Summertime fun

I can hardly believe it'll be August in less than two weeks, which means four things:

1. My sweet, little Ryan will turn 4.
2. My sweet Brendan (who is not so little) will turn 7. Wow!
3. We will be in the motherland before we know it.
4. And we'll have 5 weeks of summer left before school starts.

July has been incredibly busy, but in a good way. Brendan has been attending his summer league swim team practice each morning at 9. Like last summer, I wasn't going to require he attend every practice. But I am proud to say that he has! In fact, he doesn't battle in the morning about getting ready, which is most unusual for this boy.

In addition, we are in our fourth week of swim lessons at the same pool. There's a 75-minute break between swim practice and lessons. Some days we head home, where everyone gets changed and lathered up with sunscreen. Other days we hang out at the pool and just wait. Nearly every day, we pack a lunch and stay at the pool after lessons so we can swim for an hour.

Kelsey participated in lessons for the first two-week session. Ha! "Participated" may be a slight exaggeration. She wanted to play and do her own thing. By the last day, she did actually participate, but popped out of the pool after each and every activity to tell me about it. She's quite the momma's girl these days.

Ryan is doing great in his class. He's extremely comfortable in deeper water now. His dive is looking so great! He shoots right into the water like a missile. We think he'll be ready to join the novice group on the swim team next year.

I wasn't sure Brendan would want to take lessons. In fact, he complained the first week. But after the first two-week session, he insisted on signing up for more. (In part, that's because he moved up from Level 3 to 4, then graduated to 5.) This group really focuses on stroke instruction, which is exactly what he needs. The extra practice is good!

The rest of our summer days includes playdates, bike rides and playing outside. Brendan and I just began reading "The Tales of Despereaux." Our reward when we finish -- which should be soon since Brendan is completely hooked -- will be to watch the movie. We're also finishing up "Sideways Stories from Wayside School," which was one of my childhood favorites.

This week, Brendan is attending art camp in the afternoons. I'm excited to see what he learns! We're also eagerly awaiting the arrival of cousin Kylie and Grammy. Oh my ... these girls will be on the run between numerous swim team activities this week. They'll be ready for Sunday to come, when we'll return (hopefully) to our slower pace.