Carter’s Swim Lesson

2 weeks ago, Carter had his first swim lessons.  We did them at the YMCA by our house and it was for a two week period, Monday through Thursday from 9-9:45am.  Carter isn’t afraid of the water.  He loves swimming with his puddle jumper on.  But we knew he needed to work on the way you are supposed to swim.  Kicking legs, moving arms, holding your breath.  Those things.  He also isn’t a huge fan of his whole head going underwater, so we knew he needed to get more comfortable with that too.  All of this was worked on during his lessons.  He had a great teacher!  There were 4 kids in his class one week and 5 the next week.  It didn’t take long to realize that what Carter needs to work on most is closing his mouth.  He gets so excited about being in the water and his mouth is wide open grinning and laughing and then he gets upset when he swallows a mouthful of chlorine water. 

Overall, he did awesome at swim lessons.  He still can’t swim 100% by himself, but those lessons definitely got him more comfortable with kicking and using his arms and floating in the deep end without us and jumping into the pool knowing his face will go completely underwater.  He likes it so much that he wants his bathtub full of water during bathtime so that he can “practice”.

Here’s a few pics I was able to snap of him during his lessons:

Fun times!!!  We will probably enroll him in the same swim classes again next summer as a refresher and maybe then he will be more willing to take the little life float off his back. 

VBS

Ok you’re probably going to see several posts within the next couple of days.  I’m realizing that my “family blog” that was intended to keep up with the fun happenings of our family, has turned into the monthly Garrett post blog…and that’s it.  I’ve been so busy and just haven’t made updating the blog a priority.  I’m trying to do better so I’ve made a list of all the things that have happened to our family that I need to update on so I will be working on completing that list over the next couple of days.  First up-VBS!

If you haven’t heard of VBS, it’s Vacation Bible School.  Lots of churches host these “schools” in the summer to keep kids interested in the Bible and also still doing fun crafts and things like that.  Technically, Carter isn’t old enough for VBS at our church.  He’s supposed to have completed 3k (he starts 3K next month) but he was able to do it because I volunteered.  I worked as a crew leader for the 2K/3K kids so that I could have Carter in my group.

It was held at our church from Sunday night through Thursday night from 6-8:30pm.  We began each night singing in the sanctuary and learning the songs that they would perform at the parent concert on Thursday night as well as for our entire church congregation the following Sunday morning.

The theme we used was Mount Everest.  Several churches used that theme this year.  Mrs. Kristi did a FANTASTIC job decorating the entire church to look like Base Camp!

These three LOVED the music part!  May or may not have had something to do with Nana’s involvement in the music…

I probably shouldn’t have been taking pictures during prayer time, but I couldn’t help it.  Watching him pray just melted my heart!!!!

After Music, the kids went to the gym for some playtime.  They did all kinds of things that revolved around the Mount Everest theme.  Carter’s favorite day was the last day that included a silly string fight and some time playing with a big parachute and some balls.

This was one of the games we played.  Where the adults “rescued” the kids (they were supposed to be hikers in trouble) and carried them back to base camp.

This is me and Jamie and Jordan.  We’re all in the same Sunday School class and Jordan’s kids were in the same group as Carter.

We couldn’t believe Mr. Jeff could get that many kids to sit on the curb and listen to his instructions!

Of course he picked the blue silly string.  Didn’t expect anything less!

Papa came by one night to check on his grandkids.  Their faces say it all.  They adore their Papa.

After some games in the gym, the kids headed to the “Imagination Station” which was basically arts & crafts. 

These are ravens.  The kids learned about how God fed Elijah by having ravens drop food.

The second night we talked about how God comforts us so we had them spell comfort in cotton balls.  The next night we talked about how God forgives us and we ripped up pieces of paper and for each piece we said something we do that’s bad (our sins) and then we washed them away in a bowl.

After that, the kids headed over to Bible Time where they heard Mrs. Lisa tell stories about the prophet Elijah each night.  These kids were completely captivated by her!  It’s not easy to get a group of 25 3 year olds to sit still and listen to a story but they did for her!!

After Bible Time they went to snack time where they got a different snack every night and watched a DVD about Mount Everest (it was a cartoon with characters that talked in 3 year old terms…not something you and I would see on the Discovery Channel).  The crew leaders took a break during the snack time and that’s when we went to eat dinner so I only have one picture of snack time.

On Thursday night was the concert for the parents…

Carter had SOOOOO much fun and I’m not kidding when I say that the dang VBS CD hasn’t come out of my CD Player in my car in two weeks.  He requests to listen to those songs over and over and over and over.  Momma is beyond tired of these darn songs, but he loves them and I love hearing him sing about God and how powerful he is so I put up with it!

#48 - Check!

Bet you think I forgot all about this list huh?  Well, you’d be right.  I totally 100% did.  I also don’t blog quite as much as I used to.  I always thought that when I started staying at home I would have more time for stuff like this.  Nope.  Two kids is a full time job folks.  Heck, one kid is a full time job.  I digress.  So number 48 on my forgotten and neglected list of 101 things to do in 1,001 days was to take Carter to the aquarium.  Even though I wasn’t physically there, I’m going to mark it off the list anyway because the goal was really for Carter to go to a big aquarium,  not that I was the parent that had to take him. 

Justin had a brilliant idea a few weeks back to pick Carter up from school on a Tuesday and drive to Chattanooga to spend the night.  The next morning they would wake up and he would take Carter to the Tennessee Aquarium.  This was just too much for a 6 month old, so me and Garrett opted to stay home.  I also wanted Carter to have some one on one time with daddy.  He is out of town so much and when he’s in town it’s great to be together as a family, but ever since Garrett came along, Carter hasn’t had much one on one time with me or with Justin.  So I thought it was a great idea to make a trip all about him.  It also just so happened to fall on my birthday.  So they got to have fun at a super awesome aquarium and I got to stay home with the baby that sleeps 18 hours a day.  Win win for everyone!!!

We really thought Carter would take a small nap on the way to TN after school but not so much.  He was too excited.  They got to the hotel and Carter even wanted to roll his own bag into the hotel lobby.  He watches daddy roll his luggage around so much and I think he wanted to copy him.  After they checked in they went to the room and Justin let Carter just sit on the balcony and look at the view for a while.

They walked around and ended up finding a little museum similar to the McWane Center here in Birmingham.  Justin decided that after taking him to the aquarium he would take him to the museum since it was just across the street.  They went ahead and got tickets for the next day just in case there were a lot of school trips.  This way they wouldn’t have to stand in line to get tickets.  I wouldn’t wish that on anyone with a three year old!

They came back to the hotel and Justin made up Carter’s bed.  He’s only slept in the room with us one other time and that was at Camp Sumatanga.  We realized then that when we’re in the room with him that he thinks it’s a party and he takes FOREVER to go to sleep.  Eventually he did…with the five animals that he got to pick out from his bed to take with him.  His love for the stuffed animals has STILL not ended.

The next morning they got ready and ate breakfast in the lobby downstairs.  Fruit loops and yogurt for Carter!

And then they headed to the aquarium!  I kid you not-it took 45 minutes for Carter to see the entire aquarium.  That was all.  45 minutes.  He ran so fast through each of the animals, likely because he was worried he was going to miss something, and 45 minutes later he was done!  3 year olds…

He really enjoyed the sharks.  Justin told him that if he was good and obeyed him all day that he would buy him a stuffed shark that he saw in the gift shop.  Sure enough we now have stuffed animal number 465 in his bed.  His name is Sharkie.  Kids are so original when it comes to naming things.

He was originally scared to put his head in that little hole to see the crabs so he made Justin go with him the first time to show him it wasn’t scary.  Justin said the little tunnel he had to go through was teeny and quite suffocating.   Clearly made for kids only.

That’s all the pictures I have of the aquarium.  Justin barely had time to take more because Carter moved so fast through it!  After the aquarium they went to the museum thing across the street.

Meet Sharkie.

Luckily, this little sucker was worn out and passed out on the way back home.  He slept for about an hour of the ride.

Carter clearly had a blast because he is still talking about the aquarium and all the things he saw.  And it’s been over a week since he went.  Just this morning he was having a “conversation” with Gizmo telling her that when she’s older she can come with him to the aquarium so that he can show her the sharks and crabs.  Love that little boy!