Banzai

Heat wave 2009 is due to arrive any minute so we thought we would get a jump start and rented a huge water slide that some friends of ours have. The Patterson kids joined us for an entire day (and evening) of sliding and squirting. I even took a couple trips down as it got hot sitting out all day monitoring the crazies. I never did take a picture of the whole thing but you climb up one side and there is a twisty slide with water showers down it that ends in a pretty good sized pool. Needless to say, the boys were asleep before their heads even hit the pillow tonight.

Summer Camp

The boys finished up their first of 2 weeks of Sports Camp at a local Athletic Club. The favorite activites by far seem to be rock wall climbing and swimming. Today we stayed after to have some extra pool time. Nate and friends enjoyed the slide while Ian spent most of his time in the hot warm tub which is only about 3 feet deep and allows him to feel comfortable enough to swim like a fish.

From A to C

When Ian started swim lessons 8 weeks ago he was terrified of classes and teachers that weren't mommy or daddy, afraid to jump in the pool, didn't want to get his face wet much less put his face in the water, and on and on and on. Yesterday was the last day of our level A-B session and look at him now. Superman jumps in the water, floating and swimming alone on his back, steamboating alone with his face in the water, and on and on and on. He is still tentative about some things, which is beyond fine, and he will work on that. But dang, I never dreamed we would have this much progress in such a short period of time. Later this month he will join Nate in a level C-D class! Nate swims like a fish but needs to brush up on form and fundamental. Ian has form and fundamentals down and needs lot build the confidence to swim like a fish. Thanks teacher Nathan!

Drama on the high seas

Coming up from his first ever bob
Kicking alone isn't so scary.

Bottles are by far his favorite

Not quite ready to jump in yet, but we will work on that.

It should come as no surprise that Ian is high drama about taking classes, especially when it comes to swim class. After the drama last year (and subsequently dropping out) I decided to rewind and try private lessons, come hell or high water. Well, we started Monday with Ian sobbing hysterically all the way there and me having to peel his octopus arms and legs from my body and drop him in with Coach Nathan. He did fine, grouchy, but fine. Today we easily had 3 hours of drama and sobbing before getting to class and then happily (huh?) getting into the water!?! Coach Nathan has so far convinced Ian to do a bob under water and put his face in for 1 whole second! They worked on kicking alone with a kick board and floating on his back first with bottles, but ultimately alone with Nathan letting for for a few seconds. Private seem to be worth every penny.

Swimming like a fish

We are about to wrap up swim lessons for the summer. Nate is lucky enough to be in a class with only 2 kids, one of which shows up only half the time. Private lessons for group price! This summer he is working on increasing endurance, arm strokes, swimming on his back and starting to breathe while swimming. He's also mastered the cannonball - self taught, not from the lessons! ;-) Here are some shots of Nate and Teacher Matt from today.