Another year at swim lessons.
Cody, Kayci, Andy, Abby, and Karlee
The kids spent a lot of time on their bikes going up and down the big hill. Karlee had a hard time at first and spent hours practicing until she could start and stop on her own and zoom down without crashing (she had several crashes in the process but we have all learned that Karlee is extremely tough).
This was Kayci's first year at swim lessons. She did awesome! I was worried she might be afraid but she was a little fish. She loved wearing her goggles and diving down to the bottom.
Karlee had a great year at lessons. She was the champion, again, at the holding your breath contests. She also swam half way across the pool on her front and her back and gets to move on to the next level. Way to go Karlee!
Abby had another great year. She is really getting to be a good swimmer and learning some fun new strokes, too.
Lexie was only 6 weeks old but an absolute angel. She slept longer at night than she ever does at home.
My Aunt Nicole (yes she is younger than me) and her little boy Cody came with us to lessons this year. It was so fun having them there and Nicole was so much help with the kids. Thanks, Nicole!
Jared and Layne came up Wednesday night and stayed the rest of the week. Here is Holly, Jared, Andy, and the twins, Ella and Oliva.
The kids are always so excited to have Layne come. I'm so thankful he's so willing to take time off to be with us.
We had cold weather most of the week, but that didn't stop us from having a fire and making smores and roasting starbursts. Here is Kayci, Andy, and Karlee all bundled up around the fire.
Jake was such a big boy all week. He wanted to do everything the other kids did. He followed them all over and spent many hours riding his scooter and playing in the mud with his trucks.
Abby and I enjoying our smores. That's Lexie in the snugli under the blanket. It really was fun despite the cold.
The kids went exploring a lot and found a secret hideout. They hung out there all week playing all kinds of games. Some bigger boys tried to kick them out one day and we got a little lesson on how to treat others and how we want to be treated.
Well, we purposely scheduled our week long camping and swim lessons the very first of June to avoid the heat. However, we had no idea it would rain on us most of the week and be quite cold (and muddy - we had to come to grips pretty quick with the fact that the kids were going to be much more than filthy all week. Instead of putting wet, muddy pants in the dirty clothes, we just hung them up to dry and put them on the next day!) Despite the rotten weather, though, it was one of the best years at swim lessons we've ever had. The kids don't have to be entertained quite as much which takes the load off Holly and I a little. This year our biggest concern was the water running very fast and high in the creek directly behind our campsites. We were really worried about Jake. Holly even had a bad dream that he drowned in that creek. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep the first night there. The next day it rained the whole day which forced us to stay in the campers and at the pool most of the day - a blessing in disguise. We didn't have to worry about the kids and the water at all. Everyone was so awesome to watch out for Jake, but it wasn't until we pulled away on Friday that I finally breathed a sigh of relief. I know my prayers were heard that week.
