Swimming Lessons

The girls started swimming lessons last week. It is just a two week session, but we meet four days a week...so we've been doing a lot of swimming lately! Grace is old enough to be in the "big kid" class this year (meaning she doesn't need her mom in the water with her.) Eve is in the toddler class (mommy and me.) It has worked out really well; both classes are at the same time so I can help Eve swim and still be close enough to watch Grace participating with her class. Both girls are having a lot of fun with it.


Today Grace got to try floating in a life-jacket. I think she felt pretty big about that. She's also been practicing blowing bubbles in the water, moving her arms, and kicking with her teacher. She has even jumped off the diving board a couple of times. Eve has had fun getting used to just being in the water. Her favorite thing is to jump to Mommy off the side of the pool. Today was her first day putting her head under the water...she did not like it one bit!

Camping

On Friday we decided to go on a spontaneous camping trip. It's often hard to plan these types of things ahead of time because of Aaron's schedule, but Friday he called me from work and said, "Let's go camping!" It was a lot of work to get everything together in just a few hours, but it was so worth it! We had a wonderful time.

We drove to Pinecrest, which is in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It took us less than two hours to get there. We arrived just after dark on Friday, set up camp, roasted marshmallows, stayed up late, and had a lot of fun. The girls thought it was so exciting to sleep outside in a tent. The next morning we woke up early (the sun woke the girls up, and they woke us), had breakfast, did a little exploring, and spent the rest of our time there at the lake. The best part was when we rented a small motor boat for a couple of hours. We loved it! The girls thought it was great, and of course Aaron and I had so much fun watching their excitement. Eve was actually asleep for half of it, because of the late night/early morning and the vibration of the motor lulling her to sleep. We couldn't stop laughing at how funny she looked sprawled out on the seat of the boat, completely asleep! We got home at about 4 p.m. on Saturday. The entire trip was less than 24 hours, but it was such a needed break (especially for Aaron.) We couldn't have had a better time. I'm so grateful that we were able to spend this time together as a family.

It's Back

The inflatable pool is back! Actually it's a new one...last year's had a hole and got thrown away in the move! The girls were so excited to get it out and set it up. They splashed around in the front yard (because of course the backyard is still all dirt) for a good chunk of the afternoon yesterday. I got out my beach chair and umbrella and read a book while watching them "swim." It was great!

Cheese

Eve just learned to say "cheese" when taking a picture. Here is the result!

Olivia's Baptism

We had a nice visit with my family this weekend. My niece, Olivia got baptized on Saturday.My parents drove out and stayed with us Friday night; then we all drove down to Clovis (Fresno area) on Saturday for the baptism. My Brother Trenton also drove up from L.A. so there we quite a lot of us together for the day. It was so fun to see everybody. And It was nice to share in Olivia's special day. My girls watched in awe as their cousin got baptized, and grace looked up at me and said, "When I'm 8, I will get baptized!"

After the baptism we went back to Jason and Becky's house (my brother and his wife) and had a BBQ and swam in their pool. It was great to watch Grace and Eve run around with their cousins, and it was nice to visit with my family, Becky's parents, and their friends. I learned that Eve is fearless of the water, and even Grace is a more confident swimmer than last year. It was a nice way to kick off the summer.

San Francisco Zoo

The first Wednesday of each month is free at the San Francisco Zoo. Of course I've been wanting to go for a while, but there has always been a conflict of either doctor appointments or something else. This month we decided to try it! So my friend Alicia and I ventured out to the "Big City" with each of our two kids. It all went very well considering that we had 4 small children to manage and neither of us have the greatest sense of direction. We only made two wrong turns on the way there and back!
It was a lot of fun...and the kids had a blast. It was a really nice zoo, with good variety of animals. I love how fascinating animals can be to young children...it's like the most exciting thing in the world. The S.F. zoo was right by the beach. We tried to go play in the sand afterwards, but it was so windy that we literally couldn't open our eyes. The sand toys blew away from us and the kids were getting pounded in the face with sand so we decided to cut our beach visit short.

One of the hardest things about doing a trip like this when you're outnumbered by children is taking decent pictures. I honestly gave up trying after a few attempts. I got one of Eve looking at the camera, but failed to capture anything but the top of Grace's head! Oh well, we had so much fun that I have the pictures ingrained in my memory!

"My"

Eve's new favorite word is "my." She says it when she wants something or when she is claiming something. Earlier today we heard her put it together with another word: "My silky" (that's what we call her little blankie.) That's the first time we've heard her use two words together. It was very exciting! Until a couple of days ago Eve wasn't using words very much. She would grunt or squeal, use baby gibberish, or sometimes even sign...but all of the sudden she repeats all kinds of words she hears me say. For example, I'll ask her a question and she'll repeat the last word I say. It's funny how the speaking switch just kind of turned on! It's very fun to witness.

Her Favorite Place

Every Wednesday, when Grace is doing warm-up stretches with her ballet class, her dance teacher asks each girl, "If you were a butterfly and could fly anywhere where would you go?" The little girls each give their answers: to the park, to Disneyland, to dance class, etc. Every week Grace gives the same answer in her confident, three-year-old way: "I want to go to the Temple!" So each week they flap their bent legs, like wings, and pretend to fly to the temple. I love that she already has a testimony of how special of a place the temple is; and it makes me smile every time she gives her answer in class.