water girl

We finished Pearce's 2 week swim lessons last week.  I wasn't completely motivated every morning to make the drive via State Street all the way to Murray,  then get swimsuits and sunscreen on, then water-wrestle with a toddler for 45 minutes, then get dry and dressed again. But, I'm really glad we did it. I saw good improvements by the end! She is more comfortable in the water. And she occasionally would "blow bubbles", do "big ice cream scoops" with her arms, kick her legs, and jump off the side of the pool into my arms. Although the majority of the lessons were Pearce asking to "go to the steps". Or trade her pink duck toy for a different toy. Or only let mommy hold her, and not do anything else. Or want to walk in the shallow end.

The biggest success though was the second to last day the teacher brought out noodles, and said she would consider the class a success if the kids would be comfortable on their own floating with noodles. AND FOR A BRIEF 10 SECONDS Pearce was chillen on her noodle enjoying life....until she noticed I wasn't holding on. :-)

Jeremy set up the GoPro camera with the waterproof shell for me to take the last day to get some video, but our iPhoto library has been "upgrading"(aka FROZEN) for the past week, so I can't access anything there, but I did get a few instagram snaps while watching the videos the first time. 

BUBBLES!! And the pink duck that she carried everywhere.

The last day they turned on the water slide!!! And it was a BLAST!! I gotta admit I was a bit scared the first time, especially at the end when we were flying and I kinda lost control-- all the while holding a camera in front of me and holding Pearce. And then we got DUNKED! But we went a few more times, and we both LOVED it.

We've also been hitting up Seven Peaks! (#2 on the Summer List!) A couple weeks ago we went to the one in Provo right when it opened. And it was fun for about the first 20 minutes...then a GAZILLION people showed up and the kiddie areas were CLOGGED! So we hung in the wave pool and got a snowball and called it a day. Thank goodness Freddie met us there to hang with, and that we met up with Amy for lunch, so that our drive all the way down to Provo (with crazy construction) wasn't a complete bust.

We went again this last Friday to the one in SLC, and it was MUCH better... Not as many people, much more shaded areas, and I think bigger wave pool. It was a party, and luckily Freddie came up for the day again to party with us, and sweet boy babysat for me and Jeremy to have date-night. Probably one of the best days in a really long time. Thanks Freddie.


Summer List #9 - play in the backyard. We've got our blow up pool set up, and Pearce spends quite a few afternoons post nap time back there. And it's great having a fenced in area that she can't escape and runaway. :-)

One more of my sweet girl. We walk to the grocery next door almost daily. They give out free balloons, (her bedroom is a balloon graveyard- but don't worry mom, after talking to you I popped and threw them all away--choking hazard) and I usually always need at least one or two more ingredients for dinner. She always likes to pick me flowers along the way. Love my sweetie pie.

nature

We took family pictures last June while visiting Huntington Beach, so I figured now that it's June again, it would be nice to have some new family pictures. And maybe make it an annual thing. Nothing fancy--not really are thing. Just a casual walk in Millcreek Canyon with our wiggle-worm. And since my lil sis Laura was spending part of the weekend with us, she came along and we brought the camera.

 Pearce had to climb on "Pride Rock" ya know... like on the "Lion King".

In other news... Pearce had her 1st swimming lesson today. Maybe I should add we BOTH had our first swimming lesson today! hahahaha It's true, I never had swim lessons as a kid, well formal at least. I think my mom taught me the doggie paddle when we use to go to the beach in Mississippi and Florida (Destin). But other than that my mom bought us blow-up rafts, and I used that as my safety net. hahahaha

Brooke told me last week that she was signing up Braylon at the city center pool in Murray, and I signed up with her right before the deadline. It's for 2 weeks, so hopefully we'll see a little bit of progress by the end. The instructor said the first thing to teach kids about water/pool safety is blowing bubbles. Who knew!!?! (Not me...) I didn't even know what that meant. Good thing Brooke was with me and explained.

Well,  then next after the "bubble exercise" she said to blow in your kids face and dunk them under water, because that would force them to hold their breathe.... Well let's just say we had to "recover" for about half of the lesson to calm her down. "too scary mom!!!" hahahaha  (I hear ya Pearce!! I promise I won't do that again, even if she says so!) And lastly we practiced floating on her back (with her head relaxed on my shoulder). She got the hang of it (Thank goodness!! Because it would have been easy to just not show up again!) So we'll be back tomorrow, and we'll take it from there. :-)