It has been quite a while since I have downloaded pictures from the camera!

A few days before school started we drove an hour to another city pool with some friends. They also had a skate park so the boys brought two scooters and a skateboard.

I managed to get all three of them in one shot.

Jbird...notice the new school shoes!  This time around we bought more of a skater shoe.  They are suppose to have a thicker sole.  Maybe these will last him more than 4 months.

Joseph in the middle on his bike.  (Beautiful college campus in the background.)

The pool was really big.  With separate swimming lanes, diving board area and a lazy river and water slide area.  However, just that morning a little kid had pooped in the lazy river area!  Since they were closing the pool for the season in 3 days, they decided not to immediate clean it and open it back up.  So, one of the main reasons we drove over an hour was to do the water slides.  Oh well.

The boys being silly going off the board.  They both had to pass a swim test.  Joseph really wanted to go off the board, but he could not swim well enough with out the life jacket.  (This is the second time I have managed to get a picture of someone going off the board and their lower legs are totally hidden...)

I then decided to call a friend of ours who teaches swimming.  We met him at a local hotel pool, where he teaches.  I wanted him to help the older two with the finesse of the strokes.  Neither of them can turn their head as they swim freestyle.  (By the way, I can't either - at least not very well - that is why I am hoping they learn).  Then Brad worked with Joseph on not needing any flotation device.  He did really well.  One thing that really helped is there was a water slide.  Whenever Joseph would go down the slide and hit the water, the 'current' would propel him forward.  It was an easy way for him to see the difference between when he put his head down/feet up versus head up and feet down.

 
Why is it so hard for kids to kick with a straight leg?  They all want to bend their legs.  But as Brad was showing them, the power comes from the thigh, not the lower leg.

I took lots of water slide pictures but this is the only one that turned out....

We managed this year to get a back to school picture.  Despite my asking them for smiles, this was all I got!  They really were more excited than they appear.  Joseph preschool, Jacob second, Benjamin fifth.

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