Swim Lessons Day 5

Kaylyn continues to progress at swim lessons but slowly. Here she is practicing her front crawl arms with Julie.
After jumping in, Kaylyn had to "swim" back to the side of the pool.
Near the end of class, the group moved to the diving board. Those willing jumped off the diving board with Julie ready to catch them. Kaylyn sat on the side with her friends. Unfortunately, at some point, she fell in. Fortunately, Julie was right there and got her back up quickly.

Gymnastics

Kaylyn has taken gymnastics for 2 years now. And we've very rarely brought the camera to record her progress. But we had it today (for swim lessons) and took pictures as she showed her stuff.

Here's the V-Sit.

And Kaylyn jumping on the trampoline.

The backward roll.

Morgan got very upset when she saw the camera but it wasn't pointed at her. She smiled as soon as I pointed the camera at her. I think I'm in trouble with this one. :)

Swim Lessons Day 4

Today was Kaylyn's fourth swim lesson. Although she still refuses to put her head under water ("it'll get in my eyes), she is making progress. It may sound small to many but here Kaylyn is putting her chin in the water and holding it there long enough for me to take her picture. This is tremendous progress since Swim Lesson #1.


Instead of specifically focusing on floating by itself, today Tiffany and Julie had the kids practice "swimming" while they held them up at their stomachs. Here Kaylyn is "swimming" back to the side using her front crawl arms. Later she had to use front crawl arms to swim out and then back crawl arms (on her back) to swim back to the side.

Swim Lessons Day 3

We are making slow progress on floating. Kaylyn still does not want to put her head in the water. But she did have her nose touch the water while practicing the front float.

Kaylyn got to try something new today. They moved to a deeper part of the pool (probably 4 feet). Kaylyn had to jump into the water. She didn't want to do this and the instructors had to hold her hands and almost pull her in. They were very patient with her and got her to do it, reluctantly. Here she is after coming up for her second time with Julie. This picture is priceless - click on it to see a close up of the expression on Kaylyn's face!


After jumping in, they had to "swim" back to the side and climb out. Here's Julie helping Kaylyn.

And here's Kaylyn just emerging from the water after jumping in to Tiffany.

It spins!

Not to be outdone by her sister's progress, Morgan wanted to show off that she has learned to play with the toy on her swing. And for the first time, at least that I know of, last night Morgan laughed when tickled. So we practiced again this morning so that Mommy could find more tickle spots.

Swim Lessons Day 2

I know it doesn't look like much, but Kaylyn made progress today at her swim lesson. Kaylyn still refuses to put her head under the water. But she did finally put her chin in and her nose, by bending her head forward, not by lowering herself.
Here she is with Miss Julie trying to work on her front float.


And here she is with Miss Julie again, this time working on her back float.

Swim Lessons Day 1

Today was the first day of swim lessons for Kaylyn.
Here she is in the pool with one of her teachers and another student.


After getting comfortable in the water and learning the front crawl and how to kick, they also started working on floating. Kaylyn's not so sure about any of this. The only way she got her head under the water was when she slipped and went under. She recovered quickly but continued to refuse to go under deliberately. I'm anxious to see her improvement as we go.

Missy Morgan

And in case anyone's wondering about Morgan since we haven't posted pictures of her for awhile, here's a picture Kaylyn took this morning....


And here's one from last week when Kaylyn was feeding her. She definitely adores her big sister, almost as much as her big sister adores her.

The Boys of Summer

On Thursday night, Kaylyn and I enjoyed watching William and Joseph play baseball.

Here's Joseph getting ready to bat.


William's turn.

And Thomas enjoying himself during the game.

4th of July

For 4th of July, we headed to the parade with Nana. It was shorter than previous years but still wonderful. It's such a nice, relaxed parade.

Aunt Mary came to visit

This weekend my Aunt Mary came to visit. I don't think she's been here to visit since Robin's wedding - September 2001. We had a great time and Kaylyn really enjoyed meeting her. She kept trying to drag her back to her room to play dishes (she was successful on Saturday).

We only took one picture but hopefully will get copies of pictures that Mary and Mom took. Here's a picture of me, Mom, Nana and Mary this afternoon.

Public Safety Expo

Last Saturday, there was a Public Safety Fair at the Expo Center. Kaylyn got to climb on the St. John's helicopter.


Here she is inside the fire engine.

Then we went outside to watch a demonstration of the police dogs. Here the "volunteer" policeman got taken down by the dog. We were amazed by the skills of the dogs and the silence - no barking or growling at all. And they were very obedient.

After the Public Safety Expo, we walked across the street to Snow Fest (they scrape off all the ice off the ice rink and put it in the park for the kids to enjoy). Kaylyn then wanted to walk through the stream that goes through the park.