Summer Camps

Since our plans changed this summer I was able to enroll the kids in summer activities this year. Come to think of it, this is probably one of the few years I have let them do anything in the summer. I like to think of summer as my undivided time, but they won me over. The boys did a week long Karate camp with some of their friends and Rose took swim lessons.

Rose is actually the first of my kids to take swim lessons. The boys never took any. She is in Heaven here!
Showing her muscles off.

Swimming Hands! So, as I said this is the first of my kids I have taken to swim lessons. I believe that kids will learn how to swim if you take them enough times. I take my kids swimming at least 4 days out of the week, so my boys learned all on their own.

Rose is a Fish! She has taken to the water like crazy, even when she was just a one year old. Which is totally awesome, but she kind of got to the point where she lacks some fear but wasn't quite swimming, so I hoped they would teach her some strokes and formalize her swimming.

Everyone laughed because that's not what Pre-K swim lessons are about. They are about getting comfortably in the water. The first few days were frustrating because they spent most of it just getting the kids to put their face in the water.

But as the weeks progressed they would give Rose more freedom. It was hilarious, when they would lift the kids so their face would barely go under the water, they would take Rose and dunk her until she touched the bottom of the pool.

Rose also learned to float on her back really well. She doesn't need the kickboard to do it.

And the lifeguards taught her how to stroke.

Which of course, Rose was like, Can you just let go of me so I can swim!

Before I signed Rose up I didn't realize that Ashley, one of Rose's good friends, was in the class too. There ended up being two other kids from Rose's Sunbeam class at church too.

Yeah, she passed! I don't know if we will do swim lessons again. Rose can swim across the pool by herself. She went fron doggy-paddling to being able to race her brothers across the pool in just a few months. I can't believe she is only 4, and a new 4 year old at that.

The boys took Karate camp at the rec center and totally loved it!

Nathan got some big award at the end of the week, but for the life of me I can't remember what it is now.

The boys took the camp with Noah and Jacob. We love their family and it is perfect because their boys are spaced pretty much identically to my boys.

After all the camps were over we went and celebrated at Gattiland. It's a delicious pizza buffet and then they have a game area. It was fun to party all together.

Rose and Ginger rode the Merry-go-Round

And played a bunch of games. Most of the pictures are with the girls because that is who me and Ken stayed with.

This girls loved this motorcycle game! Looks like Ken did too!
Darin, is my funny big boy. He only spent like $.50 while all the other boys were playing. He wanted to watch them. So at the end he still had all of his money and everyone got a kick out of watching him.

And we talked him into playing Deal or No Deal! We love that game and it's fun to play all together.