Summer Fun

This year before school got out, Ken and I had a few lengthy discussions about summer activities. I wanted the boys to have some structure and I didn't want to hear "I'm bored, there's nothing to do!" So we made a plan - swim team in the mornings and martial arts at night. Monday through Thursday they boys have swim team practice from 8-10am. This is done through the city and they learn all sorts of different strokes and really work hard. Also, they have competitive meets on Thursday nights to see how well the kids are doing. This last week was our first meet and it lasted forever! I think that almost every other parent in the city decided to put their kids in swim team...





Here's Draven in his race - he's on the second block from the right. It was really fun to watch him and Shallon swim and to see how much they've already improved in just the few weeks they've been doing swim team!



Shallon's race was shortly after Draven's (and by shortly I mean the girls Shallon's age went between them but it was still 45 minutes to an hour later). Shallon is wearing the bright blue trunks on the second from the left block. I did get pictures of them finishing their races, but since it's just a dark head and a hand coming out of the water, I decided not to post those!


Now, about martial arts. Shallon is taking a Karate class on Monday and Wednesday nights. He's got about 8-10 different instructors and there's gotta be close to 35 kids in the class. It's really good for Shallon because it gives him lots of people to learn with and a chance to excel. Draven is taking Aikido on Tuesday and Thursday nights. He's got just the one instructor and there are about 12 kids in his class. This worked out really well because it's a smaller environment for Draven to learn in and he's only got one person to listen to and follow their instructions. When I signed them up I had no idea it would work out this well. Shallon and I have discussed continuing his Karate classes into the fall - we had to since it was soccer sign-ups. We determined that soccer and karate would be too much to do and might even have conflicting practices. So, we'll see how far this will take us. For now, we're just busy and enjoying the little bit of free time we have during the day and on Friday's.

Oh, I guess I can also add that we're still doing piano lessons this summer, and I've challenged the boys to each read a book a week (or every two weeks if it's a really long book). That way we don't get too far from our school year schedule.