Fun on the diving board

Summer is finally here and the pools are open! Here are some cute videos of the kids having fun on the diving board last weekend. :-)

Summer bucket list

In May, we made our summer bucket list -- things we wanted to do before the end of the summer. We didn't get everything done on our list, but we got most of them checked off!

Things on the list that we did: 
swim at the "other" YMCA (i.e. the one with a fun outdoor pool and waterslides)
go to sprinkler parks
ride the train downtown
make mud
Lake Pflugerville
jump at Jumpoline
Rock 'n River Waterpark
Creekside Pool (or the "Pool With a Diving Board" as the kids call it) :-)
Zilker Park
get snowcones
have a water balloon fight
Bull Creek
New Braunfels Children's Museum
Waco Zoo
Austin Children's Museum
Emma Long Beach
science experiments
art projects
bowling
Austin Nature & Science Center
play with the hose

Things that we didn't get around to:
swimming at Blue Hole
Children's Day Art Park
Pioneer Farms 
Zilker Botanical Gardens

So, we didn't get around to doing 4 things, but there's always next year! Here are some pictures :-)

One of our visits to Lake Pflugerville:

Rock 'n River Waterpark, where Theodore showed off his fearlessness by going down the 4 foot water slide by himself, and jumping in from the side:

You can just barely see Theodore in the splash of water in the pool below:  :-)

Jumpoline, such a fun place to play on a hot afternoon when everyone is tired of going swimming. Too bad it's so expensive!! We only went once. :-P

At the Nature & Science Center:

 Making mud:

More mud:

Popsicles!

At the Creekside Pool:

Bowling:

Gotta love bowling shoes. They're much cuter on a 4 year old!

One of our few attempts at science experiments:

I guess you could call this a baby science experiment . . . shaving cream and food coloring. :-) 

Two birds with one stone -- snowcones at Zilker Park!  :-)  

Here are a whole slew of pictures from Emma Long Beach!

Theodore with his best baby friend!

Theodore loved watching the speedboats (which also created waves for us!):

What a fun summer with my favorite little people! 

A morning at the lake

One morning this week, we went to the lake in Pflugerville with some friends. This morning was, hands down, our favorite visit there.  The weather was perfect -- sunny and overcast, and not too hot, and it was very windy! So windy that there were actual waves on the lake, which made it much more fun for the kids. We had happened to bring their kickboards (thanks, Grammy!), and they had a blast trying to stand up on their boards and ride the waves in. (It didn't work, ha ha, but they had fun trying!)

Here are some pictures!

Swim test

At the YMCAs in our area, kids have to stay within an arm's length of their parents until they pass the swim test (25 yards in the lap pool, without touching the bottom or sides of the pool). Buttercup has been ready to take the swim test since she turned 4, but the rule is that kids have to be 5 years old to take it. 

It wasn't such a big deal at first, but over the past 7 months she has grown more confident and capable in the water, and she has really, really, really been wanting to swim with Oliver in the lap pool. I've been taking Theodore and holding him in the lap pool while she swims, but he only wants to be in the shallow water where he can stand up and splash, or wade out until he's shoulder-deep and do his own "swimming."  So when we go swimming, either Buttercup is mad at me because she has to stay in the "baby water" with Theodore and me, or Theodore is mad because I have to take him in the lap pool to be close to Buttercup.

Well, that all changed this morning! We were at the Y and Oliver and Buttercup wanted to swim in the lap pool. I was near them in the shallow water with Theodore, but was definitely further than an arm's length away from Buttercup. She was swimming halfway down the lane and back, over and over again, and doing fine. The lifeguard asked me if she had on a swim bracelet (indicating that she had passed the swim test), and I said that she wasn't able to take it, because she was still 4. Then I asked if she could go ahead and take the test, since she was obviously doing just fine and not having any trouble keeping herself afloat. The guard watched her a little bit longer and said that if she was close enough to being 5, she could go ahead and take the test. I said she would be 5 in October, and the guard said that was good enough. :-)

So Miss B got to take the swim test this morning, and she rocked it! We are so proud of this big, big girl!!!

Wearing her new swim bracelet!!

Oliver was so excited that he now he has a constant companion for the lap pool and slides!!!

Not related to swimming, but these are pics from this morning -- the kids biked 4 miles while I ran next to them pushing Theodore in the stroller. :-)  They loved biking in their swimsuits!


Showing off their guns! 

He's a stingray!

This week, Oliver had his last swim lesson in the level 3 class. The different levels all have the names of sea creatures (Pike, Eel, Starfish, etc), and ever since Oliver has started swimming, he's been looking forward to being in the Stingray class (level 4). Almost every day since he started level 3, he would ask me, "Am I still an Eel? Am I a Stingray yet?"

Since this was the last week of lessons, his swim teacher was supposed to evaluate his swimming ability to determine if he moved up to the level 4 class or stayed in the level 3 class. But his class had substitute teachers for the last few lessons, so there was some confusion about whether or not he was moving up to level 4. I ended up calling to see if he had passed the class, and was told that his class had somehow slipped through the cracks and none of the students were evaluated! Instead, I would have to bring him to the YMCA pool to have one of the lifeguards evaluate him.

We went yesterday afternoon and, not surprisingly, he passed with flying colors! The instructor who evaluated him said that she was not only impressed with how well he swam, but that she rarely sees a 4 year old who swims as well as he does on his own! He's been doing so well, and we are so proud of him!

I meant to take some pictures of him at the pool yesterday, but his evaluation didn't last long, and I was preoccupied with bouncing the baby so he would stay asleep in the baby sling. :-) Instead, here are some pictures from earlier in the week when Oliver, Buttercup and I were playing outside. Enjoy!

Moving up!

It's been almost 1 month since Oliver started swim lessons, and I can't believe how far he's come already! Of course he's used to being in the water, since we swim/play so often in the family pool, but I wasn't expecting him to do so well this quickly!

He started Level 2 on Monday, and after watching him swim for the first time, his teacher looked at me with her mouth open and said, "He can swim! Are you sure he's supposed to be in this class??" Ha ha! She also said that he's ready for Level 3 right now. There are no Level 3 classes currently being taught, so he'll stay in Level 2 and his teacher will challenge him each lesson with new skills.

Wednesday was his 2nd day in Level 2, and he was the only one in his class who didn't use a flotation belt! He also: 1) swam freestyle from one end of the pool and back without assistance -- twice!, 2) used a kickboard for the first time, 3) swam halfway across the pool underwater, 4) floated on his back without assistance for almost 1 minute, and 5) floated on his tummy without assistance for about 20 seconds.

He is just doing amazingly well. It's hard to believe that a little over a year ago, he was afraid to get in water over 1 or 2 feet deep. I guess he partly has his sister's fearlessness to thank for him getting over his fear, ha ha! Hubby and I are just so proud of our big boy!!!

Here are some pictures of him using the kickboard and hanging on the edge of the pool: