This week, work is killing me. I decided that Friday was a great day to get the kids completely worn out so I could get some stuff done. With all the sun we have been getting, I decided it would be good to do an inside activity. The only answer I could think of was to take them to the Inflateable Zone. Early that morning, I called a friend to invite them to meet us there. I didn't know if they would make it, but they did and we had a blast. As you can see from Lexi's eyes, she was tired.
On Wednesday, Lexi had her last swim lesson of this year. Her teacher suggested that we do one more in August, but we will be living in California by then. I am not too worried about it though, because we are going to keep working on what she already knows. As you can see in the video below, she can swim back to the stairs. She is also getting good at lifting her head out of the water and swimming "super fast." For the rest of the summer, I'll work with her to get her to take a breath when she lifts her head.
**I'll post the video when YouTube starts working.
After Lexi & Camden's lessons, we went to a new water park in our community. It has a combination of salt/chlorine water. It also has huge slides that Lexi was too short to go on, but the teenage life guard didn't measure her. Kids are supposed to be at least 42", but Lexi is only about 38". Because of the lifeguard's laid back attitude, Lexi got to go lots of times. I took her the next day and they wouldn't let her. Of course, she CRIED.
Lexi had her 5th lesson yesterday. Her teacher had her start working on lifting her head out of the water and swimming faster. Her teacher usually teaches the head lifting to 4 year olds, but she is doing well. He wants us to practice the swimming faster because it is a way to build strength in order to make the head lifting easier.
Camden is Lexi's best friend. They completely adore each other. She is always saying he taught her to do some random thing (99% imaginary). He often says he is her knight in shining armor.
Saturday night, she woke up and came into my room crying. She told me that she misses Camden. Apparently, she had a nightmare. She had a dream that we were at the park and he decided to walk home alone. She was so worried about him. Sunday morning, she remembered the dream and started crying again. I had to call and let her talk to him. She kept blubbering on the phone that she loved him and missed him. It was so cute.
When Lexi started her swim lessons, her teacher said he MIGHT be able to introduce using arms. Well, she completed the 4th lesson (2 more to go) and she is swimming with her arms.
Swim Lessons did not start out so well yesterday. In fact, Lexi was trying to talk me out of taking her. First, she told me that she does not like Chandler (her teacher), which I know is not true. Then, she told me that he wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be there (where does she get this?). When we got there, she was fine because her friend, Camden, was taking his lessons. As soon as his lesson was over, she started crying and started negotiating with him. By the end, she was doing well though. He even asked me if we were on lesson 4. I told him this was lesson 3. He was surprised and told me that he was just about to say that he was impressed by how well she is doing for lesson #4.
After her time was over, Miss Tiffany and I took the kids to the waterpark. All the way there Lexi tried to tell me that she ONLY swims for Chandler. When I tried to get her to swim, she pouted for a while. I got her to jump to me a few times and then bribed her with the promise of going out for ice cream after dinner if she would swim to me. Well, that worked. Suddenly, she decided that she LOVES swimming. She wanted to do it over & over & over again and can't wait to show her dad & Chandler.
My Aunt Sue (my mom's sister) has an online business where she makes dresses for little girls out of vintage fabrics like pillow cases, table cloths, old dresses, etc. Here are a few photos of Lexi dressed in one of her creations. This one was made out of an old flour sack. Apparently, flour sacks use to be interesting.
Last year, I wanted Lexi to take swim lessons with a teacher that lots of people recommended. He turned out to be one of my brother's old friends from scout camp. The day before the classes were supposed to start, he and his wife got a call that some babies were available for adoption. All I could think was that it a wonderful excuse for him to cancel, even though I was sad that she wouldn't have the swim lessons.
This year, I wanted to make sure the lessons happened. I called a few weeks ago and was thrilled when her lessons started on Wednesday. She is doing very well, even though she tries to negotiate/complain/cry her way out of being dunked.
Lexi, Jordan and I headed back to Sea World on Monday (after partying on Saturday & spending all day there on Sunday). Needless to say, we had fun, but the kids were BEAT. They were quite tired by noon. We ended up leaving at 3pm, so they could get a good nap before going out that night.
Up Close with the Dolphins Shark Tank Shamu Show Baluga Whale & Dolphin Show Sea Lion Area Hugging Toys
Sunday morning, we got up at 6:30 am and headed out to San Antonio. We had been planning to visit dad for about a week. We thought it would be fun to go to Sea World with him, especially since he has never been. He ended up working that morning, but met us there at 2:30pm. It was lots of fun, but MUCH hotter than San Diego.
Budweiser Horse Running to Meet Dad 4-D Pirate Movie Sea Lion Show
We were quite the party animals on Saturday evening. We had two parties to go to, so we had to leave one a little early and arrive at the second one a little late. We enjoyed both though.
PARTY #1
Samuel had his second birthday party on Saturday. He had a Blues Clues Party with Splash pools. It was so fun, too bad we couldn't stay too long.
Cake
PARTY #2
Our friends, Avery & Savannah (sisters) celebrated their birthday on Saturday. They had a Hawaiian party. We played games, ate dinner, learned how to hula, and had a wonderful cake.
