Summer 2011

This is how I've spent my days nannying this summer. 

They enjoyed a week long intense soccer course down at Greenlake. Of course, the week we were there it was miserably rainy until the very last day. One day while I sat and watched William run around I was laughing noticing that every spectator was sitting out in the rain (misty rain) with no umbrella and some without hoods. Ben tells me this is only a Seattle thing. Apparently people from other states carry some sort of covering for them when it rains.

Super fast Natalie!

'In your face!'

Once again we've dedicated a summer to swimming lessons! While it's a lot of work getting suits, sunscreen, lunches, towels, etc. together, it's worth it! I have seen three kids go from non-swimmers (basically would sink if you dropped them in the water) to proficient-independent-confident-swimmers! I'm grateful I've been able to witness this before I had my own kids. I now know that dedicating a few weeks to this every summer has really paid off!

I have tried to capture William's excitement for swimming lessons all summer long. He's like a little puppy jumping up and down waiting and waiting and waiting for 'his turn!' before lessons start. One day as I was tossing our stuff on a chair I told William it was finally 'his turn' and he bolted off. I quickly turned around and managed to catch him with a huge smile on his face mid-air jumping into the pool. There were tons of people around so I was a bit bummed with the photo. After I zoomed in a bit and did a funny focus thing on it I feel like you can get the idea of just how excited he is!

 William has worked hard this summer! Just today he swam 1/2 the length of the pool back stroke and free style! He's learning how to breathe in between strokes right now and it can be quite funny watching his little body try to remember to move his arms, legs and still get his head out for a breath!

Here he is, doing his all time favorite thing: being thrown up in the air for a 'cannon ball!' 

And Natalie, well she's a PRO! I think her biggest accomplishments this summer are, being able to tread water for quite some time and learning how to dive! She's been diving off the starting blocks this week, swimming the whole length of the pool and learning how to do a flip under water so she can swim all the way back! It is crazy to think just a few years ago she was growling at her instructors because she was so scared of going under water!

Natalie also LOVES the toss in the air!

Every once and a while they get popsicles and every once and a while we stay after lessons for a few hours of free swim. I have to say this year's free swim is much less stressful. I don't feel like I have two kids (with Andrew, sometimes three) who could potentially drown at any second. Swimming with them reminds me of all the swimming I did as a kid with my sisters. This summer we've had 'tea parties' under water, given under water High-5's, dove for pennies, Natalie and I've tried out a few funny hair-do's... I have to say my job ain't too shabby! :-)

Natalie starts 3rd grade tomorrow!! (Unbelievable!) So I've been working hard to get this post done before school officially starts and summer is officially over.