A little before Christmas I decided that the girls needed a winter activity. Something that would occupy some time on the weekends and be something that they could look forward to. In order to kill two birds with one stone I opted for swimming lessons. The two "birds" were 1. The girls would have something fun to do, and 2. they would learn the basics of swimming so that this summer when we are at the pool I won't worry so much about them when we are in the water.
So after the first of the year our first lesson started. I signed Elizabeth up for a Level 1 and Morgan up for a Level 2 since she had done a lesson at daycare the previous summer. I wasn't sure what to expect but they loved it. The lessons were held in the indoor pool at the Monon Center. They have a huge indoor pool with a slide and some fun spray jet toys. So lucky for us, while one girl was in the lesson the other got to play. This meant two hours of activity!
Elizabeth loved the water. She is fearless anyway, so I wasn't too worried. Morgan loved swimming too. She improved the most I would say because she can now swim on her back without help! She is still working on swimming on her stomach, but I am sure with a little practice this summer she will be doing it with no problem. I took a video of Elizabeth swimming so everyone could see her skills.
I have more pictures I will have to upload later, but the girls had a blast. We did two sessions (one the month of January, and one the month of February). By the end Morgan had passed Level 3! Elizabeth didn't pass her level 2 class, simply because the teacher thought she was just too small to master some of the skills. But she said it was normal because her muscle dexterity just wasn't developed yet. The best part of the lessons was that by the end of the two hours the girls were beat! Most of the time Elizabeth never made it through Morgan's class. One evening I was able to get a picture of her resting while she was waiting for her sister to be done.
We took a break from swimming for a month or so, but I think the next opportunity we have to sign up we will. Plus we joined the YMCA and they have an outdoor pool and splash area so guess where we will be for the majority of the summer.....that's right THE POOL!
For Christmas Greg's Aunt's Mary and Kathy and Uncle Charlie renewed our family membership to the Children's Museum. Since then we have gone about 4 or 5 times. It is such a great activity for a Sunday morning. We have found that if you get there when they open on Sunday that there is hardly anyone there. That way we can play until lunch and then head out when it gets busy! The picture above is Morgan playing in the dinosaur dig area. She hates the glasses.
Elizabeth's favorite thing to do is ride the carousel on the top floor. She would probably ride it 20 times if we let her. The other thing they love to play with on that floor is the ice cream shop. They get the aprons on, stack up the ice cream and deliver it to me.
The newest exhibit at the museum is Dora the Explorer. Elizabeth loves Dora and Diego and watches them all the time. So I knew when we went to see it she would love it. They both posed for pictures with Dora and Diego for me before they ran through the exhibit. They were both so excited that they didn't really experience any of the hands on pieces- they just ran from one thing to the other, to the other. The funny this was that Elizabeth could tell you all about the episodes that each piece of the exhibit was designed around. Like I said she really loves Dora.
Our other favorite thing to do while at the museum is see the Barbie exhibit (I'm not sure what we will do when it is gone!). Normally the girls play with the clothes and the dolls, but our last visit was an exception. Had I known what I was in for I would have taken a video....
Morgan strutting her stuff on the runway.
Elizabeth came out all dolled up and ran down to the end....
She then proceeded to dance....
and strut her cute little self. She did this for about 5 minutes.
The girls love the museum. Thank you so much for our gift-we will definitely enjoy it all year long! 