Splish Splash!

The girls have never done swim lessons before, or really even spent much time in pools bigger than our bathtub...so this summer, I decided to sign them up for a Level 1 class.  The good news was that there are about 4 pools within a mile of our house; the bad news was that, since we belong to the loser homeowners' association a few streets beyond that one, we don't get to use them.  Booooooo.  Since taking classes through our city meant a 20-minute drive up the freeway anyway, I decided to sign the girls up at the pool near my grandparents' house, which is where Pap-Pap and cousin Brandon do their classes, too.  Driving 30-40 minutes each way, Monday-Thursday for two weeks gave me immense amounts of eco-guilt, but the girls had a good time, and we got to hang out with my grandparents, Brandon, and his parents, too, so it was well worth the miles!

So, here's the thing about the girls: they hate getting water on their faces.  Bear is in charge of bathtime in our house, and while I'm using that 20 minutes of kid-free time to clean the house  work out  play Draw Something on the iPad, I can often hear panicked squeals of, "Daddy!!!  I need a towel!!" because an errant droplet somehow founds its way into (or near) one of their eyes.  Since carrying around a spray bottle and periodically squirting them in the face like mischievous cats would probably be frowned upon, I figured swim lessons might be the best way to cure their aversion...which it kind of did.  Their coach was awesome and found ways to sneak splashing into the games they played, and the girls, in turn, found ways to follow directions but still avoid the dreaded droplets:

But, they gradually learned to relax a little and have fun:

I would like to say here and now that there is no way I could ever, in a million years, teach swim lessons.  I can handle 34 kids in a classroom, but even watching this guy handle 10 kids in the pool (with an assistant to help him) boggled my mind.  I would've been in a constant state of "OMG, someone's going to drown!" and my panicked crankiness wouldn't have been anything people would pay me to inflict on their kids.  He, on the other hand, was totally relaxed and fun, which allowed ME to relax and have fun watching.

And then he took my little girls over to the deep end of the pool and lined them up to jump off the diving board.  EEEEEEEEK!!!!

Not surpringly, the girls weren't too keen on the idea.  They didn't jump off willingly, but they did peacefully allow themselves to be dropped into the arms of their teacher, which was pretty impressive to me considering the monumental freakouts Uncle Johnny and I were expecting as we watched from the sidelines (okay...I watched from the edge of the pool, camera in hand.  Of course.).

With their newfound semi-confidence around water, the girls were excited to hit the beach (and Bear and I were excited to hit Lil Piggy's Bar-B-Q for some corn fritters), so we headed to Coronado Island for a little day trip and had a blast!  Since it ended up being overcast and not too hot, we didn't pack bathing suits, but figured the girls could play in the sand and get their feet wet, at least.

Behold...a true beach bum:

The girls each found separate groups of friends to play with.  Keira's group kept venturing deeper into the water...

...until she eventually looked like this.  So much for that whole "get their feet wet" thing!

Ellie had busied herself with the Important Task of taking handfuls of sand and throwing them into the ocean, but then was recruited by a group of kids to do the opposite task and bring the ocean into the sand, one bucket at a time.  She must've heaved 20 buckets of water up the beach on those tiny legs of hers, and looked like she was working so hard!  I asked her why she didn't take a break, and she said, "Because my friends need ingredients for their recipe!"

Needless to say, she was worn out by the time we left!

About a week later, we decided we didn't have quite enough sand in our car (or shoes...or washing machine...) and headed to Corona del Mar with Bittle, who's home for a month from Michigan.  I'm not really a "playing in the ocean" kind of girl--it's always way too cold for me, even in the summertime, so I don't think I've actually played in the waves since I wasn't much older than Keira--but Keira talked me into going in with her.  We. Had. So. Much. Fun.  Ellie climbed up me and wrapped her arms and legs around me like a koala bear, and squealed and giggled when I dipped her down into the waves, while Kiwi jumped over the waves and laughed maniacally at her own bravery.  We ended up going pretty far in, and I found myself wishing I had a boogie board, because that suddenly looked incredibly fun, too.  Who am I??

Swim lessons are over now (and I just couldn't handle the thought of making that drive for any more sessions this summer), but I have a feeling we'll be spending a record amount of time at beaches and pools this summer!