Swimming Lessons

Well today Ella Kate went to her first swimming lesson of the year. This child loves to swim and she has been asking to go to swim class for quite some time now. She has taken lessons the past two years during the March - May semesters and has absolutely loved them. In the past I got in the water with her and we did the lessons together. She has done so great with her swimming that she was able to skip a level and I am now proud to say she is a "Barnacle". HaHa Yep, she went from the "Shrimps" class to the "Barnacles" class. We were able to skip the "Guppies". The Barnacles class is for ages 3-5 and while she is the youngest she did great today. Coach Jack is great with the kids but he is also tough. For example one of their exercises was to climb out of the pool by themselves using the "elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee" method, get a kick board, jump back in the pool with the kickboard and swim to the other side of the pool and back with the kick board, then get back out of the pool by themselves, return the kickboard, jump back in the pool and hold onto the side with 2 hands until the other kids had finished. I have to be honest when he was telling them this I thought to myself, we are about to get kicked out of this class. But - she surprised me and did just what she said. She had a smile on her face the entire time. As soon as the class was over and she got out of the pool she said "Let's do this again." She even gave Coach Jack double high fives after class with a big smile on her face. Coach Jack said that she did great and she was definitely ready for this class and he could tell she had taken swimming classes before!!! Yay for Ella Kate and swim class!!

Seahorse Exercise!! Coach Jack had them on their "seahorse" swimming laps. He would surprise them and come up behind them and "buck" them off. While the kids thought it was a big game, which it was, he was teaching them to get back on their seahorse by themselves and keep going even after they get thrown off. Sneaky Coach Jack :)

Oh the slide!! Ella Kate's top favorite. Needless to say she got out of the pool with a quickness and was first in line for the slide.

Gracie, Ella Kate, and Brody. They have such a sweet little class and the Mom's were fun too! Gracie is 3 and Brody will be turning 4 in February.

The little swimmers!!!!