Summer Swimming

Gideon learned how to swim like a champ this summer! Kara Bowman, from our ward, taught him at her home and I was super impressed with her "no-nonsense-you-can-do-this!" approach. Her kids are all in swim team. Her daughter even made it onto the Olympic team, but decided to serve a mission instead. So Kara knows her stuff and I'm so grateful Gideon trusted her so much.

Owen and Luke were natural water babies when they were little. They did classes through the City of Mesa a few times, just to get the basics and they took to it so quickly. Gideon was not a natural fish! He really had to work up to taking off his arm floaties last year in our neighborhood pool. And then he had to work up the courage to put his face under water. So for his safety and to make sure he had a super fun summer at the public pool, swim lessons with a pro were a must. Those goggles were his best friend at the pool and lessons! He smacked them onto his face, they'd leave marks and leave him looking like he lost a fight.

 Owen and Luke would come to the lessons and by the end of the session they'd have to cool off in the deep end. :)  We are sooooo proud of how much Gid learned and how much he learned to love swimming in just a few short weeks!

 We bought a family pool pass to Sklyine this year. We moved out of the townhomes, so no daily swimming at the neighborhood pool. That was a downer. But this pool was loads of fun. :) Luke and Owen would do front flips off the diving boards with their friends. Here's Owen going off the high dive.

 Luke and Gideon playing on a hot sunny summer day.

Not a pool pic, but it goes with the theme. :) We snuck over to SodaRush during the Discovery Channel's shark week to hunt down a creepy shark cookie!

 Luke had his 12th birthday party at the pool with these good boys. They're honestly the best boys and we're so grateful Luke has a great group of friends.

 Owen turned into Napoleon from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure once he tried the waterslide. ha! It took Luke a few visits to actually ride the slide, but once he did it we had TWO Napoleons going down the slide over and over and over and over and over. :)

So we loved going to the pool this summer!  The novelty wore off as the crowds grew, but I think we'll be back next year.