Summer Activities!!

Part of the reason that I haven't had much time to update the blog this summer is because the girls and I have been really, really busy with lots of different activities! Below are some pictures of the fun they have had. They participated in a Backyard Bible Club through our church (VBS in someone's backyard instead of in a church) that I also helped out with (I was a "craft lady" and just also helped with general crowd control during story and song time), a six-week summer dance class that ended with a fun summer dance show, and a 2-week swim lesson camp at the lake. We certainly haven't been bored this summer! Both girls have had lots of fun; Hailey seemed pretty tired and struggled a bit to make it through the swim camp, especially, but they learned a lot and loved their time with friends!!

Before the first day of BBC.

Engaged and having fun during story time!

Love Hailey's cutie little face here.

Getting ready for their summer dance performance.

They were in some very silly moods!

When we walked into the first day of dance class, I saw a friend from MOPS and her two daughters there!
We hadn't planned for our girls to dance together, but it was a happy coincidence.
I enjoyed chatting with Kari in the waiting room each week while my girls loved dancing with Lauren and Rachel!

First day of swim camp!

The girls had so much fun dancing with Lauren and Rachel that I talked with Kari about which time her
girls were enrolled in swim camp and had my girls do lessons during that same session.
Lauren is a more advanced swimmer and was in a higher level, but Rachel was in the same level
as my girls. It worked out really well, because both Savannah and Rachel can be hesitant, but they
took turns being the "brave one" and encouraging the other on some hard days! 

Swim, Savannah, swim!

On several different days we brought a picnic to enjoy after lessons.

The girls also enjoyed swimming and playing before/after lessons some days.

Savannah LOVED this slide.

Hailey didn't like the slide and preferred to float around.

Matt was off of work for most of our swim lesson days,
so that was fun to have him join us!

On the last day of lessons, they got to have a boat ride!!
Savannah was nervous but she and Rachel held hands and helped each other be brave. :)

Hailey was too nervous, so she skipped the boat ride and hung out with mama.
She was getting really tired at the end of the two weeks and was pretty
much over swim lessons at this point.

Although this has been our busiest summer ever, the girls have learned a lot! Swim camp in particular was really good for them. At the beginning of swim camp Savannah was terrified of water and refused to so much as splash her face, holding tightly to me any time she was in a pool or lake. By the end of lessons she could submerge her whole face/head, do "bobs", and was working on kicking and floating with support. I consider it a small miracle that she was able to bob under the water and declared swim lessons well worth every penny I spent. Hailey, on the other hand, seemed to kind of fall apart as the swim lessons wore on. On the first day she would do her bobs and put her face in, but as the days went on she stopped dunking her head, acted disinterested, and just struggled to keep up. She was the youngest in her class; all the other kids had a year or two on her. I think she was getting really tired and just losing interest as day after day went by and I kept dragging her to the beach. But the important thing is that she is comfortable in the water; hopefully next summer when she is older she will focus more and make more progress. :)

At this point in the summer our activities are wrapped up, Matt is getting ready to go back to school, and I am spending lots of time prepping for our homeschool year. We still have some summer left, though, and I am hoping to enjoy it with some more spontaneous trips to splash pads/beaches/parks/etc. now that we will have some more free time on our hands. :)