Dive In!

This is finally the year that both kids can take swim lessons at the same time.  In past years Ben was always on the side of the pool watching McKenzie and wishing he could join in.  They are both doing great and have really expanded their skills even in the short time we've been in lessons.

McKenzie is confident in the water and can swim without any assistance in deep water. Now she's learning how to do the basic strokes like backstroke and crawl-stroke.  We're seeing less and less dog paddling every time she gets in the pool.  She has also reached the top level of lessons for her age range so we'll stay where she's at refining her skills until she can move up to the next set of lessons next summer.  It's much harder to get a good picture of her in the water because she's always actively swimming.

On Ben's first day of swim lessons his teacher told me after the class that he could already check off on all the skills they were going to learn in her class.  Unfortunately there wasn't room in the next class so he stayed in the beginner class and has just been practicing all the great things he knows how to do.  He has taken it a step further and has become 100% comfortable being underwater both on his front and his back and now he spends most of the class underwater not listening to his teacher.  The not listening isn't good but it is great to see him just swimming away like a baby otter in the water.  Here he is practicing his kicking with his tongue sticking out in our families classic look of concentration.