Swimming.

This past week, school started.  Many people on facebook have started talking about going apple picking, thinking about upcoming fall traditions they will be participating in soon, and grumping that the pools are already closed when, of course, the weather is smoking hot and perfect for swimming this last weekend of summer known as Labor Day Weekend.

What about us, you say? Well, thankfully the pools stay open longer here, because summer is not even close to being over. The highs this weekend over 100 degrees and I have already promised the girls a trip to our neighborhood pool this weekend.

 What's funny is, last year, we barely went swimming. Yes, I had an infant at the time, but when looking back, it wasn't just that Vivian was so little, it was a whole crop of reasons--Evan had started the JAG job from hell and worked obscene hours, Julia was in the middle of her constipation issues, and I was having some post partum depression issues.  It just wasn't on the radar. This year, though, we are taking advantage of having such a great pool on Ft Sam that is for residents. It's an awesome pool for us because it's zero depth, has spouts, is deep enough for some snorkeling and cannon ball jumping, and is 3 minutes from our house. It's rarely busy, too.

 See that swimming aide that Julia is sporting below?

 That thing is fabulous!! Julia has blossomed as a swimmer since we strapped it to her this year.  She's grown confident enough to float, swim underwater, jump in unassisted, and even try swimming WITHOUT the aide!  Plus, as she gets better, we can take off a layer as needed so that she is swimming more and more on her own.  I must publicly thank Kyle for recommending it, as she is our professional pool guru.

 I have only taken the kiddos to the pool solo for one very good reason: Vivian.  That child is crazy. She loves the water, but every now and then she'll get it into her head that she needs to climb out and run super fast to the deep end and try to jump in.

 I kid you not, I had a panicky drowning moment while chasing her because i was still IN the water and she was out, but she was trying to jump in to the 5'6" area and I COULDN'T TOUCH THE BOTTOM. So, I was trying to push her out of the water while trying to keep my head above.  I finally pushed her back hard enough that she fell backwards onto the pool deck and I hollered at Evan to come help me. (To be fair, he was helping Julia on the other end of the pool and couldn't see me...because he was doing handstands.  But, he rushed as soon as I hollered, so no worries.)  Vivian wasn't even phased, she thought I was roughhousing.  Crazy baby.  Anyhoo, as the summer has progressed, Vivian has gotten much better about listening, so going to the pool has been fun!

(Just for the record, Elisabeth spends 80% of her time underwater when we are at the pool, and is very hard to photograph the few minutes I have the camera out.  I am not deliberately neglecting to post pictures of her. Thank you.)