Swim Camp, Week Two

So, funny story... for the past four years, the girls and then, later, George have gone to swim camp at the Y. Camps were never at capacity, and one could literally register by Wednesday to be enrolled in any camp for the following week. The whole process was easy peasy.

Imagine my surprise when I went to register them for their usual two weeks of camp and realized that the number of camps had been slashed considerably. All of "our" regular counselors were gone. The deadline (uh... deadline???) was back at the beginning of March (3 months ago). Perhaps I should have known about this rather abrupt change but obviously did not.  

So I called the troops in for a family meeting. I had good news and bad news. The good news is that we would have swim camp; the bad news is that it would be cobbled together by yours truly and would consist of swim lessons and some long days at the pool. 

Cheers erupted!

It was the best plan ever!

They would much rather go to camp with me!

You better believe I am filing this memory away for future years when they do not want to be seen with me in public. As mentioned, George would work on building strength and nailing the swim test. Grace and Lauren would work on perfecting different styles of swimming, e.g., the breast stroke, the back stroke, butterfly. They also wanted to work on making "the turn" in competitive swimming.  

George's two week class was first, and he crushed it. The girls' class was a couple of weeks later. They worked with a swim coach to improve the different styles and work on breathing. And they both were able to complete the turn. Like with George's class, we hit the indoor pool for their class, and then we spent the afternoon at the outdoor pool. 

This schedule was a huge win for the trio, and we had so much fun. Procrastination has never been more refreshing. 

Upcycled Strollers

The girls found a great new use for their old American Girl strollers...

a doggy stroller for Pixie. She LOVES it!

Road Trip to Huntsville

For about six months we have been renovating the upstairs of our home. We converted a bonus room into a bedroom for George and added a closet and bathroom. Lauren took over George's old room, as it shared a bath with Grace's room. We also changed out the carpet, retiled the old bathroom and painted the entire upstairs (and downstairs, too. It's been a long process.).  

George, Lauren and Grace have been amazing with all of the chaos. Because we are living here, we have moved everything around about 100 times. It has been CRAZY. We promised them a trip to the SuperTarget of all SuperTargets once the time came to decorate. We spent a Saturday picking up some cute accessories for their room, ate lunch and even completed a work-related errand for Skip*. 

We have decided that we like the shopping/styling part of renovation the best.  

*LS/NWI

(Long story, not worth it.:)

Swim Camp, Week One

Swimming is always a big goal for us each summer. Grace and Lauren are both strong swimmers, and for the past two summers, George has been swimming on his own by the end of each summer, after having had swimming lessons. While Grace has long arms and legs, Lauren and George are built similarly and have had to work harder at swimming.  

Accordingly, we signed George up for some classes, and he nailed it. By the second day of classes, he swam the length of the pool, treaded for 30 seconds and passed the Y's stringent swim test.  He continued with classes for two weeks to become stronger.  

He has been working for three years to get the green band. Such a happy day for him!

Lauren and Grace, your alone time in the deep end is OVER.  

Our routine for swim camp was simple. We would sleep in, throw on swimsuits, pack a lunch and our bag, swim indoors during George's lesson, and then head to the outdoor pool. We love this summer routine and are going to be really bummed when it comes to an end.  

While George had his class, the girls came up with a lap swim schedule. The first day they swam 46 laps (1+ mile), but after that initial burst of activity, they held it to a more manageable mile.  

Summer is just the best, and these are our favorite athletes.  

Father's Day 2018

This weekend we celebrated Father's Day. Skip is such an amazing father to the trio, who know that there is literally nothing that he would not do for them.  

Happy Father's Day, from your biggest fans!

They all love him so much.

Lots of hugs...

...and kisses...

...from all. 

"I'm the card."

Happy Father's Day, Skip!

Tennis Camp 2018

Although VBS week really cannot be topped, having tennis camp scheduled the next week helped with the let-down a little bit.  

These three grabbed their racquets each afternoon for two and half hours of tennis instruction. Skip is trying to motivated them to play tennis, and they do have fun with it, although it's just not their passion.  

Maybe Wimbledon and the US Open will encourage them.  

VBS 2018

Vacation Bible School is at the top of the list of events the trio look forward to at the end of each school year. This year was extra special because it is the girls' last year to attend as students. They had a great time going to church each morning to learn about Jesus, and naturally George loved the "Game On" theme.  

PS: I would be remiss if I did not mention Lauren's jump rope contest win. Video courtesy of my sister-in-law, Melinda.  

Summer Vacay

We took a long and lazy trip to a really quiet beach town recently. We found an unpopulated, upscale development in a quiet fishing town, and then Skip located a home that would accommodate our family, plus Grammie and Pixie. 

We drove down as a hurricane was making landfall, which is becoming a pattern for us. We had delayed our departure by one day, waiting to see if the storm weakened or strengthened, and then decided to make the trip once it appeared to be fizzling. Funnily enough, our commute was completed in record time, as there was no traffic at all. Naturally, there wouldn't be.  

So we arrived during the rain, and we took the opportunity to go to the store, unpack and otherwise get settled in. The next day, there was some morning rain, but it cleared off quickly, leaving beautiful blue skies. 

We spent time exploring the gulf side, since it was such a quick trip down to the water. There were still a few clouds so we were aware of the need to move quickly in the event of rain. 

We kept to our usual routine of pool/gulf/beach. We took a day trip to Appalachicola to have lunch at the Owl Cafe, and then we shopped a little. We stopped by a legitimate bookstore that was adorable. The owner must be a Hemingway fan because there were 3-4 cats who live at the store, and while looking for the cats, we discovered that the store is half bookstore/half yarn shop -- a pretty chill place. I insisted that they purchase a couple of books from a REAL bookstore and made a mental note to not rely so heavily on Amazon.  

Gracie took the opportunity to do some shelling after the storm, but her collection is so extensive at this point she has gotten especially selective about which shells she keeps.  Actually, we have asked that she curate her new finds, otherwise, our home will become overrun with shells.  

And Pixie... 

This was Pixie's first vacation with us, and yes, it was all my idea. She was AWESOME. She was a little nervous in the car, but she did far better than any of us had anticipated.  However, that could be because Grammie stayed with her during some of our outings.  My mom likes the beach and sightseeing, but if we go to the pool, she usually stayed behind, meaning company for Pixie. Although she was great on this trip, we aren't sure how well she would have done, sans Grammie.  

Because of our accommodation wish list (bedrooms and a large pool) we opt to stay on the gulf side. However, my favorite beach is on Cape San Blas, a short drive away (or a mile by water). This is a gorgeous, unpopulated beach, and we spent some wonderful time there.  

Because this beach is so quiet, there are a lot of crabs. We spent about an hour watching this little guy build an extensive tunnel.  

I could have spent the entire week on this beach.  It's so quiet and beautiful, and there were maybe 10 other people there the entire afternoon.  

Several people have asked about where we stayed. Windmark is a development that was built in 2007/2008, at the height of the real estate craze. When the crash hit, this development stalled and never really picked back up. It's a really lovely community, but definitely sad to see all of the empty office space, condos and lots. 

As a result, there aren't many people around - just a few other families, here and there. Accordingly, the wildlife is a little more adventurous, which the kids love. 

Also, we had an enormous pool all to ourselves, in addition to the private pool at the house. Again, great for visitors, but not the best sign if you are an investor.  

Basically, we had the longest, laziest days. Pool/beach combos each day, casual lunches, an occasional dinner out and Uno and other games during an occasional shower.  

On our last day, though, the obvious choice was to spend the afternoon on Cape San Blas. The trio played football, wrote in the sand, and voiced for the thousandth time that we didn't want to leave the beach.  

(Editor's note: George couldn't believe the below throw was his. He thought it was his dad's perfect, tight spiral, until we pointed out to him that his arm had clearly just released the ball, as further demonstrated by the pic before and after the one below.) 

We loved at the beach. 

Summer vacay, you were awesome!