1-3) Karina's very first day of swimming lessons, ever! The second picture even has all her sisters in it too! 4) Riana and Sariah's class, 5) Smiley Karina, 6) Tierra swimming with a substitute teacher, 7-8) Riana and Sariah jumping in, 9) Riana swimming out to dive for a ring, 10-12) Tia and Nina jumping in, 13) Sariah waiting to jump off the diving board, 14) Tia winning a contest with her life jacket on, 15) Nina's class swimming in life jackets, 16) Nina, happy to be the head of the swim train and Tia swimming on her back. 17) Celebrating at Coldstone, 18) Aurora at "swimming lessons," 19-22) Aurora posing! So cute!
We had a really successful summer at swimming lessons, this year. Grant was worried about me, signing up for swimming lessons because I had been feeling sick. However, the girls missed a summer (either last summer or the year before) and Riana and Sariah were kind of behind in classes. Plus I truly feel that they are learning life-saving skills, in swimming lessons. We normally do 2 sessions, which is what we signed up for this summer. I couldn't have been more pleased with the progress they made in their classes.
Riana did incredible-- passing both classes! The first class, she had been in for multiple sessions (other summers), but she was way ready to pass!! Her first session class consisted of one girl we didn't know, Sariah, and her. I think that helped also because her teacher was able to focus on just the three girls. It also showed that Riana was ready to pass. They jumped off the diving board several times and learned how to dive off the edge. In her second session, she had the same teacher, Ariel, (who is awesome but pretty picky, which is kind of good) and her teacher was shocked at how fast she progressed. Her whole class was swimming the full length of the long pool, with almost every kind of stroke. And she even took a beautiful dive off the diving board, with no hesitation. She looked so graceful, like she had been diving for years, and I wonder whether I should put her in some diving lessons or something. (She loves gymnastics and swimming, which is pretty much what diving is.)
Sariah did great also! Ariel held her back in her first class, probably because Riana was so ready. They spent the entire class swimming back and forth in the deep pool. Sariah had no problems doing this. She also enjoyed jumping off the diving board several times and learning to dive off the edge. During her second session in that same level, she had a different teacher and he had a pretty difficult group to work with. He had 3 kids who did not look ready for that class at all and 3 kids who probably already should've passed to the next level. So they spent the first week with kickboards, swimming back and forth, in the deep pool. It was frustrating for me to watch. At the end of the week, the kids jumped off the diving board and the teacher held out a floating stick for them to jump on to (which is what they do for the younger classes.) Sariah purposefully jumped off the side of the diving board, so that she could swim to the edge all by herself! I totally laughed! Then I talked to the supervisor of the pool and told her my concerns. The next week, Sariah's teacher let her, and the other strong swimmers, swim on their own and then he swam next to the weaker swimmers. I was happy to see a change. She was also motivated by competition and won several races in her class. She did great and passed to the next level! (She was sad that Riana passed again because she enjoyed being in her class and wanted to be again.)
Even though Tierra didn't pass any classes, she made HUGE progess!! I was so happy! The first couple of days, she was worried about just getting in the water and by the last day of the second session, she jumped off the diving board (on to a floating stick, which her teacher was holding)!!! Unforunately I don't have a picture because I was taking a video. I was so proud of her and we went out to ice cream to celebrate! Tierra was pretty timid in her first session. However, for the 2 weeks between sessions, we went swimming several times and she discovered many things on her own, trying out many new things. For example, a lifejacket will keep you afloat. During the first session, on safety day, while wearing a life jacket, she would not leave the edge of the pool without her teacher holding onto her. During the second session, safety day (with life jackets), she was swimming all over the place and even won a race to swim out and around the teacher and back. She was so happy to overcome her fears and was even swimming a bit on her own during the second session. It was amazing to see her progress!
Karina was so excited to finally be old enough to take some swimming lessons!! Last time, she had to sit by and watch. However, she was a bit timid, at first, as well. But she was always having fun out there, with a big smile on her face. By the second session, she was swimming around in her life jacket by herself, as well, on safety day. She didn't pass any levels either but she made a lot of progress! She was just so happy to be out there swimming.
Aurora was a little busy body on the bleachers. She kept asking to "touch water, touch water!" If I didn't help, I'm afraid she would've done it herself anyway and ended up IN the water. So I would take her over and let her dip her hand in it and that was good enough for a while. Also, she loved going down the kiddie slide they had next to the wall (it didn't go into the water). Unforunately, the swimming staff asked us not to (which didn't make any sense) and then it was a battle to keep her away (I wish they had it in a closet or something). She also enjoyed posing for pictures, since I was taking pictures of the big girls, she wanted her picture taken too. Also, for the rest of the summer, whenever Aurora would go into the bath or any kiddie pool, she would say "I do swimming lessons, Mama!" Cute!
When I wasn't chasing Aurora, I enjoyed meeting new friends (like a nice lady named Angela. We just hit it off. It seemed like we were meant to be friends. We have stayed in touch on Facebook.) I also enjoyed visiting with old ones: Susan (and her daughter Emma, and son), we have talked several times before, as we have many friends in common; Karen, a very sweet lady from church, who was amazing to be there with her 8 children (4 of whom she adopted from the Ukraine); and my sister-in-law, Mandy, whose kids swam after ours. I was thankful that during the first session, the girls had swimming lessons all at the same time. That made it very nice! The second session, I had to change Riana because she passed, so they weren't at the same time, but they were back to back. We had to be there at 9:00 am, which was a challenge, since we were also in a play until late some nights. All in all, I was glad we chose to do swimming lessons, this summer. We all had fun and learned a lot! :) They are constantly asking when we can do swimming lessons again.
