Swimming Lessons!

I put my kids into swim lessons for the first session in Magrath. This is the first year that we did them in Magrath. Normally we would drive into Raymond for the lessons. But I decided to stay in our town. It just seemed easier, plus we are supporting our town. Anyways, DJ was not excited at all. He was actually mad and screaming when we went. I came prepared and had worn my swim suit.

The girls' lessons were first. They were all so excited and did so well every day. I just had to keep reminding them to stay with their class and listen to their teacher. They just wanted to keep diving down or swimming around. Silly girls. Abbi and Cadence amazed me with how well they did. They started going down in the water and trying to sit on the bottom. This is a huge step for my kids. Usually they keep their heads dry. Brianna did really well too. She wasn't as crazy as her sisters but she was starting to put her head under the water too. I was so proud of all of them. Cadence and Abbi have gotten very good at jumping off the diving board. Abbi can do it all by herself with no life jacket. She's learned to swim to the edge. Cadence can do it too, if I'm right there just in case. We had  a bit of a scare at the pool one afternoon. She thought I was watching her, which I was at first, but DJ came and jumped on my head. So I was pushing him off and looking around for Cadence. Of course, at that moment, she had jumped off the board (when I wasn't looking). I didn't realize it, and kept looking around for her. I saw a life guard come running around and looking down. There was Cadence beneath the water. She came up sputtering and I helped her up. I felt horrible. She was crying and spitting out water. It scared all of us, so we all went back to the shallow end. But they've done so well with their lessons. Brianna jumped off the diving board and few times, with me helping her and her teacher catching her. She just wasn't a fan of it. That's ok, she still did very well. They enjoyed their 2 weeks of lessons.

The whole class going under the water with their teacher. You can see Brianna putting her head partly under water. Way better then what she would do before!

Abbi jumping off the diving board.

Cadence jumping off the diving board.

Brianna coming up after I helped her jump off the diving board.

The girls playing a game with their class. Brianna is on the left and Abbi and Cadence on standing beside each other on the right.

I finally talked Brianna into jumping into the water at the deep end, off the side of the pool. I was surprised when she said yes. So I took a picture of it.

The girls playing around with the kids in their class.

DJ wasn't as excited. I had to go in the water with him the first 2 days. Then I stayed out and his teacher would take him. Luckily his teacher was a boy. He does much better with boys! He was super shy and would whisper his answers to his teacher. But by the 2nd week, he was having fun and enjoying himself. I'm so glad that it worked out. He got to be a little braver in the water too. He is still very cautious about getting his face wet too. Which I told his teacher is ok, because DJ has tubes in his ears. But he would put his face in the water carefully and blow bubbles. That's a huge step! It was fun to see DJ having fun and enjoying himself. I'm so glad I put him in the lessons.

DJ finding treasure, to take back to his teacher.

Loved this picture of DJ working so hard on doing his kicks. So cute!

He was the fishy in the middle and this is him escaping!

DJ and his teacher jumping into the water together. This was a huge step for DJ, who refused to jump at all. His teacher was the best!

DJ and his class being big trees.

He got chopped down and is jumping in.

Running and jumping off the floating mat.

This was a big deal for DJ. He finally went under the big bucket and then came back out happy!

Another big deal, was DJ sitting in here like it was a boat. For some reason he hated it, but agreed to do it on the last day!

The last day of classes, all the kids were super excited because they knew that they were going to play lots of games and have treats. I was glad the two weeks were over and the kids had fun in their classes. It was a success!

The girls in their class with their teacher.

Last day of swim lessons with their treats!

DJ and his class waiting for their teacher to bring their treats.

DJ and his teacher, Jared!