I have some pictures I want to share from a few weeks ago. I got a little ahead of myself with my posts - so we're going to rewind to June 24, when my Grandma and Grandpa from Arkansas came to California to visit. They went to my parents' house in San Diego and I could not afford to drive all the way down there to see them (nor did I want to make the trek on my own with 2 kids...yet...) So they were going to visit my brother Jeff and his family in Canyon Country (near Magic Mountain). I decided it would be an easy enough drive - and a more affordable one, so I drove down to surprise Grandma and Grandpa. They had never met Anna before and we usually only get to see them about once a year. We had a very nice day visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, my mom and dad, my brother and sister-in-law and their kids. We even got to meet their newest addition - Sydney - she was only 3 weeks old! Sooo cute!!
Haylie and Anna with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma
Baby Sydney and Anna - she made my little baby look so big!!
Haylie loved Baby Sydney
Haylie and her cousin Morgan tackled Grandpa Garry
Anna was trying to pull Grandpa Garry's mustache off
I'm so grateful that my kids have all their Great Grandparents still. We love them so much!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Rewind
Sunday, July 13, 2008
The Big Six-Oh
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Swimming Lessons
Well, after Haylie's jaunt in the pool a couple weeks ago, I got nervous about her lack-o-fear. She does a great job with those floaties, but I got scared that one day she would jump in without the floaties and get into trouble. Sooo, there is a golf course just down the street from our house that has a pool run by the city of Fresno. Lessons are only $15 for 2 weeks - that is 5 days a week for 35 minutes each day. That is a discounted price for our family size and income range. It is normally $30 - but STILL - talk about cheap!! So I was pretty nervous about Haylie taking lessons because she is so shy. I talked to her about it before we went and she was super excited, but of course, she got scared once we were there. And of course, it was not helpful that her regular teacher wasn't there for the first 3 days - so she was not able to establish a bond with him at the beginning.
Here she is on day 1 with substitute 1 (Rosalina):
Not happy - she cried pretty much the whole time - I had to walk away and hide in the shade so she wouldn't call out to me and expect me to rescue her.
Day 2 - substitute 2 (Nick):
He was very nice and very good with her and mostly carried her around but she only cried a little bit at the very beginning.
Day 3 - Nick again:
Do you see that? It's a smile!! They did a free swim on this day and since she is not able to do a free swim, Nick helped her and she got some good one on one time with him. Now she is really starting to like Nick.
She even jumped off the side to him several times.
Day 4: Her real teacher returns (Forrest):
She cried for the first little while with Forrest (she had JUST gotten used to Nick!), but he was good about getting her to "suck it up". He wasn't as "sweet" as Nick, and she still hasn't really warmed up to him, but she does what she's supposed to do so that is good. In this picture he is trying to get her to float on her back.
Every day after her lesson she wants to be wrapped up in the towel and sit in the sun to warm up - and she always has to have froggy silky too!
This is just a cute shot I got today while she was hanging on to the side.
This is the certificate she got on the last day! She was so proud!! Sooo cute!
She really has learned a lot - she can't swim on her own yet, but at least she has learned a few techniques - like the doggy paddle and kicking her legs. She even knows how to hold her breath now for a short period of time.
I am probably going to sign her up for the next session too - and I am going to try and get her into a class with Nick since she seemed to warm up to him a bit more. Maybe, just maybe, she will start to come out of her shell a bit more after this experience.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Happy 4th of July
This was the first 4th of July in many years that it wasn't a thousand degrees in Fresno. It was beautiful. We were invited to spend the afternoon with a friend of a friend - and a pool. ;-) We started the day at swim lessons with Haylie (more to come on that later...), then relaxed a little, then went to the party...Here are some fun pics from the day:
Fearless little Haylie jumping off the diving board
Anna resting in the playpen - she even took a nap out by the pool
Haylie shooting confetti fireworks...this one hit Evan in the back - don't worry - he's ok :-)
Family self-portrait
Hooray for America!
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