Summer Discovery

Discovered some random Sunday morning pool photos from over the summer on my phone. It was a nice treat to have some warm memories during these cooler days. Roland started off the summer our steady little barnacle in the water. He had a death grip that you can't possibly understand unless you try to fling him off you or pull him from the side of the pool. He managed to always stay connected. He wouldn't even let go while wearing the life jacket. Then Aria hit the pool. She was great in her life jacket, like one of those floating otters, just tooling around on her back, legs crossed, eyes closed, enjoying the water. And then she started jumping in off the side of the pool. This was terrifying at first, because she didn't jump OUT. She just jumped. So often she would land on her swimmy-tushy and bounce in. We had a great time practicing. Needless to say, when Aria started bouncing off the side, Roland decided it was time to get with it - can't be out done by his little sister! Thanks Nana for the noodles! [All photos taken with my phone, including video]

We also decided it was time for swim lessons, which really helped as well. Mid-summer Aria ditched the life jacket for water wings that gave her much more freedom to swim, jump, etc. Roland's head stays pretty dry, Aria loves to go all the way under. You have to be quick with her, as soon as she see's the pool - she was ready to jump in, water wings or not!

Aria is a motor-boat, legs mostly - just kicking along. Roland is more about arm strength and swim strokes.

This is a fun shot of Roland coming down from a super-toss from Brian. The leg kicks are awesome. Wanna see it in motion? Click here.

At first this next photo confused me. I'm not entirely sure what the kids are looking at, and I'm actually the black mass to the right of the shot... until I spotted noodle man in the shallow end. Brian had quietly collected all the noodles as we'd stopped playing and concocted a noodle chair. Way in the back, a safe distance from little people to disturb his peaceful rest. He's probably floated over to a pool jet, too.

I predict next summer they'll be even better swimmers and I'll miss the time drifting around the pool with little my little barnacles clung to either side. But I can't wait to have underwater races, handstand and cannon ball contests! Happy fall!