Swim Lessons!

 What would summer be without swim lessons?!

Last year, Keira did a Mommy & Me swim class, but now, as a big 3-year-old, it was time for her to swim with the teacher while Mommy watched from the side of the pool!

We took our first round of lessons with Ella.

The girls are so stylin' in their summer shades!

They were so excited to take swim lessons together...that is, until they actually got in the pool without their Mommies!

Keira had a rough couple of days getting adjusted to having Mommy watch from the side, but by the 3rd day, she was able to get through her whole lesson without crying.  And by the end of the session (7 days), she was having fun!

This is the vantage point I started from. Eventually, I was able to move back and sit on the bench and cheer her on with "thumbs up" for doing such a great job!

Teacher Tess was very kind and patient

 Crab-walking, then getting out of the pool to jump in--a favorite skill to practice!

After all that hard work, the girls got to relax in the kids' spa each day after their lesson was over.

One time, the girls got to play a short round of mini-golf on the green right next to the pool area!

Maybe a hole in one?!

Gaining courage and jumping in!

Ahhhhhhhhh....

Listening to Teacher Tess

On the last day of session 1, Daddy got to come watch the lesson and he took these pictures!

Thanks, Daddy!

By this point, Keira was quite fond of Miss Tess and loved doing all the skills with her!

Swimming is fun!

Learning to float

Hi, Daddy!

This was quite an improvement from the first day when kids were splashing water NEAR her and it made her cry. At swimming lessons, we learned it is okay to get wet while swimming!!

At the end of the session, Keira got a certificate that said she passed the skills necessary for Grunion I and she could move up to Grunion II!

Did I mention she also got Gummy Bears as a special treat?!

Our little fish!

Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you!

After this initial session, we took one more session of lessons (I didn't get any pictures, just a few videos). The second time around, Keira had a different teacher, Miss Zana.  The skill set that was taught was more challenging and Miss Zana's personality was pretty intense (which made it hard for Keira to warm up to her). Keira was definitely challenged, but she made it through the 2 weeks of lessons and is now able to go all the way under water by herself, float on her back with minimal assistance, and overall have a fun time in the water!!!

Summer Happenings (aka "Catching Up!")

Now that the Olympics are over, my evenings are more free and I can get back to blogging!

Initially, I thought our summer would be pretty lowkey since our "scheduled" life of spring had ended (Preschool, Friend School, MOPS, etc), but boy was I wrong! This has been one BUSY summer, but it has been filled with fun things! Here are pictures of some highlights! We've also done swimming lessons, VBS, and a week-long family trip to Butano, but these will all have their own posts (coming soon!).

At the beginning of June, we had the pleasure of having Noah's cousin, Katie and her husband, Alan stay with us and we got to go to a Dbacks vs Padres baseball game (Keira got to spend the afternoon at Legoland with Oliver--lucky girl!!).

Alan is from Arizona, so I guess it's okay that he's a Dbacks fan!

 We had AMAZING seats!

Blast from the past!

Matt Williams, who played 3rd base for the Giants when Noah and I were young & used to watch baseball.

How sad that I don't even know this guy's name!

Great picture from Noah though!

FUN!!

Action shot!

Alan is a true fan!

We are still relishing Noah's freedom from Grad School and enjoy doing spontaneous things together. This is a fun dinner outing to a Mexican restaurant in Old Town. Super fun and great food.

Best part: Kids eat free!!

We've been attending free dance/movement classes at the library (in preparation for the REAL thing which will start in a few weeks!!). There are always a ton of kids and it's complete madness, but Keira enjoys it! On this day, she got to dance with her 2 best girl friends!

All that dancing wore them out!

Costco is so much more fun with a friend!

And eating samples with a friend is even BETTER!!!!!

Keira got a lot of fun gifts for her birthday. Here she is modeling two of them: the Minnie Mouse dress and the baby sling. At first, I put a baby doll in the sling, but she quickly took it out and wanted to carry Elmo instead (of course!).

Hands-free with Elmo!

Still able to do some drawing while Elmo hangs out in the sling (see his eyes poking out?)

Celebrating Father's Day!

Keira made the awesome tie at Art Soup!

We got to open gifts with our extended family still here and we spent a few hours in the afternoon exploring Balboa Park.

She loves her Daddy!

Chocolate donut with sprinkles = pure bliss!

Celebrating our 9-year anniversary at one of our favorite restaurants: The Prado!

I had the most amazing turkey burger I've ever eaten!

Thanks, MomSheila, for the gift card and thanks, M, M, & E for playing with Keira while we got to enjoy lunch and the Natural History Museum!

Summertime definitely calls for lots of playtime in the water!

Slip-n-sliding with Ella is the best!

Playtime with Nana is so fun!

On the agenda: Games!

Games...

...and more games!

We also got to spend some time with Grammy during her visit with us!

Whenever Grammy comes, we always take a trip to La Jolla Shores!

Life's a Beach!

We also got to take a trip to the beach with playgroup friends!

Seriously, life is hard here in San Diego!

During our "downtime" at home, Keira loves to play pretend Friend School.

This time, she is the teacher and Mommy is learning all about rainbows.

Keira took this pic of me sitting on the circle time mat.

Showing me the different types of rainbows.

She is such a good teacher!

Stay tuned for more pics of our summertime fun!