Underwater Swimmers

We have spent A LOT of time at the pools this summer. It has been so hot, that being in the pool is the most comfortable place to be outside.

Our summer of swimming started out almost where it left off last year. I was working with Hannah to try and get her to swim under the water and keeping Jacob in his floating swimsuit so that when he was too fast for me and just jumped in that he wouldn't drown.

We went to Cranebrook pool and Jacob couldn't go down the big slide unless he wore a regular swim suit. So I changed him and stood at the bottom of the slide to catch him. I noticed that he was purposely spending a lot of time under the water after he landed. So I took him off to the side and told him if he wanted to stay under the water he had to do it away from to the slide.

i was shocked when he went under the water and took off swimming. He just used the same motions that he did when he was trying to get around in the pool in his floating suit. Off he went. I was so happy. I was worried that I was slowing his progress down making him wear that floating swim suit, but it seems to have been a good thing for him. Hannah came over to see Jacob's cool trick of swimming under the water.

She could see I was so excited and happy for him. She wasn't going to be left out. So off she went going under the water. I worked with her a couple minutes on remembering her strokes and kicking and off she went.

So the rest of the summer has been pretty fun with the kids swimming under the water getting dive sticks and seeing how far they could swim.

Here is Jacob showing off his underwater swimming skills.

Hannah and Jacob are practicing their synchronized swimming routine. Hannah likes to do flips. Jacob hasn't quite mastered the flip but can do some pretty funny twists and shakes under the water.
They both love to do cannonballs off the side of the pool. Hannah likes to yell, "CANNONBALL STINKY SOCKS!!"

By the time Hannah started her swim class in July she was pretty much too advanced for the class I registered her for. But I decided to keep her in it anyway.
Here is Hannah doing her back float with her teacher Lauren.

The front float.

Hannah learned her strokes as ice cream scoops, ice cream bowls, and soldier arms.
Jacob was very patient while Hannah took her lessons. While he waited he liked to eat snacks and feed the turtles old bread.
Here Jake is just chillin' by the pool, counting down the minutes.
Here is with his best convincing smile that he isn't going to put his feet in the water, he is just going to sit next to it.
I like this picture, because of Jake in the background. Look at that form. If he would have just shot a basketball into the hoop, I'm sure he would have made it. Although I think he is preparing to dive under the water, hopefully he'll use the same form for his basketball follow through. =) (ha, ha)

I think he gets cuter everyday!

We are having a fun summer and hope everyone else is too. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and family in Utah in a few weeks!!

Keep cool!!