Swim team. Swim team ran from the end of May through June, and while it seems a long time ago, it really consumed our time. When Erin started, she couldn't swim very far (certainly not across the pool!) and wouldn't put her head in the water. By the end of the season, she swam in six meets, participating in freestyle, backstroke and sometimes relay. Her times vastly improved over those six weeks. And she had fun! She was hesitant sometimes, but she always did it, and I am proud of her for that. She enjoyed the concessions too! Parents need to volunteer, so I worked the concession a number of times which was fun and crazy busy! Best selling concession candy: Sweet Tart Squeeze, which is basically a toothpaste-like tube full of sugar gel. I ultimately convinced Erin that the candy was disgusting and would rot her teeth. Our concession was one of the few concessions to sell fruit, which always went quickly too. Of course there's nothing like a swim team burger on the grill.
She even participated in the championships at the Augusta Aquatic Center, which was very crowded and a little overwhelming.
The best part of swim team for Erin was getting ribbons, and finally, at the awards banquet, a trophy! She is proud of her trophy and ribbon. Oh, and being on the number one undefeated team! Go Crocs!
Art classes: Erin took some art classes through the Gertrude Herbert museum. Her weeklong class was a sculpture class. I need to photograph her artwork, but, this was right up her alley.
4th of July: Our neighborhood had an all day 4th of July cookout, which was quite lovely. Lots of food, kids, dogs, did I say food? Thanks, Miss Molly, for hosting!
6th Birthday! Erin turned six, and requested a small party with a few friends. We had the option to "share" our birthday with a friend and have a big party, but Erin wanted a few friends to go to Art's a Way and paint pottery and come home for a tea party lunch. So that's what we did.
Beach! The girls and I went to LBI while Rene had to take a training class in Orlando. Rene missed a fun week. We flew a day early and stayed at Carolyn and Paul's house. Then we headed to the beach. After our annual family meetup at The Chicken or the Egg, we got an early beach start before we could get into the houses. Most of the family was staying in a nice big old Victorian house, and my parents, the girls and and I stayed in a smaller house just behind it. The setup worked great. Thanks to Carolyn and Aunt Joan for planning and organizing the houses.
We got to meet baby Natalie, and as Lauren still says often, "baby Natalie is so, so cute!" It was fun to see Lauren, Lara and Samantha play together. We spent some nice hours at the beach. Erin ventured into the ocean, and loved it! Finally, on the last day, Lauren ventured in for a minute. The kids got to take turns on the kayak at the bay one day. Erin saw a boy selling shells he had colored with crayon, so she stole his idea. She set up shop every day at the end of our driveway. "Shells for sale, dollar or a quarter!" I thought the smaller shells were a quarter, and the larger ones were a dollar. It wasn't until the end of the trip that she told me that people could choose how much they paid, either a dollar or a quarter. She ended up making $10! And not all of that was from family either.
As always, we loved our week at the beach, and seeing our family. We loved the waterpark, the bay, the few nightly walks to the ice cream shop, the outdoor concert at the park across the street, the dolphins, the Beach House dinner (thanks, Nana and PopPop for watching the girls!), the cool evening breezes, good NJ pizza (no cool evening breezes or good NJ pizza in Georgia), playing with chalk, sand castles, shell collecting, the kiddie pool at the beach, Yahtzee, and so much more.
At this point, summer was moving along pretty quickly. School started for Erin on August 13th, and we hosted a neighborhood ice cream social on the Saturday before school. A good time was had by all.
And then, school started. I'll post school updates later. For now, here's a picture of Erin and Lauren as we waited for the bus. The hazy effect? The steamy hot outdoor sauna that fogged up the camera lens.
Summer updates now officially over. Phew!
1 comment:
ok, what kind of funky multi-colored bread is that your kids are eating! Don't think I've ever see that on watercress sandwiches at high tea before. ;)
Post a Comment