Swim Lessons

We decided to put the boys in swim lessons this year. After Sam's bad experience, two summers ago, I couldn't bring myself to have them do it last year, but this year we decided it was time to try again! They were both very excited about it and it went...fairly well. We signed up with some friends in the ward so both boys had a friend in their class with them. It was fun to hang out with the Osborns everyday.

Here's the gang (minus Abby, she didn't want to be in the picture with all the BOYS!!)...

On the first day they were both willing to jump right in and do what they were told, including jumping off the diving board. I was shocked and relieved that it could really be that easy!

Unfortunately, it went slightly downhill from there. Andrew had and AWESOME teacher, Brandon, who was super patient with him. He really earned Andrew's trust. At the end of the first week Brandon was gone for a day and the substitute had a very different style. She took more of a you-are-going-to-do-it-my-way-like-it-or-not approach and that does not fly well with my Andrew! He came away from that 20 minute lesson with a completely different feeling about swimming, and it wasn't good! Brandon was back the next week, but the damage had been done and Andrew ended the week more afraid of the water than when he'd started! Sam, on the other hand, tried really hard and made some progress. Because of his the tubes in his ears a couple of years ago, he's still really sensitive to getting water in his ears. But he toughed it and learned to overcome that fear. He was still afraid to jump (after the first day when he did it without hesitating) but he did everything else his teacher asked and tried to learn the skills. I was really proud of how hard he tried and his good attitude!

Abby and Grant were both too little for lessons so they hung out together. They were pretty cute, we even caught Grant sneaking a kiss on her cheek once or twice!

Neither of the boys passed their levels so they'll be in the same classes next year. But, I do have some glimmer of hope after watching Sam's progress that eventually they will learn to swim...someday!!