Summer swim lessons and a birthday party

I made it a priority this summer to get the kids very comfortable in the water.  They had been doing 

swim lessons at the YMCA off and on in the winter and spring but the lessons were only once a week so it was hard to build upon what they learned.  Brandon also had Little League so he did not do any swim lessons in the spring.  I wanted to make sure the kids were much more comfortable in the water and teach them how to swim.  Olivia started the summer in Pike class (this was her second time doing the class).  Her other Pike class was pretty short.  In the summer, the classes are Monday-Thursday for two weeks at the same time.  We did a short first session (during 4th of July week) that resulted us in missing one class due to being at the coast and then there was no class on the 4th and then one of the classes got cancelled due to a kid pooping in the pool so we only ended up doing 5 of the 8 classes.  The kids did well but did not learn quite as well as they would have if they did the full session.  Olivia was on the border line of moving up to Eel so to make Brandon's class and her class fall together I just bumped her up.  Brandon did Guppy again (which is the 2nd class for the school age kids and has 6-12 year olds in his class) and is quite challenging as the kids have to be able to swim free style 25 yards using side breathing and they learn back stroke and elementary back stroke.

The second session that I had the kids in ran the first part of August.  I was able to get the lessons to coordinate at the same time and was at 5:30 which was nice since the last swim lessons were at 4:45  and I had to rush after work to get there on time.  Brandon's first class only had one other kid in it but then another kid joined so there were three in his class.  Olivia's class was also pretty small with three other kids in her class (all boys!).  Olivia started the summer barely putting her head under the water. By the end of her swim lessons she now consistently puts her head under water, has begun to learn how to swim independently, can float on her back for a few seconds, and loves to jump into the pool from the side.  She mastered about half of the Eel goals so will have to do again but I remember Brandon having to do the Eel class several times since it was quite a bit of a jump from the Pike Class.  

Brandon made a huge jump in his swimming ability.  He was able to do everything he needed to do to pass Guppy except the side breathing consistently on his front crawl stroke.  It was so neat to see him be able to swim across the entire length of a swimming pool.  Both of the kids are quite comfortable in the water and they seemed to love their swimming lessons.  We will do again in the fall once soccer is over.

Brandon working away on his back

Brandon swimming away 

Olivia at her lesson

Fun group float time

Last day of swim lessons fun fountains

Olivia had a fun birthday party for her good friend Adelaide who turned 4 the first weekend in August at Pump It Up Jr.  It was fun to go to the party and see all of her good friends.  Olivia especially loved repeatedly going down the slides over and over again with the birthday girl.  She got quite a bit of exercise and had a blast!

Olivia and the birthday girl Adelaide

Enjoying a snack 

Having some pizza with her friends

During the last week of swim lessons towards the middle of August we had a very hot spell with temperatures in the 100s for over a week straight.  On the day it hit 106, we also happened to lose power for several hours.  Luckily we had swim lessons so we headed there first and then went out to dinner at McMennamins.  It was also very smokey due to all the wild fires.  I got a photo of the smokey sunset when left McMennamins and headed home.  Luckily when we got home we found our power had just been restored so we did not lose any refrigerated or frozen items.  

Yes it reached 106 one day-unbearable

Olivia and Daddy at McMennamins during our power outage

Smokey hot sunset

Later that week we had a fun evening with the Mowery family.  We went over to there house and had pizza and played over there.  Afterwards we went to Deer Creek and had fun playing at their playground.  The air still was pretty smokey.

Logan and Brandon swinging at Deer Creek