Weekly Catch-Up

The first day of summer actually ended up summery here.  With highs near 80, I took the kids out to find pool noodles and miscellaneous floating things, beach towels, etc. for a summer living on the lake.  Today was the first time this year the kids had been in the lake, and their fun was cut short by a fast-moving thunderstorm.  However, we have (hopefully) many warm days ahead to look forward to swimming.

Speaking of swimming, today was the last day of lessons.  Junior and Baba both passed their levels; Margie will be redoing Level 2 (most kids do).  The highlight of the morning was watching Junior jump from the diving board, or rather, being dangled and dropped from the diving board by his swimming instructor.  I also met a mom who lives a few blocks from us–her oldest son is Baba’s age, and the two of them became fast friends the past two weeks.  We look forward to getting to know this family better in the coming months.

Most exciting of all, I have a new nephew today!  My brother and his wife welcomed their first child into the world, and does that kid ever have hair!!!  Take a look.

You probably won’t be hearing from me much in the next week or so.  James and the kids will be in MN at his parents’ cabin all week.  He’s helping his dad provide anesthesia at a nearby hospital, and Grandma & Grandpa K (along with a couple of the older cousins) will be sharing childcare duties while James is at work.  I’m leaving on Monday with a friend to fly to Pensacola for a few days to visit another friend.  This has all come together in the last week and a half, so I don’t think I’ve put it in my Reality File yet.  Hopefully I’ll have some beach pictures when I return.

I Must Protest

I pulled our mail out of the mailbox this morning and noticed a catalog from Land’s End at the bottom of the stack. Nothing unusual. But reading the front cover of this particular piece of advertisement has me scratching my head wondering if went Rip-Van-Winkle for a few months. It says, “Summer’s End Savings Event.”

Huh?

Did I miss something? Did any of the rest of you living up here notice summer? The Weather Channel tells me it’s 57 degrees outside right now and we can’t hope to expect anything above 70 for a week or so. I suppose this could be September. Somebody straighten me out here.

At any rate, I really don’t feel like buying summer clothing from Land’s End right now.

Swimming Lessons

Today was the long-awaited first day of swimming lessons.  I say “long-awaited” and mean it in two different senses: first, the kids have been counting down the days since we signed up a few weeks ago, especially Junior, who is old enough to join the fun for the first time this summer.  And on that same note, I’ve been looking forward to this particular time in my life for a few years now . . . all children are old enough to be in lessons, so I spend my time reading rather than entertaining a toddler who can’t wrap his (or her) mind around the concept that he is not allowed into the pool with his siblings.

The big news of the day is where Junior ended up in his class.  He is noticeably the youngest participate–most kids in his level range from 4-5–but we knew he was ready for lessons, based on his performance in our bathtub at home and at the hotel pools we’ve visited.  Junior’s instructors lined his class along the side of the pool and asked them to attempted a few skills such as entering the water unaided, kicking feet, paddling hands, etc.  Junior passed all with flying colors, so he ended up in Level 1B with four much-bigger kids.  The top of his head comes to the shoulders of the next-shortest in his class.  He’s thrilled to be out there doing what the big kids do.

Anika!

I have a new niece, and she has a very interesting birth story.