A Memorial Week to Remember: Part 3

The final installment of our week. Many apologies for the terrible pictures. I just realized now that I had my camera on the wrong setting the entire time they were playing in the backyard...

Papa & Gigi brought the twins some new swimsuits, and they were dying to try them out! Memorial Day was actually too hot to go to the lake, so we pulled out our handy wading pool!

They were having so much fun (even though the water was COLD!) that the rest of us decided to join!

All this fun is hard work!

He was trying to figure out how to relax like sis. Oops!

Success! Perhaps it helped that Sis decided the grass would be a better place to lay down?

On Tuesday we took a trip to the lake to play with E. We finally got to see how good this floaty swimsuits really are (they have their flaws, but with diligent - or obsessive...like me - parents they will be fine). It also gave me a chance to see what a trip like them is really like so I could know if I could take them by myself (answer: I probably won't for a while...more on that later...)

They had a blast playing with E in the sand (they all love to throw handfuls...or shovel-fulls of sand in the water), playing on the playground, wading, etc.

Papa joined in the fun and helped them build sandcastles.

Showed them how to skip stones.

Taught them how to splash their feet while sitting on the dock.

There were 2 small mishaps. One was when Allie got a little deeper than normal (waist deep) and then tripped. Her swimsuit kept her from getting her feet back under her, and kept her on her stomach. She did great, moved her arms and legs just like she was swimming, worked to keep her head above water. While it seemed like forever as I rushed to get her, it was maybe 3 seconds, and she did the absolute best possible during that time. She was back in the water - a little more cautious than before - in no time. A little later the kids were jumping to me off the dock. We taught them to walk really slowly (like a turtle) so they wouldn't slip, but Ry-guy happened to be watching Papa & Allie splash and walked off the side. I saw it coming and was already on my way to catch him. Had I not been waist deep in water, I would have made it. As it was, he didn't even have a chance to react after hitting the water before I was scooping him up. However, he jumped right back on the dock, walked to the end, and jumped into my arms (3 more times!).

While I think those 2 events (and the heart attacks that came with them) will keep me from taking them on my own any time soon, I was incredibly proud of the way they both faced their fears and overcame what had to have been some of the scariest moments in their short lives! I also think that I am going to have Lucas come with me sometime to work on stomach floating with them. With these swimsuits, that looks like it could be a common occurrence, and if I can help them feel confident enough to fight the panic when the situation arises, I would feel much better in general!