Buried Treasure

 We spent more time at the beach and at the pool again today!  It's so relaxing and nice to have nothing to do!!  After playing all day, we went to dinner with my Dad's cousin who lives in Wilmington and is a member of a beach club that's just down the street from our condo.  The shrimp and grits were delicious and they had an awesome playground!

Beach Days

 We have been here in Wrightville Beach with my parents for a few days now.  It is the most beautiful beach - wide and clean with lovely soft sand that is perfect for building sandcastles.  The kids have been having a great time searching for shells, digging holes and building giants castles - not so much of swimming in the ocean quite yet.  The girls and Declan are a little intimidated by the waves - although Aidan likes swimming and body surfing just fine!

Aidan's First Swim Practice

 Aidan had his first swim practice today!  It was tough and he hung in there for a whole hour!  The kids pool doesn't open until 11:00 and practice starts at 10:30 so we had to wait a FULL 30 MINUTES on the pool deck.  You'd think it was a year!!  Everyone had a good time at the pool and we got a good swim in before we had to go home for lunch!!

Last Day of Swimming Lessons

 Today was the last day of swimming lessons for the summer.  The pool actually closes after this weekend - AUGUST 5! - thank you sequestration.  School starts Monday so I guess they figure it's not worth keeping it open but last summer we went after school a lot!  Oh well - it is what it is! Everyone did very well in swimming and improved so much!!  Emmy was the only one who passed her class (Level1) but Aoife (preschool) and Aidan (Level 3) both did awesome and learned so much!!  I'm really proud of all of them and how hard they all worked - even today when the weather was chilly and rainy!!

Swimming Lessons

 Swimming lessons are going along well!  Aidan is doing extremely well and I can see daily improvements in his endurance and form!  Emmy is putting a lot of effort in and getting much better and Aoife is pushing through her fear of going underwater.  As you can see from the picture below she wasn't happy to have to go under and put her feet on the bottom of the pool but she did it - and she even did it twice more right after that picture was taken.  It takes a special kind of drive to keep torturing yourself. :(

Emmy Gliding

This is a big deal for Emmy - she has really worked hard to overcome her fear of going under without goggles.  I feel mean for not letting her use them but I know it's in her best interest.

Swimming Lessons - Day 1

 The kids have been looking forward to swimming lessons for AGES!!!  OK - maybe only Aidan has been looking forward to them.  Aoife spent all day yesterday how she didn't want to go to swimming and she was scared etc etc.  I think that she thought someone was going to throw her in the water and see if she would sink or float!  She had a great time - as you can see from her smile in the pictures!  They didn't do much - it is a preschool class.  They learned how to get in and out of the water safely and then caught plastic fish with a net.  Worth $60??  We'll see..

 Poor Aidan's class was canceled and we didn't know it.  He was so disappointed but hung in there.  He'll get to make his class up on Friday while everyone else has to stay out of the water.  Should be fun. 

 Declan munched on some French Toast and watched all the kids.  45 minutes was his limit and he was happy to be on the way home to crawl around.

 Emmy did well although she wasn't happy that I didn't let her use her mask.  The teacher told her to practice in the tub tonight and I think she was in there for about an hour putting her face in the water!  I think she'll do much better tomorrow.

This is what you get happening on the other side of the pool when you take lessons on an Army base!

Evening Swim at the Pool

 Since it's a bit of a drive to Pensacola Beach, the kids needed to run around a bit when we got back from dinner.  They chose to go to the pool - big surprise!  I can't believe how much things have changed in the water department!  A week and a half ago Emmy would barely get in the water and now she is diving to the bottom and swimming underwater!  I'm so proud of her!!!  Aidan is getting to be quite a strong swimmer as well and I know he'll do great when they do swimming lessons next month!  Aoife is getting more comfortable in the water too.  As long as she has her floaty she is fine!  Her favorite thing to do is float around the hot tub with her floaty!

Just Another Day at the Beach

 Laurie brought these kites with her and they worked great!!  It was perfect kite flying weather but now the kids think that kites always fly like that!  Oops!!  The water was clear and perfect today!  Declan loved it and we had a great time body surfing.  Even Emmy is getting up the courage to go out and enjoy the waves!