Swim lessons

Last year, Claire took swim lessons from a friend from church. Due to a variety of reasons, many beyond our control, the weekly lessons weren't so frequent. I think she ended up having four lessons all summer. This year, I searched for lessons that wouldn't be too expensive, more frequent, and not go over our NY vacation in July. I want Claire to be able to swim for her own safety if she ever had to as it is an important skill. Plus, it's just a lot of fun! When I was a kid, I NEVER wanted to get out of the water. It was my favorite summer pastime. Chris helped me find swim lessons that met all of my requirements, and it was pretty close to home. Win! So Claire took the most basic swim lessons for a half an hour twice a week for four weeks in June. She graduated from class one and will take class 2 next year. Yea!

Getting her face in the water. 

There were five other kids in her group, and she had a blast. Even though it was at a fitness club, we were allowed to use the pool and adjacent playground when we were there for lessons. They had an awesome large pool with a beach like entry on one side, a kiddie pool, a lap pool, and an exercise pool. We of course only used the main pool and kiddie pool, but they were all very nice. The kids of course wanted to swim more than just during the half hour lesson. Claire wanted to play with her friends afterwards and apply some of the things she learned. At first we would go for the 9:30 lesson and then stay until about 11. Towards the end, I brought snacks and we stayed until closer to noon. I worked out a routine where I would swim with the little two in the kiddie pool until Amelia got tired. I'd then dress and feed her, lulling her to sleep, and put her in her car seat in the stroller so I could swim more with Maddie. Maddie's favorite part was jumping off the edge of the pool into my arms. She could do this for a half an hour straight! It was a good arm workout for me as I would lift her back to the side.

Tuckered out from swimming.

It was so fun to put Amelia in her raft in the kiddie pool because her feet could reach the bottom. She could then kind of walk around the pool by herself. So fun!

The last week, we stayed pretty long, and we were pretty hungry, so I decided to treat the kids to a Little Caesar's pizza. Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided to use my new picnic blanket and have a little picnic lunch in the back yard. It's the simple moments with my kids that make my heart happy.