Swimming Lessons

Since it's so dreary and dismal outside this week, I decided to relive the summertime fun of swimmimg lessons.  This was Caleb's and Emma's third time around, but the first time for Sarah.

 

Emma loved the diving board, and she looked like she was flying every time she jumped!

As you can see, she wasn't exactly excited in the beginning, but she quickly warmed up to swimming and became quite a little fish...even jumped off the diving board!

Emma loved the diving board, and every jump looked like she was flying!

 What this picture doesn't show is Sarah carefully walking to the edge, and then jumping UP instead of OUT. She landed on her bottom on the board, but miraculously, didn't get hurt and didn't cry. She even managed to get "dropped" off the end of the board by the life guard. Let me tell you, my heart nearly stopped when I saw all that happen through my camera lens...and I didn't even press the button to capture it!

So after that, she stuck to the side of the pool!

  

Caleb became famous for his high cannon balls and his front flips!

Yosemite

 

Well, it may have been two and a half months since our vacation in Yosemite, but at times it still feels like yesterday...and since I didn't make much blog-progress this summer, I figured I'd backtrack a bit to share our fun times! 

By far, our family's most favorite time together is spending it in Yosemite. I can't think of a more perfectly beautiful place on Earth. I admit, I haven't traveled much, but honestly, I know that not much can compare to the beauty of Yosemite, and I know the world agrees with me...because a good portion of them were up in Yosemite with us! Yeah, it was crowded, but that's about the only negative I can list.

Our vacation up there was just picturesque this year. The weather was PERFECT. The drive wasn't so long. The kids got along!! We had a great time every single day.  And it left me with a feeling of peace and love and a heart just overflowing with gratitude not only for the spectacular place God created, but also for the love that abounds in our family. What could make for a more perfect vacation?

Seven years old

How does it happen so fast? Emma turned seven two weeks ago. All summer long she'd been thinking about her party. She had decided on a "tea party without tea" because really, what seven year old acutally likes tea?  So she invited ten friends over and we did crafts, had a dress-up relay, decorated cupcakes, beat the candy out of a pinata, and had a generally fun time.  Of course it was during that extreme-heat weekend, so we moved everything inside, but nonetheless, I think it was a successful party, and her first with friends-only!



At the end of it all, we still went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner! Guess 7 isn't too old yet.



 The girls were sooo into the dress-up relay. But have you ever done a relay with excited kids before? It just keeps going and going! We couldn't tell who really won, because nobody wanted to stop taking a turn!



Sarah was excited about new Barbies for Emma...
which meant new Barbies for her when Emma was at school!







We made picture frames and I printed out this picture for all the girls to take home.