We love to swim!

My kids have all become little fish. It has been really fun to spend a lot of time at the pool. In Alaska the kids wanted to go to the pool but the water was always very cool (almost cold) and when the temperatures outside aren't that warm then the water is really not that inviting. Besides, you don't have much fun if you're ready to go 5 minutes after you got in the water. Needless to say they were excited about the pool - the only one here is the one on the University campus. It's a bit of a walk for us, since we live a little bit north of campus. We got the kids backpacks from REI that have the water bags in them so they can stay hydrated while we walk. They carry their swim stuff and I carry Kemiah in the Kelty backpack carrier.

Xiomara has really gotten brave! When we first started going to the pool she was timid and didn't like jumping in or getting her face in the water. Now she jumps in from the side even if I'm not there and will put her face in the water and hold her breath. I took off her water wings once and she wiggled so much that she wouldn't stay on my hands. When I pulled her out of the water she wouldn't be gasping or choking. She got out and when she came back to the pool she jumped in without thinking about her floaties not being on. I was right there so I got her and she was a little surprised. She didn't really want to put the floaties back on but I had other kids to tend to so they went back on.

I ran into a little issue with the sunscreen when we first got here. I would forget to put it on before we left the house so we would get a little burnt from the walk.Then I started putting it on at the house but as we walked we would sweat and the sunscreen all came off anyway. So I would have to put more on when we arrived at the pool. Then it would wear off while we were swimming so when we left I would have to put more on for the walk home. It was quite an issue but now we have tanned a bit and don't worry so much about the sunscreen for the walking but still put it on at the pool. (I'm sure this is all very exciting for you.)


Kemiah didn't like the water at first but has adjusted and now she loves it. She'll lean over the side of her floaty and splash and kick. She is probably the tannest out of all of us and you can tell because of the creases in her thighs, they are still very white! I will sometimes get some laps in by holding on to her floaty and kicking back and forth. She likes it but the kids want to do the same thing - hold on to her floaty. I'm not sure how long it will last - good thing we have two of them. Although I think the outter ring on both floaties have holes because she likes to bite on them. It stays inflated enough for our time at the pool but is deflated by the time we get home.




Marissa and Ben have learned how to swim. Ben was first and taught me a little so that when Marissa tried I was better able to help her. Neither one of them use their arms very much so they do a lot of kicking. They will stay by the side unless they are swimming out to me. I did have Ben swim from the deep end all the way to the shallow end and he did it without grabbing on to me. He was so happy that he could do it.

The hardest part about going to the pool is that we have to go back home. So it takes a while for the kids to get their stuff together and then we walk back home and by the time we get home we're hot and sweaty and would like to be at the pool. Oh well, at least we had fun while we were there.