Zombies and Swimming

Yesterday after lunch, Papa Ford picked up the kids to take them home for a sleepover.  They got spoiled with fun and treats.  When he returned them today, one was still my child and the other was a zombie.

The boy is obsessed with turning the unsuspecting into bunnies.

Papa was worn out and needed to be at work early the next morning.  I took the kids out swimming before dinner in an attempt to wash off the rest of the face paint that wouldn't come off with a wash cloth.  They are such fish and just loooooove being in the water!

Aunt Kiki came over for part of the evening and the kids enjoyed seeing her.  Doesn't Chloe look so grown up with her French braid?

Last Night of Being Seven Years Old

We were all supposed to go to the pool after school this evening, but Chloe had been misbehaving at school.  So she stayed home with Todd.  I thought it would be a nice evening out alone with Owensk, but it didn't really work out the way either one of us wanted.  It wasn't the warmest day.

It was a little windy.

We didn't know any of the other kids at the pool.

And the water was chilly.  :(

He came and sat by my feet for awhile.

Then a Grandma called and made him smile.

And then he picked his toes while he listened.

He tried the water again...

But it was still cold...

So he got out of the water.

And then we drove around the back roads and looked at cows and horses and goats and sheep.  We talked about going into some stores, but he walked out of the house not wearing shoes.  We tried calling his favorite babysitter, Miss Jessie, to see if we could stop by to say hi and get a few hugs...but she didn't answer her phone.  

It was a disappointing end to year number seven.  None of our plans worked out for the evening like we had wanted.  I think by the time we got home, Owen was ready to go to bed.  He was excited for the morning to come because he knew he was getting a hamster for turning eight years old. :)

The Best Way to Cool Off

After getting home from the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve and the outlets, we still hadn't cooled down much so we took the kids to the pool.  The kids played so nicely together the whole time.

They played toss through their own 'basketball hoops' for quite awhile.

Then Chloe wanted to float on her back for awhile, but it seems she forgot...

that not just her belly should be above water, but her face, too.

Then Owen wanted to see if he could float on his stomach.

They played on the steps for awhile, slurping up water and spitting it out.

Then they moved off from the steps to jumping in from the side.

Kersplash!

Owen kept asking for ideas of how to jump in differently or silly.  This time he was trying to think of a new way that he hadn't jumped in before.

But the cannon ball jump always seems to be the most fun.

I liked seeing these shots with the water splashing up around the bellies as they jumped into the pool.

Swimming and Sliding

After Chloe's meet and greet with her Kindergarten teacher, we had forty five minutes for play time at the pool.  The kids changed into their suits in the car and were jumping into the water in no time.

Bean was so happy playing at the pool by herself.  Owen ran off to play with his friends, but Chloe was completely content without any interaction other than from my camera. :)

Then it was off to the slide...

Owen decided he had had enough playing in the water with his friends and spent some time jumping in.

And he wrestled with his guys....

Chloe floated around, barely keeping her nose out of the water.  I think she was intentionally keeping her feet pointed down and staying vertical to see if she could keep her face floating.  Or maybe she was just bouncing on her tip toes to keep her face dry.  Never really know with this silly bean.

When the sun started going down behind the trees, we knew it was almost time to go home.  The nights are coming earlier and earlier now.  It won't be long before it is dark when the kids go to bed at 8pm.

I just love this group of kids!

Before we left, Chloe was filling up that noodle she snagged and then blowing into one end to make water fly out the other.  She's surprised a few adults with this trick and is pretty pleased with herself!

Jumping

Chloe had a field trip to the Chattahoochee Nature Center today at school.  It was Owen's first day back to school after missing several last week from fevers and sore throats and he felt great all day.  We finished dinner early and headed up to the swimming pool.

It's the first time in over a month since the kids have been swimming.  Last time, the water was very cold.  Today was in the 90s and the water was very warm.  I enjoyed sitting in the shade watching them have fun, but Todd thought it was too warm.  Shocker, I know. :D

Chloe started off with an inner tube. 

Then she switched to a dog paddle.  We need to work on that.  I asked her if she wanted to swim faster, but she wasn't interested once I suggested putting her head under water.

Owen found a bug and tried blowing it around until he realized it wasn't alive anymore.

How cute is my Bean?

Then. 

The jumping started.

Love the splashes, although there were a few reminders to not jump in and splash the adults in the pool.

We did a fifteen minute and then a five minute warning before it was time to go.  The boy child got out of the pool immediately.  We talked about that on the way home and let him know that because he listened, it made us want to take him back to the pool another night soon or do other things he might want to do.

Owen is definitely growing up and learning more quickly now that to get what he wants, he needs to listen and behave better.  When I picked the kids up from camp, he was running to me yelling and asking if we could go to the pool.  I wasn't able to finish reminding him that I don't like be lambasted with requests to do things the rest of our evening before having discussed our day or cooked dinner before he was saying "Oh yeah, oh yeah. How was your day Mommy?"  He spent the drive home hissing at Chloe to hush, moving his finger sideways in front of his throat and putting his hands over his ears as she proceeded to push those buttons and ask about going to the pool.  It was hard not to smile.