Summer Kick Off

So, I've been scolded by family for not blogging.  I'm going to make a mid-year resolution to try to update AT LEAST once a week.  The last couple of months have been a little crazy, but I'll try to do better.  I'm really going to get in trouble because this post won't have any pictures (my camera is broken), but I will try later to sift through recent pictures (pre-broken camera) and update again. . .

After being asked by Jackson nearly everyday for the last couple of weeks, we FINALLY made it to the pool yesterday!  We ventured out, just me, Clint and the kids to see what this summer would hold for us.  The verdict: 4 to 1 in favor of the pool.  Not bad odds with five kids, right.  Can anyone guess who didn't enjoy is so much . . . If you guessed Kynlee (which would have been my guess pre-pool, you're almost right, she hated it first, but she did warm up), you're WRONG!  Westin was not a fan!!  He never stopped clinging to us and kept his buried in someone's neck the entire time.  I'm not entirely surprised, because he was my one who went through a recent bath-time phobia, but he pulled out of that and is going strong, so I thought he would like splashing in the "big tub."  No such luck. 

As always, lots of ooohs, aaahs and stares, but I think that people were even more enamored by the sight of our crew because we were "brave" enough to take them to the pool.  We even had one lady tell us that she has 10 month twins and she didn't want to bring them.  I will say that I think last year was easier in some regards, but overall, it was a good experience.  We decided that we would prefer to have a 3rd adult, but that won't be possible every time.  Jackson wore his floaties and the babies all wore puddle jumpers (which were awesome).  We kept the little ones on the "baby" pool (except Brooklyn who got a brief run in the big pool with daddy and Jackson).

Gage was heavy and tall enough that he could walk easily around the baby pool while wearing his puddle jumper.  He loved it!  He found a ball to chase and he was a happy little man!  (Though a tad too brave about wandering away and had to be chased constantly.)

Brooklyn wanted to be independent.  She's wasn't really heavy enough to get a good footing on the bottom, so she struggled a little, but she kept pushing our hands off of her.  After awhile, she actually figured out how to maneuver pretty well.  She could walk on the bottom with some work, she would lift her feet and kick and her favorite was lifting her feet forward so that she could float/lounge on her back.  She was pretty funny.  She was the only one that really experimented in the water much!

Kynlee . . . oh, Kynlee!  After some screeching and stressed out panting about being put in the water, she clung for quite sometime.  When I was finally able to show her that she could touch, she realized that she kind of liked it and she was walking around the baby pool, splashing and laughing before we left!!

Westin, well, he just clung!  He buried his face and held on for dear life!  We'll keep working on him. 

Jackson, of course, had the time of his life!  He splashed and "swam" and played with other kids.  I didn't get to watch because I was in the little pool with the babies, but he went down the big slide into the water.  Clint said his eyes were huge when he was coming down fast and then hit the water, but when he came up, he LOVED it and wanted to do it again.  Other than getting a little cold, I think he had NO complaints!

Looking forward to more splashing good times at the pool and hoping that my kids all enjoy the lake too!  I seem to remember that Jackson didn't really like the pool at that age, but did like the lake, so maybe there's hope for Westin still!

(Updated pictures to come and hopefully we'll get a new camera pretty quick!!)