Our Kids: July 2011

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Summer Activities Part I: Swim Lessons

Oh, Swim Lessons...We definitely had a love/hate relationship, didn't we??

It is true...Julia absolutely loved you. Rain or shine, cool or warm, bikini or one-piece, she was ready to jump in and learn with the best of them. She was a bit over-her-head and many ways so to speak. She couldn't touch and she was in Level Two...A level meant for children older than herself. Julia just has no fear, you see, and could already do everything in Level One, so in Level Two she went. She had a blast and learned so much...It is amazing to watch her on her own at the pool now. She even goes off the diving board! Julia definitely has a little bit of Mommy's love of the water in her!

Alex...Now, he is the hate aspect of this story. During the first two days, nothing...He seemed to be enjoying himself and doing well in Level Four. I had even thought that despite being in 12 ft. deep water in Level Four and his sketchy history with swimming, he was being pushed and that was exactly what he needed. Day three is when good went to bad...Yes, I was the mother at swim lessons with a six year in tears. Alex claimed that he was afraid of drowning even though I assured him that I would be the first one into the water to save him (not to mention his instructor, the lifeguard, and Duchess...who frequented the pool during swim lessons almost daily...That is a story for another day). The frustrating part...He would poo-poo during swim lessons and then ask to go swimming at the pool on the way home! Yes, you read that right. What a stinker! I decided to take him to work on some of the things that were scaring him...and, get this, no problems. You would not have even recognized him as the crying kid from the morning. I can't explain it necessarily other than to say that he is much like his Daddy...hesitant around the water. He wants to have fun, but wants to be cautious. Honestly, I can live with that!

Julia working on her front floats!

Alex crossing the pool on a yellow noodle...I didn't get many good shots of him during lessons and, honestly, he is crying in this picture!

Julia, just before her big jump!

Somehow, Alex manage the courage to do a cannon ball off the diving board without crying...and, I managed to get a great action shot!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Garden Updates

Once again, we have attempted greatness when it comes to gardening. Those of you who know us...Well, you know that greatness may be far fetched. We have had our share of ups and downs over the years...Great successes (pumpkins) and great failures (cucumbers as round as baseballs and awful tasting)! We are also short on space, but we do the best we can with what we have...Our garden is made of two sections...One of which is about 24 square feet and the other about 16 square feet. Honestly, this sounds bigger than it really is!

This year, Alex, Julia, and I were on top of our plan early! We picked up seeds for watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, green beans, and sunflowers. Daddy prepped our garden and we planted our seeds and the tomato plants and eggplant starters we picked up at a local garden store the week Daddy was in New York. It was hard to find room to plant all of our wonderful choices in about 40 square feet, but we made it happen. This is how it happened..."Oh, we're supposed to plant the green beans 12 inches apart?? Well, 6 inches will just have to do!"

When it was all said and done, we ended up with 4 tomato plants (an Abe Lincoln, an Heirloom, a Cherry, and a Roma...The Roma was given to us by a neighbor when she ran out of room in her own garden), 1 eggplant, about 10 green bean plants, about 6 cucumber plants, about 4 watermelon plants (1 also shared by a friend of Daddy's), about 4 cantaloupe plants, 4 sunflowers, red leaf lettuce (in our flower pots), and two random pumpkins (More stray seeds left behind from previous years...Who are we to mess with destiny?). As you can tell from our pictures, our garden is a bit of a jungle and the vines are now starting to climb and trail the fence...We wouldn't have it anyway. It has provided us with a wonderful bounty! We have already been able to enjoy the lettuce and should be able to enjoy green beans this week...with tomatoes, cucumbers, sunflower seeds, and eggplant soon to come! Cross your fingers that we start seeing progress with the watermelon and cantaloupe!