his fiancee.  And Wyatt and Reese always love when my Dad's childhood best friend comes to town with his three kids.  Reese and Ava made up different jumps all night!

We even had a dog try to join us for the ride home.  Sorry Bella!

On Saturday we went to the Living Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit again.  They definitely like the fossil "dig."

Reese enjoys showing off her "fancy" poses in front of dinosaurs (that's what Wyatt calls it).

And of course he had "creature adventurer" poses in front of the dinos, too!  I've gotten my money's worth out of this safari vest that we found on clearance at Target.  He wears it anytime he knows he's going to see animals.

Wyatt walked around the museum telling Finley the names of all of the animals (they practiced "fish" and "turtle" over and over again).  She loves her big brother!

After the Living Museum, I stopped and got lunch for the kids and let them watch a movie in the car (it's usually a special treat for long trips) while we waited for my phone screen to get fixed.  It's been cracked since our trip to see the big duck in May (although it's been dropped and cracked twice since then at baseball games), and I had a Groupon that was about to expire. 

Sunday morning the middles and I went to the waterpark while the bookends went to Mimi and Baba's.  We had lots of fun sliding and playing.  Hudson passed out on  the ride home!

And then we ended up doing a child swap - Reese stayed at Mimi and Baba's with Wyatt while FQB, Hudson and I ran to Target.  They looked adorable holding hands in the cart!

And this morning they asked for one more zoo trip.  Obviously, I said no.

Not.  They ran all over the zoo, but we finished before it got too hot!  Reese stopped to model her Rafiki pose.  "Correction.  I know your father."

And we stopped to see the tortoise.  Apparently the first documentation they have about the large one is from 1930?  But it could be older!

And now I will be spending the rest of the day getting backpacks ready and organizing schedules. And picking out clothes for the week because I am not fighting that battle every day this week with Reese. Or Wyatt.  How does school start tomorrow?!?!

Another Week of Swim Lessons

One of my favorite things about August is the switch to evening swim lessons.

It frees up our mornings, we don't have to rush to get out of the house, AND the classes always seem smaller.  So the kids get more one on one time with their instructors! 

Hudson had has the same teacher several times this summer.  I'm sure she claims him because of this super cute smile.  He is the sweetest!

 One thing that I loved about Wyatt's lessons was that it was definitely more of a workout!  He had to swim a BUNCH of laps, and they made him practice all of his strokes and kicks.  If this kid wasn't already so busy, I would look into a swim team for him this winter.  I think that weekly trips to the Y pool are now on our winter agenda!  Laps for the two oldest!

 You can't wear goggles until you get to Station 5.  This kid definitely wore them as his "badge of being big" all summer!

 She loves hanging on the ropes.  Or sitting on the ledge?  You're at swim lessons, girl!  Stay in the pool!

 Waving to Hudson.

 Wyatt got to work on diving.

 I took this picture of Reese because it says everything about her perfectionist tendencies.  When she is swimming, she listens quietly while the coach tells her how to fix her stroke, and then she methodically puts it into practice.  It was most apparent when she was working on the Crawl!

 Hudson is getting to be quite the floater - at swim lessons.  I tried to get him to practice with me, and let's just say, he wanted nothing to do with that.

 I can hardly believe that baby sister is going to be joining them in lessons next summer.  What in the world will I do with a free half hour while I sit by the pool?

 Yeah, he won't even jump to me.  Apparently we have some trust issues.

At their first round of evening lessons, Reese managed to pass Station 3!  Both boys are still working hard to get their stickers, but I think they're in two pretty hard stations!

And Finley spent her time chowing down on some Yogurt Melts and yelling at the teen swim team.  "Goooooooo! Goooooo! Gooooooooo!"  It was pretty funny to watch her yell!