Summer Swimmers

Jaren has LOVED his swimming lessons this summer. He is like a little dolphin flipping around in the water, bobbing his head up and down. The very first day of class, the teacher had them lined up on the side of the shallow pool and she said everyone practice big arms so you can swim across the pool. Jaren heard, "swim across the pool", so he tears into the water and starts running through the water, moving his arms and ducking his head under the water. He honestly thought he was swimming! He was half way across the pool before he realized the other kids were still on the side of the pool moving their arms in the air. His teacher said, "Oh I see I am going to need to keep my eye on you!"

Kenna was in the beginner's STARFISH class--the main goal was to go under water and splash around in the water. Here she is emerging out of the water after dunking herself under the water. Once she got the hang of it, she was unstoppable. Now she goes around to everyone and anyone at the pool and says, "I can go underwater. Wanna see?"

Kenna enjoying herself at the side of the pool. She was reluctant to jump in, she's a little cautious, but when she saw everyone else do it, she followed. Then she shrieks, "YEAH, I did it!! I'm learning!! "

Kenna never did get the hang of how to put on her goggles, though!

Newest Pet Pals

So the theme for this summer continues to be "little critters". Last week we were walking in the park and noticed the ground hopping with very tiny frogs. The kids had a blast trying to catch the teeny little guys and emptied out their snack Ziploc bags of crackers to fill with frogs. We brought them home and let them loose in our garden. Today we spotted one of them while weeding the tomatoes. Good to know they are surviving--at least we know there are a plenty of bugs out there to sustain them!

Here is Jaren in the back yard playing with his little pet. He didn't name it since we were letting them go. We couldn't find small enough bugs to feed them.

Kaelyn's hopped right out of her hand as I was trying to take the picture

Jaren giving us a close-up look at his frog.


Even Kenna wasn't squeamish about holding them--although she reminded us that she only likes teeny frogs, not big ones! I have so many great memories growing up with all my brothers catching frogs, snakes, lizards, minnows, and all kinds of creatures. My brother Ryan converted a big blue barrel cut in half into a perpetual habitat for whatever we caught that week. We spent hours outside exploring by the canal, "the big tree", and in our back yard. I'm glad my kids are having the same kind of good old fashioned fun we used to have!

Prancing Ponies

Kaelyn had her big, annual, ballet recital on Saturday. The theme for this year's recital was "The Circus", so each performance represented some part of the circus. Kaelyn was a Prancing Pony, (which she loved, since she, for whatever reason, has always loved horses). It has been a lot of fun watching her learn ballet. My favorite is when she puts on her ballet music and she and Kenna dance around--Kenna calls it "dancing balleret".
Here we are on the way to the Performance Center. Kaelyn had to wear her hair in a high pony tail. Her hair is just barely long enough--so several bobby pins and a few squirts of hair spray did the trick!
Here she is going backstage. She said she wasn't nervous, but earlier in the week, she said she was getting butterflies thinking about her performance. It is held in a pretty big convention center with about 800 seats, and a huge stage, so even I was a little nervous for her!

We let Kaelyn pick a restaurant after her recital and she picked Olive Garden. ( She has been wanting to go their for a long time because she remembers going a few years ago and getting the yummy Andes mint afterwards. I've been telling her that's not a great restaurant to take Jaren and Kenna to --but that I would be happy to buy her a package of the mints- no deal!) Anyway, since Jaren and Kenna were with a babysitter, it was a perfect time to take her. We had a wonderful evening with her--she is getting so goofy (I blame Greg for that) and kept us laughing the entire time. It's always a treat to spend some one-on-one, (or actually 2-on-one) time with our kiddos.