New Adventures

Our trip the Grand Bahama Island held exciting new adventures for everyone in our family.

The Ocean -- the kids have seen the Atlantic and the Pacific before. But never before have they been able to swim in the ocean. Previous visits to the sea were in 40 or 60 degree weather, so we were all decked out in long pants and jackets. They loved it! The Artist spent most of her time looking for shells. She found so many, pity we could not bring them home. The Engineer relished the warm water and enjoyed jumping into and over breaking waves. The beach was beautiful! It was large, clean and not crowded. The resort had a game room which provided the Engineer with entertainment and excitement. He was able to play real ping pong and real billiards for the first time. He found them both very different from the Wii. It was also a bit exciting to ride in cabs with the drivers seat on the right side, and careen along curving roadways, always in the leftmost lane . My driving habits are so ingrained, I don't think I'd dare rent a car and drive myself around the island.

Swimming Success

Swimming is not optional for students at Homestead Lutheran Academy. It seemed to take forever for the Artist to get it, but eventually she did.

This summer she had an hour of private swim coaching time. I am very pleased that the coach declared her to be very coachable and a good swimmer. Endurance will come with practice. Getting that practice had been the problem around here.

The Engineer is showing improvement too. Today is his last lesson for the summer. He has progressed to the point where he will jump into the water, into his instructor's (a very patient man!) waiting arms. He is learning his floats and blowing bubbles in the water, but is still completely supported either by teaching devices or the instructor. But I do notice a change! During his bath after Friday's swim lesson I noticed he did not whimper, whine or complain in any way about the water pouring over his head to prepare for shampoo or rinsing the shampoo from his hair. That was a first! I hope it is a breakthrough that will lead to some swimming progress. Today is the Engineer's last lesson for the summer.

A Good Sign

School really is winding down for summer. I think Thursday will be the Artist's first day of summer. One good sign for the Artist is that the banded stack of flashcards for her upcoming Latin test is much larger than the loose stack. Those cards in the loose stack are the ones that need more study.The kids are probably even more pleased than I am about the recreation center calling me back to set up swim lessons. They will get their swim lessons before the month is out.

After six years of group lessons producing a nine year old who could not swim, or even keep herself afloat, I searched for a pool that gave private swim lessons. It was disappointing that the two closest community pool staffs told me children learn to swim best in group lessons. Really? Then why had we experienced a zero return on our investment? Talk about a way to make me determined to get private lessons!

The Artist will enjoy two intermediate lessons where she will tune up her skills on various swim strokes, and practice deep water survival, treading water, diving and maybe more.

The Engineer will, hopefully, be brave enough to put his face in the water this year. Last year he had these amazing elastic lips that he would stretch out to blow bubbles in the water. He amazed his college-age instructor at how he did blow bubbles without getting even his nose wet.

Swim Lessons

Swimming!At long last the aquatics director of a local rec center got back to me and I was able to arrange swim lessons for my children. Today was the first day.

The Artist had a gregarious, outgoing, encouraging teacher who made her stretch toward her potential. Perfect for her. She learned a lot about how to use her legs in the water. I'm hoping the technique she is learning and the other skills she is honing will make her (and me) more confident about her ability in the water. Today I saw a big difference from the flail she demonstrated a few weeks ago. She is learning how to get the arms and legs working together.

The Engineer didn't cry, so one major hurdle was overcome. His favorite saying whenever we get to a pool is "I am going to stay dry." The Engineer had a quiet, calm encouraging teacher, Mr. Tom. The whole morning I had talked with the Engineer about how his teacher will take care of him in the water, his teacher has taught lots of kids to swim, he needs to obey his teacher, he needs to be brave, as so on.

By the end of the Engineer's lesson today, he was resting his head on Mr. Tom's shoulder and kicking during a back float and laying on Mr. Tom's arm while kicking and scooping his arms on a front float.

The Engineer manages to blow bubbles in the water without putting his face in. Only occasionally does the tip of his nose get wet. It will be interesting to see what happens when his teacher asks him to put his face in the water or do a bob.

There have been several Lake Erie drownings this summer. This reinforces for me that swimming is a requirement for our home school.

Settling In

On Monday we were settled into the hotel and the Quipper had to go into the office. The kids and I would be on our own during the day. Most museums are closed on Monday so I did not plan anything spectacular for this day. The kids did school work and read their books and played their games. You are probably just as excited to read that as they were to do it.

I also relished in 'nothing to do' for a while and kept a close eye and ear on the Engineer who had not had an easy time of it lately with yet another asthma attack leading to our morning-of-departure trip to the Emergency room and all. Thankfully, the new climate did not seem to have any adverse effects on him.

I took out the knitting that I had thrown into my bag at the last minute (literally) before we pulled out of the driveway. I hoped I had enough supplies to do something! I had this pattern for toe-up socks with me and some light green Bernat Denimstyle yarn that was a gift from Polly at Favorite Apron. (Thank you!!)

Mostly I swatched to figure out if I could work a project from the things I brought with me. As it turned out, I could. Over the next week I taught myself the figure eight cast on and began the pair of Milanese Lace Socks. I did not take pictures as I went along, but here is what they look like now. Since we got home I have only completed about four rows on each.

I usually prefer to work socks with five needles. With the lace panel being on only half the sock at this point it is simpler to keep to four needles. After the heel the lace pattern will be all around the ankle and I hope to go back to five needles.




In the afternoon I took the kids to the rooftop pool at the hotel. Gee, that linked photo was taken on a cloudy day as were the pool photos I took on Thursday. The first few times we swam it was beautiful and sunny, or warm but dark with early evening.
Of course, those times I did not bring the camera.


There were some neat views from the 9th floor roof top too, but with the cold front bringing in thick clouds these do not do justice.




But the weather was perfect for a nice sit in the sauna! The Artist got to experience this for the first time while an envious mom watched through the door with the Engineer!