Colin Swimming

A couple videos of Colin swimming. I am still in awe of him swimming and can't believe how far his has come since the beginning of the summer.

Here Colin is talking about the first time he swam!


In this video, Colin demonstrates how he can swim all the way to the bottom of the pool.


And this one shows Colin doing all his swimming moves like jumping in, and his freestyle strokes. I really like his trademark move at the beginning where he adjusts his googles by hitting them with the heels of his hands, classic!

Playdate at Carlton's

It started out as a regular playdate, I brought Nathan over to Carlton's when Colin was over at Edward's house at another playdate (I accidently double booked playdates). Nathan played with play-do with Carlton while I went and picked up Colin from Edward's house. When I returned with Colin, we decided to play outside for a while. Eventually the water was turned on and that's when the fun really started as you can see in the pictures.

As soon as the water was turned off, the rain started. It was like a switch was flipped. So Colin, Nathan and Carlton started doing a naked rain dance.

Fourth of July

Fourth of July in Atlanta means the Peachtree 10K Road Race which is one of the largest 10Ks in the US. 55,000 runners signed up on the internet in less than 24 hours. I heard about race numbers selling for $200. Anyway, Bob and I ran it this year. My time was 54:50 and I was very pleased with that. I typically pour the water from the water stops in my face to cool my body temperature down. I kept on getting water up my nose whenever I'd did that. Yuck.

At 4:00pm, Inman Park had a picnic at Springvale Park. It was the first neighborhood function that Bob and I took the kids and didn't have to constantly help, entertain, or just play with them. It was great! Colin and Nathan ran around with a couple of other boys and had a really good time.

Colin and Nathan fishing with their new friend, David at Springvale Park during the picnic.

The originally plan was to go home and take a little rest (aka nap) before going to the Grinnel where we were going to watch the fireworks from on top of the building. Well, we stayed really late at the picnic and just had enough time to go home, clean up and reload the keg with more beer and head back out.

On the way to the Grinnel, we past another gathering where a classmate of Nathan's was so we stopped there to chat for a bit, get some ice cream sandwiches and glow tubes for the kids. Then off to the roof top where the view of the fireworks was really something. Against my wishes, the kids even did some sparklers (I'm such a mom sometimes).

Looking on the bright side ...

Colin and Nathan are going to be the ring bearers in my brother's wedding in July. So we went to the tux shop to get their measurements. This was not something that Colin was very interested in doing. He was complaining about being cold and wanted to go home. After a while I was getting very tired of the whining and asked Colin to think of something to be grateful for. My example was that the tux place was located outside of the mall and I thought we could get to the car without going back inside where it was cold.

Colin thought for a minute and said that the longer it takes, the warmer the car will be. And then the rest of the trip went much more smoothly!

Omaha

This was an exciting trip for the boys. The last time they were in Omaha was Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa GG had lots of surprises for them. Their bedroom had a fire truck bed which they didn't fight over. Surprisingly, Colin said that it was too small for him so Nathan got to sleep in it.

Rex the Bearded Dragon also slept in their room, and that was super exciting. Rex was David's roommate's pet (along with the turtle in my room and some snakes that stayed at David's house -- Thank God!) When David's roommate moved out the pets stayed for some reason. A couple of times, my mom got Rex out to let him run around the room which the boys really thought was neat.

While in Omaha, Colin and Nathan spent the night over at their Gramma Mary's and Grampa Jerry's house while I went out with some friends and my parents. Gramma Mary was so thrilled to see them and said that they were the perfect angels while there. Colin, in fact, gave Gramma Mary the biggest compliment when he said that he wished he could draw like her.

Here are some pictures of Colin and Nathan taking Grandpa and Grandma GG's newest toy out for a spin! The little Diego Jeep was a big hit, and Colin and Nathan were very good about taking turns driving it.

Going down to the shed to see Grandpa's surprise.


Colin goes first! He was a very good driver.


Nathan is so excited, but not a very good driver. He kept taking his hands off the steering wheel.


Giving a little push up the hill.


Grandpa GG had a very cool project that he did with the boys. They built a couple of birdhouses that are now hanging in their yard. Grandpa even painted them bright colors prior to our arrival. Of course Nathan and Colin had to use the paint in the kit to decorate the birdhouses after they were built.

Nathan checking his birdhouse for birds.


Colin checking his birdhouse for birds too.

We also went to Papillion Days with my cousin, Misty and her two boys Devin and Cooper. There was a parade and carnival. Pictures are posted on facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=2031894&id=1216834030

Swim Lessons

As mentioned in the Grand Cayman post, swim lessons were in order for Colin and Nathan this summer. Colin especially needed private swim lessons to get over some of his apprehension to putting his face in the water.

I signed up Colin for two weeks of private lessons and I was skeptical if that would be enough. Colin got five 30 minute lessons last week, then Tuesday (no lessons Monday due to being sick) got in the pool and just swam!! I was shocked, I mean his face was in the water and everything. Colin was swimming!! Absolutely amazing!

At his lesson on Wednesday, I overheard him talking to his teacher, Nina. He told her that his mom said he was turning into a fish. Indeed he is, just like his mom.

"She can handle it ..."

Edward came over for a playdate and during the playdate I stubbed my toe on the door. As I was standing there, grimmacing and moaning, Colin and Edward were watching me and finally said, "It's okay, she can handle it. She's an adult."

Yup, gotta remember that.