Fun in the Sun

We've had a couple of busy days and the weekend is not over yet!

Friday the boys and I met my friend and co-worker, Kelli, and her three boys at a nearby park. We spent about an hour there and it wore Samuel out (and probably her three as well!). The boys had a ball and we discovered there is a Starbucks right near the park so we grabbed some smoothies as we left which made it easy for me to convince the boys to leave! Nothing beats a Strawberries and Creme from Starbucks after a good hour of hard playing!

Today brought about three major outings: a trip to Harris Teeter grocery store, the Vacation Bible School Kick Off Carnival and a trip to our pool with our super neighbor, Ms. Katie. The boys went to bed so easily tonight after all that!

At the VBS Carnival today Samuel had as much fun as Benjamin playing games. He loves putting and throwing things in and out of places so he really enjoyed all the bean bag toss games. And they had balloons too so he was happy as could be.

Samuel is proving to be quite the athlete even at the pool. I watch him like a hawk and don't take my eyes off of him in the kiddie pool. The water is shallow but he can still easily lose his balance and be face first in the water in an instant. He is getting steadier on his feet in there though with each visit we make. Today he only lost his balance once and amazed Katie and I that he pulled his face back up and out of the water faster than I could even get to him. It was really something to see. He doesn't even flinch when he does go under water and just comes back up smiling and ready for more action. (Benjamin is the opposite but is getting better with every visit to the pool). So, today I put Samuel under water in the big pool and pushed him in a swimming manner towards Katie. He did great. He was under water for a second or two and came up again smiling in her arms. I had taken Benjamin to swimming lessons when he was about 6 months old and we had done that with Benjamin many times when he was a baby but this was Samuel's first attempt at swimming and he did great! I hope to keep practicing this with him and maybe eventually he'll swim like a fish or at least not be afraid of the water.

Benjamin is loving the water. He wears a swimming vest in the big pool and loves to jump off the side into my arms. He is getting braver and more comfortable about the water and hasn't cried when he's gone under water the past few visits. (When he jumps in he's bound to go under the water a time or two. I just need to get him to keep that mouth closed!). He has also had great fun playing with neighborhood kids at the pool as well. He has really learned how to get around with that swim vest giving him just the buoyancy and confidence he needs to do so. It has made our trips to the pool so much easier. Instead of having one child attached to my hip, I only have one, although Samuel enjoys time in his pool floaty too so he's not super attached to me either.

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They had a blast playing together in the kiddie pool today so I took a bunch of pictures. The lifeguard actually blew his whistle at one point and said "No more splashing in the kiddie pool." hmm. Never heard that warning before. Mine were the only two in the kiddie pool at the time and I was loving that they weren't minding getting the water in their eyes and they were playing so well together. Maybe they were just getting too rowdy for his liking! Katie and I joked about us being removed from the pool area because my kids were splashing. But they did calm down a bit and eventually we returned to the big pool again.

Gotta love summertime!