JTOK Chatter > Page 219

Saturday Night Dinner

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I finally remembered to take a picture of our group at dinner. Tonight we had my good friend Ruth (and her daughter Emily) who came down from Maryland, Frank and Beth (and their two girls) who have attended before, and a t-ball mom Kate (and her daughter) that I befriended recently (unfortunately, her husband had to stay home with their three boys because their behavior had been lacking).

Owen was at our table because we had extra seats and the kids table was filled with four girls. 🙂

Of course, it had started storming terribly at the exact moment Tom needed to be out grilling, but I had the foresight to have him put up our old umbrella so he didn’t get completely soaked. 🙂

We all had an amazing time with lots of laughs and can’t wait to do it again!!

Owen leveled up to Turtle!

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I wanted him to practice floating before his lesson…but it took some bravery to actually get in. He loves the water (and he could touch the bottom) so I have no idea why he was so nervous.

So the lesson started and I was poolside, half watching him and half talking to another mom. It looked like he was doing all the same things he’d done at his last lesson, so I wasn’t watching THAT closely. Then all of a sudden he’s in front of me with the instructor and he’s holding a red ribbon and a red swim cap and she’s telling me that he passed into the next level! (To do this, he had to successfully jump into the pool, flip himself over, and float for 15 seconds…three times.)

Then as a new Turtle, he started to learn actual swim strokes! He was actually in class with his friend Gavin!

Raptors Practice

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Since it was a 6p practice, Tom took Owen and I stayed home with Katie. I think it was actually the first practice they’ve had since before the season started (they had others scheduled but they were rained out). Owen was excited because they got to practice hitting the ball from pitches instead of off the tee!

2015-05-12 raptors practice

Biking is better in theory than practice. 

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Both kids were SO excited to get out on their new bikes and Katie was SO excited about her helmet…

   
But first we have to walk up the huge hill. Ugh. Owen barely made it up as he couldn’t keep it going straight. 

 

I’m not sure what this face was about. 

   
She, of course, couldn’t do it by herself and I don’t have the patience, so Tom did most of it. I know there’s a learning curve, but I’m seriously ready to just get rid of all bikes for about five years. Both want to be able to ride but neither wants to actually work to do it OR pay attention when we tell them how to do something. 

 

Owen eventually started to get the hang of it (again), but not before falling off a few times—he refuses to steer so he ran into the curb and tipped over into the grass…and he seems to think the training wheels will keep him from falling over so he’ll lean too far and tip.

We only lasted about 10 minutes, maybe 15. We would have tried longer but one of Owen’s friends saw us out the window and waved and yelled hi…so both kids completely lost any concentration. 

Waiting for daddy and Owen to come down the hill. 

   
 

Interestingly, when trying to pedal, Owen can only seem to slam his feet backward to brake. But! When going downhill and he needs to brake? He can only seem to pedal. :/

Anyone want to teach our kids to ride bikes?!

Owen ROCKED his first swim lessons!

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Holy cow. I’m still gobsmacked.

So, Owen gets terribly freaked out being on his back trying to float. We’ve been trying for two years to get him to do it and he hasn’t. So my thought was that if the entire 16 lessons were spent getting him to float on his back I would be perfectly happy with that.

And he did it in the first 30-minute lesson!! (Well, technically within the first 15 minutes… But by the end of the 30-minute lesson he had earned his yellow ribbon!)

At 14 minutes into the lesson. FOURTEEN.

12:19

And his swim cap which denotes his group (he’s a Minnow). When he advances to the next level (after he can swim the length of the pool by himself by doggy-paddling and flipping over to rest/float/breathe) he’ll be a Turtle 1 and get a new color.

  
 

Daddy was keeping Katie busy so they were walking around the complex. They stopped to wave down at us!

He had a great time and loved every minute! We are SO proud of him!

The only bad part was that Katie really wanted to go in the pool. But, we learned that she can go in the other end of the pool for free swim at the same time! So we’ll try that the next time.