Sum...Sum...Summertime!

So far this summer we've been busy little bees and it's gone by so fast that it's all becoming a blur, which is why I need to document it before it flies right out of my head.

Okay for starters, we signed Jack up for swimming lessons starting the second week of June with Coach Malcolm at Capital City Country Club. He wasn't too keen on the idea when I announced quite proudly at the dinner table that he was going to learn to swim. Truthfully, he broke down into tears and we had to have several long discussions to even warm him back up to the idea. But after the first two days with Coach Anna and then moving up to the next swim level with Coach Austin, he seemed to be settling in.

Then there was Day 3...

Jack wanted to give Coach Malcolm a try and, well, it all went downhill from there. He spent the next two days crying and whining throughout the whole lesson. I have to give Coach Malcolm credit though, I don't think it was his coaching skills, but more the fact that he had a group of much younger swimmers that were criers and Jack just fell victim to the peer pressure, as witnessed here in this video when he breaks down and Coach Malcolm asks him what is wrong.

Then, every time he got in the water he could swim just fine, but as soon as he got out, he'd break down and cry again. Even with much encouragement that he was actually swimming really well.

He was more than elated {although could only muster up a tearful, half-smile} when he finished the last lesson of week 1 and found out that he didn't have to come back for two more weeks, due to our slightly mis-scheduled jaunt to visit my aunt in Washington, D.C.

Fast forward now to after we returned home from our trip to D.C. and after Jack's 5th birthday. We came to our second week of swim lessons with much apprehension, but a new found sense of "I'm a five-year-old now" confidence. Coach Malcolm told Jack (that first morning of our second week back) that he would have to be with Coach Austin {Malcolm simply had too many little kids to accommodate Jack's request to be with him}. Jack protested. So Malcolm threw him in the pool in Coach Austin's lane. I took a deep breath. Jack was fine and actually slightly enjoyed being thrown in the pool. And from then on, he was swimming like a fish. By the end of week 2, Coach Austin had taught him how to properly freestyle, to turn his head to the side and take a breath AND had him diving into the deep end and swimming across to the other side of the pool without stopping. Amazing! And, if I wasn't there to witness it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it {I only wish I had the video to prove it}.

One happy 5-year-old swimmer.

And one proud Mama!

Rewind now back to our trip to the nation's capitol. Jack, Paige, my parents and I all went via a direct flight from Jacksonville. Ben stayed back to work. It was stressful air travel, especially on the return trip home when we went through major security at Dulles and mom got nabbed by security for a having a corkscrew/pocket knife in her backpack. It's still a mystery where the "weapon of mass destruction" came from and how it got in her backpack. But nevertheless it caused a 30 minute delay in an already arduous process to make our way to the boarding gate. And at times, dragging a not-so-well-napped 18-month old to see the sights of the big city wasn't so much fun, but I and the kids still thoroughly enjoyed our trip. I just needed a full two weeks of recovery {after Jack's birthday} to feel normal again and get Paige back on her sleep routine.

I had been wanting to take Jack to D.C. to visit the "dinosaur museum" {The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History} since he was very in to dinosaurs {right around the ages of 2-3}. He still likes dinosaurs, but definitely has moved on to other subjects – and I'm not at all sad about that – except that those subjects tend to be villains even more so than superheros nowadays.

We also made a trip to Baltimore's Inner Harbor to check out Port Discovery {a very cool children's museum}...

Took in a mother-daughter-sister-cousin Broadway show, Wicked, at the Kennedy Center...

Checked out the lions, tigers and bears, oh my {a little Wicked joke} at the National Zoo...

Went on a fossil expedition at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland...

And most importantly, visited with our D.C. family, whom we just don't get up to see often enough!

Here are the rest of the photos from our trip to Washington, D.C if you are so inclined to look at my many vacation photos.

June was also filled with decorating Jack's bedroom. Planning and executing the pirate birthday party. And visiting with Ben's mom and sisters from Wisconsin.

Then we rang in the month of July with trips to the beach, pool and the usual red, white and blue festivities...charcoal grilled dogs, American flag cake {ambitiously made by Nancy}, good food, friends and pyrotechnics.

Here are some more photos from our July 4th celebration.

June is a distant memory and July is quickly becoming a blur, too. I guess that's what happens during summertime. I can't say though that I'll be too sad to kiss this stifling heat goodbye when fall rolls around.