Swimming Lessons

We finished another session of swimming lessons last week. It was a perfect two weeks weather wise - although rather hot for the mothers standing on the sideline! Even Kevin did not complain about going to lessons this year b/c he never got overly cold. He is our least enthusiastic child about swimming, but he really enjoyed this session and was excited about going every day, so that was nice.

Kylie waiting for the Summer to show up and for the lesson to begin.

 Kylie started off very tentatively - although she made drastic improvements over last year - she actually let the teacher help her this year.  She started off in a large class (with a large amount of teachers). The second day she got moved to a class of three (with three teachers) and the second week it was just her and Summer with two teachers. So the ratio was excellent!!  (BUT . . . one of the teachers was a boy . . . and it took these girls a bit of persuasion to take their turn with him too!!!)

 It was fun for Kylie and Summer to be together and they spurred each other on in a great way.  The second week they were amazing - shocking us over and over with the things they would all of the sudden try.

 I never would have thought Kylie would jump off a diving board - three weeks earlier she would not even put a toe in a pool that was over her head (though she did in Florida, so it was just a matter of getting back into it). 

 So when they took them to the diving pool, I expected them to have to drop her off the end - but after the first time, she went back for more!

 Both girls passed Level One and we were very proud of the progress they made over the two weeks. They even managed to remember and pronounce "Emergency Medical Services". The first day they were asked to repeat this, they didn't even try! It was funny listening to them go over safety rules - b/w the two of them they got everything right - one would start something and when stuck, the other would fill in. It was cute.

 And the boys . . . here they are doing some kind of "I fell out of a boat and am trying to stay warm" exercise.

 . . . and the huddle to keep warm.

 Treading.

 They do a lot of safety/resuce exercises and I think this is excellent for both of them.  They learned a lot inside and outside of the pool.

The favorite is stil the jumps and they got to do lots of them this year . . . .

 Kade stayed on the short diving board the first few days, but decided he was going to be brave finally and there was no turning back . . .

Kevin and Kade were together this session since levels 5&6 were grouped together.  I wasn't sure how Kevin would like that, but he actually enjoyed it. When he passed and Kade didn't, he said he was kind of sad that they wouldn't be together next time.  Kade was good about being the only one not to pass. We assured him that he was in a hard level for his age and that Kevin had to do level 5 two times too, so no problem!  (He was really close - he only missed one check mark on his chart, so we told him next year would be easy for him:))

And now, we have the rest of the summer to practice and keep up with the skills learned - though in our tiny pool it is kind of hard for the boys. Kylie on the other hand just keeps improving. Because she knows she can just stand up/ or touch the ground whenever she needs to, she is super confident and is actually swimming both on her front and on her back . . . I don't think she would be brave enough to try in a pool over her head though . . . then she requires her "crab floatie" thing . . . which is probably good at this point.

Our pool has been WELL USED this past week . . .even I have been in a record amount of times! You know it is hot when I am in the pool before 9am and after 9pm (that was yesterday!!) I am ready for the temperature to drop just a few degrees . . . and a good thunderstorm would hit the spot too!
But we are all really enjoying summer and the lack of routine . . . now if only we could find the slow motion button!