Summertime in the States
We usually go back during the winter, but because of the immigration stuff, this year we also made a trip in the summer. And the girls were big fans of being able to swim!
It's really nice where we live in the summer, and it's really hot in Texas. But I'm gonna tell you what, after living (almost) my whole life on the Gulf Coast, three years in a cold, dry place will really make you long for that humid, stifling, sauna air of summertime evenings! You know, when outside feels like being in a shower. Seriously, you would never think you could miss that, but I do. So I LOVED being back in the summertime! E and G are still young enough that they don't care how hot they are as long as they're having fun, and H was miserable, but he had never liked the heat. But we saw a big difference in M this time. She was really suffering! I guess living half her life in this cold, dry place has really made her a wuss when it comes to heat. But I would say that the biggest thing on this trip is that the girls really "discovered" swimming.
We do swim classes when we're back in the winter, and the girls swam a lot in Thailand last summer, but it was really on this trip that they started acting like normal kids in the pool. I guess doing swim classes without also swimming for fun makes the water more like an assignment than a playground. But after three or four days of mildly floating around in the shallow end of H's parents' pool, it was like M suddenly realized that it could be fun, and she started jumping off the edge of the pool into the deep end (with a life jacket on of course). E was more skeptical at first and wanted someone to catch her, but after a day or two of that, they were both having the time of their lives, running and holding hands to jump or trying to do cannonballs or touch the bottom with their toes.
By the last day, M was even enjoying the water enough that she asked to take her life jacket off and try actually swimming across the short edge of the pool. She could really do it!! We were shocked. Of course she stayed right by the edge, and I walked right alongside her, just like her swim teacher does. But she could really manage it. Guess those swim lessons are working after all!
You may be wondering why I'm not mentioning G swimming. Well, that's because although he loved the water during our first week at H's parents' house, his eye surgery meant that he wasn't allowed to swim for the rest of the trip (because getting water in your eyes causes you to rub them, which can cause an infection). So, although he really liked it those first few days, he'll have to wait for next time to get more time in the pool. But the good thing is that he was really happy to watch YouTube videos of classical concerts with Grandma while the girls were swimming!