more swimming

Last night, the boys and I made the trek to Crown Point to visit Kent, Popi, Stephen, Nick, and Maria. I had some things that I had to pick up there, so we decided to invite ourselves over to use their pool while we were there. Thankfully, our gracious hosts didn't have a problem with that, because the boys had probably the most fun yet of all our swimming expeditions this summer.


When we arrived, Kent had the grill going, so we had a nice dinner of burgers, dogs, and pasta salad. Stephen was happy to show the boys his impressive fort, and Maria and Nick were great at keeping them entertained so I could have an actual adult conversation with Kent and Popi. After a while, we all got into our swimsuits and got into the pool. Kent and Popi even had some flotation devices, so I didn't have to hold the boys up the whole time. I have to say that Liam really loved paddling around in a lifejacket, even if it was pink and emblazoned with Barbie logos.


We spent a very long time in the pool, and Liam even went down the water slide quite a few times. This was a procedure that required tons of assistance: Kent and Nick had to stand on either side of the slide and hold Liam's hands so he wouldn't go down too quickly, and I had to catch him before he went underwater. I'm sad to report that Liam hasn't figured out that it's not a good idea to lock his legs straight out in front of him when someone tries to catch him at the bottom of a slide; as a result, I'm pretty sore today from several hard kicks to the chest. He also did end up going underwater a couple of times, and cried when he came up. But he always wanted to get back on the slide immediately, so I guess he wasn't too traumatized by it. Sorry, no pictures of him on the slide. Popi took some with her camera, but I didn't have the presence of mind to suggest that she put them on a disk for me or something. I'm sure she'll send them to me eventually, and when she does, I'll post them.


After swimming, the boys took showers (aren't they growing up fast?). I'm pretty sure it was the first time that Max has ever had a shower, and he was pretty skeptical at first, but then didn't want to get out. Then they spent another hour or so just running around the house, squealing with delight as Maria chased them. I finally got them into the car by 10:45 p.m. (!!!) for the long trip home. Believe me when I tell you that we were all exhausted.