Water Babies

One of my favorite things about summer is knowing that in a day's time I've worn my children out so much they'll sleep like babies every night.  It usually means that they're ready and willing to fall asleep by 7 if they get still enough.  Between the dance recital hoopla and going south to visit my mom, there have only been a couple of days that have been the perfect opportunity to do just that.  We're always on the go, so when we get some down time during the summer we fill it with swimming, friends, early dinners and nightly bike rides around the neighborhood that end with kiddos passed out on the couch in .5 seconds.  These are the days that I love.  Nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do.  That all changes as we start VBS this coming week which we're super excited about.  It's always one of our favorite weeks of the summer!

We've only hit Pt. Mallard once so far, but we hit it hard...

Every summer I have to re-explain myself to my dear husband about why I make our children wear hair bows when they swim. It's simple.  It makes them easy to spot among the other kids, because I assure you they're the only ones with pink ribbons in their hair!  The funny thing about it is that they don't think they're fully dressed and ready for the pool unless they have a huge bow.  It's like second nature now, and as long as they don't complain I'll keep right on doing it.

 

Buggy just knew she was going to get to go down the slide in her float, but no such luck...

The hunky lifeguard told her she had to hold on to it instead.  She was not so happy about that.

This is her telling me just what he said to her...

If you tied the child's hands behind her back she wouldn't be able to talk!  She's slightly animated like that. The duck pond (kid's area) is getting to be a bore to Towns.  After cartwheeling in the shallow water a hundred times, each time splashing me a little more than the last to let me know she was ready to move on to something else, I agreed to take her to the diving boards.  She loved jumping off and swimming to the side last summer so I just knew that she'd have more tricks up her sleeve now that she was a year older and a year wiser.  Think again, mama.  She stood on the end of the diving board shedding crocodile tears because she was too petrified to jump...

Meanwhile, everyone in line behind her was getting impatient and probably would have pushed her off before she would have jumped on her own.  I made her do it, though.  Is that bad?  Oh well.  What's done is done.

What's that I see?  An actual smile on her face as she's coming up?  Imagine that...

  She had so much fun she decided to do it a dozen more times. Maybe mama does know best after all.  

We ran into Towns' friend Sydni who cheered with her last season...

They hit the water slides together and had a big time.  Cate's not quite big enough for the slides, so she got cozy in her green float and kicked her little self around the pool like she'd been doing it all her life...

 

After we'd done all the damage we could do at the water park that day, we fed the loveys and put them on bicycles to wear them out even more.  We rode several miles just before dark.  Those are some of my favorite times as a family.  We barely got them back in the door before they were both like this...

Mission accomplished!  Poor Towns has got to learn to use her foot brakes on her bike, though.  She tries to stop by putting her feet down and ended up with no skin left on her toes.  She took it like a champ, but it made me hurt just looking at it.  Bless her.

That night my friend Lila called and invited us to swim with them the next day.  I didn't tell the girls our plan until right before it was time to go.  They dearly love Lila's children and I knew I'd be asked 746 times when we'd be leaving to meet them.  It was a nice little surprise when I got their bathing suits out about ten minutes before we needed to walk out the door!

Towns, Madelyn, Ella and Cate...

Surprisingly, we didn't plan the matching ensemble.  Poor Braxton was out numbered by the four girls and went off to do his own thing.  Maybe if he had matching swim trunks he'd be more apt to play with the girls.  Kidding.
I can't leave Ridge out. Cate absolutely smothers him with love...

 He's the happiest baby I've ever been in around in my life.  What a cutie!
The older girls are fun to watch because they're so giggly and silly...

And these two, well, we'll be doing good just to keep them out of trouble...

Just like the bows the girls wear when they swim, all the girls had matching floats so we could keep up with them.  Lila and I are the same (that would be OCD, anal retentive, and whatever else you'd like to call it) when it comes to our kids being around water.  Mainly because none of them have a fear of it.  We kept count of these four pink floats every two minutes...

You don't get a second chance when it comes to water, so I'm perfectly fine with being a little psycho about making sure everyone is present and accounted for.
Towns worked on her swimming a little...

And the little ones kicked around hand-in-hand...

When it was time to part ways, they all begged to go home with one another.  It happens every time, and we get a kick out of how much they love each other.  Somehow I managed to come home with only my two children, but it wasn't easy...

I've got summer figured out. As long as those chicks stay busy like they have the past couple of weeks, they just might not kill each other after all.  And my favorite part of it all?  No matter how many baths they take, I can still smell a hint of sunscreen on them.  Life is good!