Swim Team

This year we decided to put our four oldest on the Lindon Swim Team. Of course there are several reasons behind this decision. We are very purposeful/thoughtful in most decisions regarding a large expense/parenting. Here you go; 1. all the children can do the same sport at the same time. I only do one drop off for four children. I like that. 2. Swimming is a very important skill to have. There are so many adults that do not feel comfortable in the water and while it is not life threatening to not be comfortable in the water.. it is a skill that I think would be fun for them to have. 3. It has been so much fun for them. They are not the most competitive bunch but it has been a great time to improve in the water. {Go Team Watson!}

There was a meet on Saturday and we decide to give it a go.. 

Jacq was first because she is in the under six category. Jacq is a very graceful backstroke swimmer. She prides herself on her backstroke. Even though she doesn't always get first she is always beautiful doing it and she knows it. To Jacq that is probably what matters most.

 Next are Alexander and Barrett. These pictures are kind of foggy but I just had to post them. (someday I may have to figure me out a good editing program. :)) Anyway.. look at those two. They are at it again.

 CAN NOT.. for the life of them.. just sit there like every other kid... (sorry Tim)

 They have to poke.. and touch.. and be crazy. Just in case you are wondering.. that is my life with these two..

 Oh my .. love these two. They are getting ready to hop in..
Alexander - he is the most competitive of the bunch. He could really care less about beating anyone but his brother.. ugh! Bless his heart.

 Barrett. Oh this soul is so sweet. He would just about give away his heat ribbon to ease Alexanders competitive spirit. Barrett tries hard and with swimming has been an inch or two ahead of Alexander.

 This is one of my favorite pictures. Love it! Both boys on the swim blocks.

 Here is their backstroke start.. Alexander. (red goggles)

Barrett boy. (Blue goggles)

Here they are.. they both have better form in the backstroke but prefer Free style by a mile. I thought is was very fun that they were next to each other in each race.

Alexander during free style.

 All done-

 Barrett finished first in the backstroke. Go Barrett!! It made him smile. But it didn't seem like a huge deal to him. He was more concerned that Alexander was going to be OK - Alexander kind of stole the glory from him because he was so distraught about losing. This is where  parenting twins can be tricky. Tim and I had to make sure Barrett understood that it was awesome that he placed first and to be excited about his accomplishment. At the same time to help Alexander see that there will be more races and more ribbons. And there just so happened to be a group of boys his age putting together a relay. Alexander ended up getting a ribbon too-  phew.

 The boys together..

 Just love their little speedos!

On to Max. Bless his heart. He is such an awesome kid, but there is NOT one single competitive bone in his entire body. He sure is cute though. And has gone to swim practice every day without complaint and loved it!

And he is so social! The things I am learning about my Max. He just makes friends every where he goes. I have had glimpses of this Max before. For the most part he is pretty quiet .. he just kind of goes with the flow. But in social settings he seems outgoing, friendly.. and in his element. So maybe swimming for Max is more social than about winning.

 Max getting ready! Glad to see his goggles on - :)

 Swimming Max

Here is my Bugga. Shall we bless her little heart too?? She has been dying this Summer season. She loves the water and swimming more than just about anything. She wakes up in her swim suit and at the end of the day she falls asleep in her swim suit. Every day on the way to swim practices she cries.. and cries..  and tells me all about how she is going to ride the "slide" and "wim!" I can not forget that she is 7!!!! One day I made the mistake of telling her she had to be seven to be on swim team. Lola is an elephant!! She doesn't forget a thing.. To anyone and everyone that asks her she is now seven.  She actually did pretty good at the swim meet. She loved to be around all the commotion.


Here is my attempt at a group shot! You know how those go. This is how this one ended up. I gave up. :)

 And went for something more like this. They actually stood still for this one.

The end. Go Team Watson! 

Running

Soon after we pulled into the driveway from our St. George trip we hit the ground running with "life." It started with Karate for Jacq. This spunky lady tested for her first belt and was so excited when she passed. She is really loving karate and it has been a real good boost for her.
This is her in action.

Another one.

 Getting her white/yellow belt.

 My karate girl.

 One more for giggles.

Next was scouts. My Maxie boy got his bear that night! As you can see I had no clue he was being awarded. These are the awesome "comfy" clothes I pulled out of the dirty laundry to ride home in from St. George. The clothes I unpacked in. Ran to karate in. Need to get out of and take a shower - in. Wait this isn't about me or my nasty clothes. I was proud of my Max. He sure loves being a scout! It has been a fun 10 months being his substitute scout leader. Our schedule didn't work for him to attend scouts with his troop. :( Boo!! Next year we are going to try harder to plan around scouts so he can be more apart.

Tim had a work party that night!! The children thought they were in heaven with face painting. It was pretty fun to watch them hum hoe over what they would have painted on their faces. They liked their choices so much, they were trying their darnedest to figure out how to keep their faces painted forever!! Well.. all the children except for Alexander. He was totally freaked out about the paint. I took all kinds of pictures so they would never ever forget how cool they were.
Iron man Max. He is big into Iron man right now. So much so that he tells me he is going to be Iron man when he grows up. He is going to invent "stuff" and be Iron man!

Barrett had both sides of his face painted. A shark eating fish on one side..

 And a snake on the other.. (both very Barrett of him).

Jacq. She also had both sides of her face painted!! She is all girl down to her core.  Except when it comes to karate. She likes being able to put her brothers in head locks.

And buggy! Jacq decided for Lola that she wanted rainbows. Lola could have cared less. She is way more concerned about being seven!!! More on that later..  here is our beautiful Whiskey Tango. More on that one later too! I really do love this age/stage.

 I was sure glad to hit my pillow that night. Busy fun day.
xo

St. George

The second half of our vacation we planned to visit St. George. It was HOT! St. George in June for vacation doesn't really mix very well. Don't you worry.. we managed to find plenty of super fun things to do.

*We found the coolest park. If it didn't heat up so dang fast I think the children would have stayed and played all day long.There was also a preteen making balloon animals for children. The Watson children thought it was the coolest thing on earth. At least in that moment.

 

*Downtown Splash Pad. This place was a relief! Anything with water was a warm welcome. 

*Tabernacle and Brigham Young House. I wish I took more pictures. Any pictures. I was honestly just enjoying the moment that I didn't take a darn one. Well.. at least not any worth posting. :)

*When we headed back to our car, we heard a live band playing in the park. We just had to check it out. It was really cute/fun program for the children of all ages. We sat and listened to music and watched the children explore garage instruments. I don't know if that is what they are called, but that is what I liked to call them. It kind of works.. right? Every time I turned around someone had a different instrument. It was awesome. I love how into it they got.
For some reason I thought Max would be too old to enjoy this program, but he had a blast. That or he put on a really good show for his momma. :)

 Promise he wasn't trying to kill the instrument.

 Oh my! This is when Barrett yelled, "Watermelon" as an animal on McDonald's Farm. The lead singer in the band was awesome and made it work. Barrett thought it was the funniest thing on earth.

 Buggy with her Dad!

 She eventually warmed up and went off on her own.

 Lots of helpers.

 Jacq was right in her element. I think she tried every last instrument and could have rocked out all day long!!

 There is my boy!! WOW. Look at that white hair. I love how white Barrett and Alexander's hair gets in the summer.

Another instrument.

 *Snow Canyon. I am probably the meanest mom on the planet. I like to hike and explore, and it was kind of my vacation (at least that is what I told the children), so hiking we did. In the heat of St. George we headed out to Snow Canyon to check it out. It was awesome!! So much fun! I loved it! But I am not too proud to admit defeat! It was way too hot.. and probably not one of my best ideas. I really would like to go back and explore some more. I think in different conditions these faces might consider it. Maybe. Sigh.

*Shuffle board. Lots and lots and lots of shuffle board in the shade. Wahoo!! We went back and forth between shuffle board and the pool all day.

 *I can not leave out swimming and lots of it..
The children are starting to get so inventive at the pool. On this particular day it was, "king of the pool!" Other days it was some Ninja game. Another day it was races. Another time rings. Lots of trips to the pool. Lots of fun.
The boys playing "King of the Pool"

 More.

 I love how much they love it!

 My little fish. She was loving all things diving.

Swimmer Bugga. She loves the water. She loves to jump right in and swim out there with the big kids. If they can do it - she can do it! After all she is seven.

I love how all the children flock to their Dad. When he hops in the water they are right there to be with him. They just love him. They love to be around him. They love to play games with him. It is so much fun to see this all play out. They are lucky children to have such an awesome Dad and I think they know it!

Now.. that was a lot of pictures. If you are still with me Thanks for going through our vacation with his. It was a nice break from our every day life. xo.