Swimming Lessons

 We just finished our first week of swimming lessons and everyone is doing well.  Ashleigh is the best swimmer in her class, but doesn't want to advance to the next swim level because she is having too much fun in her current level.  She thinks the next level is too hard and won't be any fun.  For $35, having two weeks of swimming practice everyday is good for her even if she is already a great swimmer.  She enjoys it and wants to keep going, so I signed her up for one more session.  She is setting a great example for the boys by being in class alongside them, so that makes it worthwhile as well.

 Owen is doing awesome too!  His swimming has improved so much in the past year.  He is almost ready for the next swim level, but needs to perfect his backstroke in order to pass his current level.  He has one week to go in this session, so I am confident he can get it figured out in time to advance.  In order to be advanced to the next level though, he has to be able to swim completely on his own.  It is hard to believe he is already at that point considering we couldn't even get him to put his face in the water at the beginning of last summer.

 Dallin, on the otherhand, is not loving his swim lessons as much.  He is always very excited to go to swim lessons, but changes his mind about them as soon as his teachers make him put his head underwater.  He cannot seem to remember to close his mouth before they push him under because he is too busy screaming.

 The nose crinkle and turning sideways in case he decides to make a run for it when the teacher comes to get him in the water are signs of his uncertainty about it all.

 We get a few smiles once in a while when he decides to loosen up and have a little fun with his teachers.

 Going under the rope is one of his least favorite things right now.  Here he is looking at me for last minute help right before they push him under the rope.  I am busy telling him to close his mouth.

 Now the screaming starts because he realizes he is really going under, and even though he knows it's coming, his mouth opens wider instead of shutting.

Here he is after making it safely under the rope looking at me for pity.  Poor little guy, but it's hard for me to feel too sorry for him when he won't close his mouth before he goes under the water.  His teacher told him today that she can tell he is getting a little better, so that gives me a little hope that he will have progressed by the end of the summer.

 Owen loves his class.  I caught him pretending to be a shark getting the girls in the water next to him while the instructors were working with other kids in the class.

 Here is Owen getting ready to jump into the 12 feet section of the pool to practice treading water with a life preserver on.  He was required to attempt a "bob" with the life preserver on, which he said was really hard because the life preserver kept him afloat.

 Ashleigh's class gets to jump off the lifeguard chair everyday at the end of class.  She thinks it's cool because  it is higher than the diving boards.

 Owen is still a little nervous about jumping off the diving board, but he does each class after a few minutes of coaxing from his teachers in the water.

 I missed getting a picture of Dallin on the diving board today because he was crying so hard, so the teacher just dropped him in the water quickly.  Here he is though after getting caught from the diving board.  When he got out of the water, he stopped crying immediately and said, "We aren't chickens!"  because Ashleigh and Owen were talking about being chicken to go off the diving board.  Dallin was so proud of himself for going off even though we won't point out to him that he had to be basically thrown in when he tried to run away from the diving board.

Since everyone jumped off the diving board today, they earned giant slushies from the gas station on the way home.  I promised them to them, but only if all three jumped off today.  If one of them chickened out, no one was going to get a slushie.  My bribery seemed to work for today at least!