Nicholas the Fish

I am absolutely thrilled about this one - Nicholas is swimming!  Well, he wears floaties but he's kicking and paddling like a machine and even going under water a little without crying.  I was worried after the last few summers of him showing very little interest in the water.  When I was a little girl, my brother and I pretty much lived in the water all summer long so it was inconceivable to me that any child wouldn't love it the very same way.  But I think he just needed one more year under his belt to really grasp the fun of it and grasped it he has.  Greg and I had really wanted to take him to a swim class this year, but with our split schedules and the amount of time it required we just couldn't make it work.  So I vowed that I would teach him myself and that's what we've been doing the last few weeks.  We've spent several afternoons at our neighborhood pool and he's come so far in such a short time.  He went from hanging onto my neck to wearing his floaties and basically supporting himself in the water, going from one end of the pool to the other and back again.  Over and over.  He also loves to jump to me from the side of the pool and he's quickly learning to hold his breath when he goes a little under or spit the water out if he gets any in his mouth.  We were both really excited to show Daddy the results after all the work we've been doing and this weekend was the perfect opportunity when we went to the lake house.  I was also curious to see how he handled the new environment where you can't see what's beneath you. But it was cake, baby!  He started out cautiously, but he was swimming all over in no time and jumping to us from the back of the boat.  We were anchored in really deep water and that boy didn't care one single bit!  Our friends and neighbors, Mike & Emerald, joined us for the weekend and the five of us had a total blast.  The weather was HOT which made the water feel perfect and we spent hours floating, swimming, and tubing.  Yesterday, Mike and Nicholas swam all the way from the boat to the shore to throw rocks, which was a 50 yard swim at least.  I couldn't believe his stamina.  But alas, our amazing weekend couldn't last forever and we had to eventually head for home.  None of us were ready to get back to reality after such a healthy dose of R&R, that's for sure!

I took a break from my big camera this weekend but the iPhone does a pretty decent job.  And it's a lot more manageable sometimes!  Plus it's got some cool apps that let you have some editing fun.

 One very tired little boy on the drive home.