Swimming

This week has definitely been an adventure for us. The older two children have been going to swimming lessons each morning this week in a nearby town. When I enrolled them, I had HUGE goals for them. I expected that they would be swimming by their final lesson which is tomorrow. Man oh man, my goal for the week was definitely reaching too high!

Here's a summary of our lessons:

Day 1:

11:00: Kids were excited to go to swimming lessons. We load up in our lovely gas-guzzler car and head 20 miles to swimming lessons. We get there. Kids are still excited.

11:30 Swimming lessons begin and are scheduled to last until 12:15.

11:40 Swimming instructor is talking with me saying that we need to visit. My kids need to be instructed INDIVIDUALLY because this apparently isn't the best class setting for them. WHAT.....my kids are flunking out of Swimming lessons on day 1??? HOLD ON...I REQUEST AN ARD!!!! HAVE YOU TRIED A VARIETY OF PROVEN STRATEGIES AND PROVIDED DOCUMENTATION FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS. (Sorry, that's the teacher's voice inside of me thinking!!) The kids try for about 10 more minutes, then I decide that it's just best we leave now b/c the other students in the class are suffering b/c of my two scared-to-death-children!

12:00 Kids are okay, but definitely aren't near as excited as they were 30 minutes ago. We load up in the gas-guzzler again and detour to Chicken Express and get some lunch to-go and bring it home and enjoy it.

2:30 Swimming instructor calls me at home and discusses the options for the rest of the week. She's moved lots of kids around (Whew....we weren't the only 'flunkies' !) and there will now only be 4 kids in this class. Ok, we agree to give day 2 a shot!

THINGS WE LEARNED DURING DAY ONE: Yummy chicken and sweet-tea can be found at chicken express!

DAY TWO:

10:15: We once again load the gas-guzzler. Despite my anticipation when I woke up this day, the kids were still excited about going! Thank goodness. We did a review of VBS on our 20 minute venture. Dustin reminded Emily to be BRAVE just like Chadder had to be brave! Then, we sang the VBS song 'Where-ever you Go" to remind them that Jesus would be with them during their swimming lessons!

10:45 Swimming lessons began~We were off to a better start! Emily wasn't TREMBLING like she was on Day one! Dustin went down the big slide.....only ONCE because he hated going under the water once he was off the slide! He only fell for that trick ONE time! Emily got the most improved award today! Yea...we're making progress. (It's a good thing that I didn't have on my itty-bitty-pink-polka dot bikini b/c I would have dove into that pool a million times to swat the kids every time they said 'I don't want to do that.' Sitting on the sidelines hearing your kids WHINE was not FUN at all!) Their swimming instructor is really, really great and has lots of patience with my children. Thank goodness b/c I probably would have quit working with them after Day 1 Lessons!

11:30 Wow! We made it through the entire lesson today. Things are looking better. Load up in the gas guzzler and head to Sonic to get a drink before heading home for lunch.

DAY THREE:

10:15: Load up in gas guzzler again and head to lessons. Kids are still excited.

10:45 Lessons begin....I leave my cell phone # with the instructor and little Eryn and I enjoy shopping at Dollar General!! I couldn't handle another day on the side-lines of the pool!

11:30 I arrive to pick them up. Instructor said they were doing a little better, but still very afraid of the water.

11:30 Head home

5:00PM~Dad goes to Nana's house to get her pool out of storage. We decide that our kids have to practice in the water....or just have fun getting splashed in the face.

9:00PM~Kids head to bed...pool is filling with water

DAY FOUR:

7:00am: Dustin wakes up and 1st thing he says "Me don't want to go to swimming lessons today." I reply, "Sorry, but you're going."

7:02am: Same conversation

7:03am: Same conversation

7:04am: Same Conversation

9:30am: Phone rings...it's their swimming instructor....she's not happy with how things are going and wants to try something different today. Well, crap...now I have to tell Dustin that he doesn't have to go to swimming lessons this moring. (I dislike it when things work out on their own to the defiant kid's advantage!) They are going to meet with the instructor later this evening for an hour...just her and my two kids. They are just going to splash around and learn to enjoy the water at her personal pool Hopefully her pool will be less intimidating than the large city pool. She wants these last two days to end on a positive note so that when we enroll next year (or later this summer) they won't be terrified to go! Once again, I'm thankful that our instructor is trying lots of different things! Wish us luck this evening!!

Here's a picture of the filled pool that we will splash around in for the rest of the summer: