Swimming at Mimi and Poppi's

Yesterday, I took Drew and Mikayla swimming for the first time this season in Mimi and Poppi's pool. They had to have the liner replaced this year, and since it was special order, it took awhile to get it in. My daddy also spent the time waiting on the liner to stain the concrete deck around the pool and the concrete pool furniture. My daddy has been a very busy man as he also added a seal coat to their wooden deck that leads down to the pool. Now that it is all completed it is just beautiful! Drew, has hardly been able to wait for the pool to be ready! I must admit it has been a hard wait for me as well.

When we first got to Mimi and Papa's yesterday afternoon, Drew was so anxious to go outside that he said "we will go outside, then put our bathing suits on, and get in the pool". I had to remind him that we would put our bathing suits on before we went outside.
Once we got our bathing suits and sunscreen on, we headed out to the pool. Drew went straight to the steps to stand on the first one. Mikayla was a little more hesitant. I did get her to stand on the first one without me so I could get a picture.

Drew did not waste any time getting in and going under the water. He is like our little fish. Mikayla on the other had was still not comfortable with her whole body in the water, even with me holding her. She has never been crazy about pools or the ocean, which I always find funny because she loves the tub and their little pool in our backyard. We sat on the steps, her in my lap a long time. Her crying and me assuring her that I wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Finally, she got calmed down and demanded to sit on the top step by herself. By the time I got ready to get out of the pool last night, she did not want to get out.
By this time, she was "swimming" around the steps by herself, swimming in the deep end (8 ft.) with me and Drew, and jumping off the side into my arms. She even loved laying back to get her hair wet and putting her face in the water to blow bubbles.

Not only was Drew swimming all around the pool like a little fish, but he also jumped off the diving board by himself for the first time (Drew tells me I have to be faster at taking the picture so I get more than just his splash into the water). He has been jumping off the diving board since he was 2 years old, but I would sit on a noodle and "catch" him. Of course he also has his floats on the whole time; notice their bathing suits. These are the greatest things ever made when it comes to water. They have the floats built into the suit, and they are U.S. Coastgaurd approved so they can also wear them in Uncle Jonathan's boat. Of course, we still have to watch our children at all times near the water, but we like them better than the little arm floaties (especially for little children). Drew will probably start using the arm floaties more this year (in the pool). He knows how to swim, but we still aren't comfortable with him being in the deep end without some floatation device, especially when it is just me with the two of them.

At times I could tell they were getting tired. Drew would climb on one of the floats and lay back, while Mikayla would say "oh Lord, I'm tired" and lay back in the water.
We played a little while longer in the pool, and by the time we got out of the pool, and got some supper it was 7:30. Directly after supper, both Drew and Mikayla climbed in Mimi's recliner and fell asleep. We carried them home and put them to bed and they slept all night. Water really does wear you out!