Summer Swimming

This summer has gone pretty swimmingly so far, literally!  All four of the big girls completed three weeks of daily lessons at SI, and I'm thrilled that they're finally paying off!  This summer is our first with an independent swimmer, and it makes such a difference.  Megan can not get enough of the water, and is on the hunt, daily, for a pool to jump, dive or swim in.  It's such a pleasure to see her enthusiasm and strength in the water, and it's contagious.  Bridget and the twins are just as happy (if not as skilled) in the water.

We were lucky that Tessa and Annie took to their instructor so well again.  And Megan and Bridget graduated to Level 2 halfway through through their lessons.  They jumped off the diving board a few times, and even learned how to dive belly-flop.  It was so fun to see Megan and Bridget participate in the same activity together for the first time.  When they were each waiting their turn on the side of the pool, I witnessed lots of little chit-chat, and even adjusting each others' goggles.  So cute!  Not so cute was our daily trek to the pool and then the business of showering, shampooing and changing afterwards.  If she could speak, Mary would probably say that hanging out in her stroller in the girls' locker room got old after the first day!  I only managed a few pictures of these lessons, and didn't get any of Megan somehow.

All of those swimming lessons were put to the test when we ventured out of the city for some warmth and pool fun.  We made a couple trips to Moraga to see Cecchin cousins, and took advantage of their swim team's cabana club.  Megan was in heaven showing off her new found skills to her swim idol, cousin Joey, who welcomed her into the exclusive Diving Board Jumper club.  She picked up some additional cannonball skills from Joey, too, which she's been practicing ever since.  

We also headed south a couple times, to the "flower pool," otherwise known as Rinconada in Palo Alto.  It was also sunny there.  Are you noticing a theme of sunny weather, everywhere but our house??  The flower pool is perfect for the girls since it's no deeper than 3 feet in the entire pool.  There are lots of water features, and even a small slide.  I was beyond thrilled to witness Megan volunteering to catch Tessa and Annie coming off of the slide.  They preferred her to me, in fact, and I was content to wrangle Mary while all four big girls took care of themselves.  Amazing!

As Summer 2012 comes to a close, here's the round-up of swim skills for these girls:

Megan:  jumps, dives, floats, swims maybe half a lap unassisted
Bridget: jumps, could do a back float all day long if necessary, swims maybe 15 feet unassisted
Tessa:  jumps, floats, swims maybe a nanosecond by herself :)
Annie: jumps, strips off floaties without any warning and starts swimming when you're not looking!, floats, and can swim at least as far as Bridget
Mary: wants to be part of the action, and can.not.get,enough of being in the water!

Five little fish, most definitely!