Three Little Fishies

As you can probably tell from the previous post, we have little fishies for kiddos! As desert dwellers, summer time means swim time, and a fair portion of our lives from March until June were spent pool side. Whether it was swim team, swimming lessons or just hanging out at the pool with friends, we spend as much time as possible in the water one we hit triple digits!

Sunshine began swim lessons in March to prepare her for swim team which started Memorial Day weekend. Sunshine has always loved the water, and has done really well in her swim lessons in past years, but this was our first go at swim team and we wanted to be well prepared. At first, it was certainly difficult... Sunshine wasn't use to swimming laps for 30+ minutes 4 days a week. She was so worn out the first few weeks of lessons, but she was loving it, so we kept going, and her hard work paid off. We are so proud of how well she did her first year of swim team. She has a stack of ribbons that she loves to look through, and she placed as high as second place in free style and got fourth place in butterfly at one meet. It just blows my mind to watch her swim fly... it is my favourite stroke to watch, but I have never been able to swim it myself. I love that Sunshine can not only swim it, but did well at it.

Unfortunately, we missed the last half of her swim season due to our summer road trip, but once we find our routine now that school has started, we are planning to join a local club swim team so Sunshine can continue swimming. I think it is such an important life skill... especially as we live in the land of 10,000 pools.

Beebs was signed up to do the same survival swim lessons that she and Sunshine did last summer, but as Sunshine did her lessons at our community pool, Beebs felt like she was missing out. We put her in a few lessons at the community pool before her survival swim started and she did great in both. She is such a little fish and I am thinking it won't be long before she is doing swim team as well. She is already able to get most of the way across the pool... we just need to work on her breathing and she'll be good to go. I am so impressed with how much she learned this year. Last year she really struggled with her lessons and did not want to do anything she was asked to without a fight. She is our overly cautious child and the water was scary for her. This year, she jumped right in and did what she needed to, and the change in attitude has helped her to really improve. She can back float for over a minute with no help and she is a pro at diving for rings. She has come so, so far since swim lessons last year.

Beebs and friends at Sunshine's swim meet

This year was Man Cub's first year of swim lessons. As is typical with the style of swim lessons we start our wee ones out with, Man Cub was not a fan. My otherwise happy little guy would start crying as soon as he realized where we were headed. It was heartbreaking to watch, but it seriously paid off in the end. He learned a ton and he now loves the water. Maybe even a little too much... he has gained a false sense of security as he thinks he is just as good at swimming as his big sisters.

We are so blessed to be able to spend so much time swimming each summer. Especially considering that we don't have a pool of our own. I love that my children are learning to swim, and learning to swim well. It is a skill that has potential to benefit them throughout their lives. Plus, it helps keep us cool Ü