Swim Lessons - Part I (July 29-31)

Cana in the "little pool" having a boat race.

Preschool 1 would spend the first half of class in the little pool working on water readiness skills and generally working up to submerging. The second half they would walk to the big pool to practice entering the water and working on floats and water safety.

Day 1 done and ready to go home. 

Adley was in Level 1 swim lessons where she spent the entire time in the big pool and practiced swimming two body lengths with and without assistance.  She also practiced front floats and back floats while working up to jumping in the pool from the side. 

Bikes & Woodshop

A quick glance at "normal."

New haircut - New Style

"What does this do, Daddy?"

"Hi Mom!"

"What can I do with this?"

Simeon's Haircut

Saying goodbye to those beautiful baby curls.

The clippers in action.  Simeon didn't mind as long as he had a snack.  He was very patient and pretty much ignored Lisa and her clippers. 

All done and looking like a big boy!

Sailing on Viva La Vida

Viva la Vida

We were invited to go sailing with a few couples from church.  The kids stayed with a sitter and we drove out in the pouring rain to the harbor.  After a 2 hour rain delay we did get to go out on the water and it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon.  Two hours on Lake Michigan on a Friday afternoon and a wonderful dinner with friends back in the harbor at sunset.  

Summer Splash Pad

It was hot enough this week for the Splash Pad at Village Green Park. We met friends, had a picnic, played on the playground and were ready to get wet when the sprinklers came on. 

Home Again

The girls wanted to Elmo-cise.  Its fun for the whole family!

We're back home and up to our usual tricks.
So far this week we've been unpacking, doing laundry and opening up mail.  We had a playdate on Saturday with friends at church so we could run in the gym and beat the heat at the same time. 

Simeon in his new outfit from Uncle Noah and Aunt Wendy.

Meeting of the minds.

On the Plane

Where's our plane?

There it is.  It just arrived as we were getting to the gate.  Perfect timing.

Simeon was awesome on the 4 hour flight.  He took a nap for the first hour.  He played with Daddy and took a short walk for the second hour.  The third hour we passed him back and forth so he could check out what the sisters were up to.  He was a trooper.  Oh, and the goldfish crackers helped a lot!

The girls had lots of things to do on the flight.  They played with their mini Toob animals, they colored, worked on "homework" pages, and painted with watercolor in these books we found.  The paint was already on the page and perfect for the plane.  They snacked a lot (thanks for all the goldfish Grammy and Paka) and Cana did lots of I Spy books. 

Once they got restless it was time to bring out the ring pops. 

Great traveling girls!

Even Simeon got to try a ring pop. 

Sacramento - Day 19 July 16

Check out those boots.

We found these child-sized boots in one of the old trunks.  They are adorable, real leather and too small for Simeon even to get a good picture.  We had to try though.

Saying goodbye to Uncle Jeff.

Thanks for swimming with us!

Thanks for the Dutch Brothers Coffee!

Sacramento - Day 19, July 15

Visiting Grammy's office and coworkers on a Monday.  Grammy enjoyed showing off the grand kids and didn't mind at all leaving the office behind so we could have some more fun.

Stephanie came out to visit in the afternoon to catch up and watch the girls swim.  The girls were excited to have a new audience and I had a chance to talk without too many interruptions.

Jared taught the girls how to jump in the pool from the edge.  They got the hang of that pretty quickly and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening doing cannonballs.

Taking a break from swimming.  Grammy pulled out a roll of paper and taped it over the train table.  The girls created a city.

It was spaghetti for supper tonight.  Can you tell?

Grandma added some fresh from the garden tomatoes to the sauce to make it extra orange yummy.

Our last evening of swimming.

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Jumping in with a running start.

Popsicles for dessert.

Saying goodbye to Auntie Mallory for another summer.