Going swimming(ly)

We've been in Arizona for 6 weeks now and things are going swimmingly! We are nearly unpacked and are slowly finding our niche here. Noah finished his first week of preschool last week, and he loves it. He's doing 5 mornings per week to get ready for full-day Kindergarten next year & we're so proud of him. We are also starting to get to know some people from our church, Mark is enjoying his job, and we are all figuring out the best ways to beat the heat! (Any tips are welcome) On July 4th my mom flew down to AZ with the boys and I. She was here for 10 days and helped a ton with the boys while I unpacked and arranged things at the house. The thing she did most with the boys to cool off was to hit the pool! They went to the pool with my mom almost every day that she was here! What a fun grandma, huh? The boys loved that they could just walk over to the community pool right next to our house. Here are a couple of pictures from one of their pool excursions with my mom...

Here are a couple shots of my mom and the boys walking over to the pool. This is directly east of our house (the rock area is a water runoff area), and on the left is the street that runs in front of our house.

I took both of these pictures from our driveway. The pool is just on the other side of the tennis courts. We love this little greenspace right by our house, and having the pool so close is great too!

My mom at the pool with the boys. At first the boys were a little gun-shy about swimming. Especially Noah. He would only go in if you were holding on to him (even on the steps), he got nervous if he carried him too far away from the stairs, and you could forget talking him into something so crazy as putting his face under the water. He relaxed quite a bit over the next few days though, and became comfortable floating around in this little tube on his own.

My two little guys showing off their muscles. Noah:

Linc:

Linc jumping into the pool to Grandma.

Lincoln feeling pretty proud of himself.

Noah just relaxin'...as he called it. How cute is he?!

Our family by the pool one day.

As you can see, our pool isn't exactly run-over by people. There is rarely anyone else there when we go actually. One day someone walking by with their dog made a comment about it being too hot to be out swimming. Huh? I dunno. Here's Linc giving a big wave before jumping to Mom.



And now check this out! After a few days of swimming Noah "decided to be brave" and began putting his face under the water! He specifically requested that we take a picture of him accomplishing this feat. After he conquered that fear there has been no looking back. That little guy has seriously become our little fish! I will certainly be doing a more current post on our little swimmer at some point, but here are a few things to give you an idea of how far he's come: He's swimming on his own now and can hold his breath really well! He jumps in (to the deep end) by himself and can turn around and swim back to the wall on his own. He can dive into the pool (kneeling or standing). And he can dive down to the bottom of the pool to retrieve a dive toy. It is so amazing to watch your child acquire and improve new skills, so this has been really fun for Mark and I. I think what makes us most proud though is that (even though we were encouraging) he is the one who "chose to be brave" and conquer something that he was really afraid of. It has been priceless to watch the pride that he has developed in himself for doing this, and his confidence has increased dramatically too. We see a direct correlation between his confidence inside and outside the pool. Once he chose to be brave in the pool and succeeded...then he also chose to be brave and go to Primary at church by himself, and chose to be brave and go to school by himself. So, for us, having a pool nearby has been a blessing on multiple levels.

Here is a picture of Mark throwing Lincoln to me. Check out Lincoln's expression. I love how he just puts his head back and grins while he's tossed into the air. I don't think there was a tense muscle in that little boys body.

Lincoln and his daddy.

Noah and his mommy.

Here are a couple of pictures from lunch time at the pool. Don't forget to notice the sweet farmer's tans...
Lastly, I have to mention that over the last few weeks we have begun coordinating our trips to the pool with dinnertime (for several reasons):

• No messing with sunscreen.
• We get to enjoy the beautiful desert sunsets (behind palm trees from our pool).
• The boys work up an appetite and eat dinner a lot better (especially when they know that once they finish, they can get back into the pool).
• If they spill on themselves - who cares?
  
• The meal (and kid) clean up is so quick and easy, and we come home to a clean kitchen before bedtime.
• It wears the boys out and they go to bed easier and sleep better.
  
• Because it is still such a novelty to swim under the stars and not even be the slightest bit cold. We can lay on the pool chairs, dripping wet (with no towel) and not even be chilly. So awesome. I guess that's one trade-off in the summertime for these 110 degree days. I'll take it!