Endings and beginnings

The kids finished up their school year this past Thursday with a week of movies, water parties, etc. in school. Plus, it seemed like everybody and their dog needed to squeeze in a birthday party before school ended. I am happy to see the days of make-a-project-entirely-out-of-paper and make-a-working-volcano-and-diorama come to an end, although I don't know how much more relaxing summer vacation will be since I signed Mister and Sweetie up for swim team for the first year, so we'll be at the pool, hanging out from 7:50-9:20 Monday thru Thursdays in the sweltering heat. (And by "hanging out" I mean keeping H from getting in the pool, going into the men's locker room, going into the women's locker room, and breaking the drinking fountain and vending machine dividers by banging on them with all his might.)

But anyway, so we have the ending of a really, really good school year for both kids, especially for Mister who truly thrived with this particular second-grade teacher. With the ending of the school year came the end of the community karate class the kids begged to take (and then complained to no end about actually attending). Here's a pic from their last class and with each one displaying one of the basic moves or stances that they learned:

And the end of swim lessons. I signed them up for 1 session because both were very nervous about having to swim the length of the pool for swim team. So I figured a refresher session would help them remember their strokes. Here's they are diving and Sweetie doing the butterfly. Here, also, is little H, who took a 10-minute individual lesson, which he hated, but he did great in. You can see one of the teachers dropping him into the pool. He learned to turn around and kick to the side and reach up, then "monkey walk" along the edge to the steps. He also learned to roll over and float on his back (although he didn't quite master the floating-on-his-back in just 1 session). He cried at the beginning of every lesson, but he always wanted to get his swim suit on when the kids got theirs on, so it must not have been too traumatic.

And here's Sweeite at the swim team clinic, trying to make it across the entire pool.

So, just as we end many things, we begin others. I'm excited for the summer and so are the kids. As I was tucking them into bed tonight, I told them that tomorrow is Memorial Day, a day for pancakes and swimming and barbecuing and being with family. And Sweetie, after reminding Mister that he needed to make sure he repented now that he is 8, said, "And a day for laughing all we want?" Yes, that sounds like a perfect plan, Sweetie. A day for laughing all we want.

(1) A breezy, cool evening bike ride as a family, (2) brownies from caring and considerate neighbors, (3) eyes that are no longer in pain, even if they can't really see this screen