A VISIT FROM THE IN-LAWS

Darren's parents came down for the day yesterday. They brought down our last pounds of beef that we will receive from their cows since Dave had to sell them because of the flooding of his pasture land.

We had a really good time. Darren and Dave cooked steaks on the grill. Deb and I prepared potatoes to throw on the grill....well, Deb really did all of it since I had to stop and feed Jessie. All I did was slice the onions.

Before they left for home, I had Deb take a family picture for me since we don't get many opportunities because Darren is gone a lot.

Grandpa Dave loves his little grand daughters and, as you can tell, they love him too! 

I'm really not too sure what happened here, but Jessie looks gigantic sitting on Grandpa Dave's lap. 

Before Dave and Deb left, I had Deb take a picture of the family. I thought it would be nice to have a more recent picture...and I also needed one for Jessie's scrapbook too. 

SWIMMING LESSONS

Today Cassie wrapped up swimming lessons and is now certified by The Red Cross for completing the preschool/kindergarten lessons. Cassie even got this really cool swimming card.

Today I was able to get some good shots of Cassie going down the water slide with one of her coaches. It took a very long time for Cassie to get comfortable with the slide. I think it scared her at first. Once she started going down though, she didn't want to quit.

At the end of the swimming lessons the coach usually let Cassie ring the bell and Cassie really enjoyed that. Cassie wouldn't leave until she rang the bell!

Darren wasn't too sure of Cassie in swimming lessons and thought that maybe we should have waited another year or two. She actually learned a lot; like belly floats, back floats, blowing bubbles, putting her face in the water, bobbing up and down, reaching deep into the pool to pick things up from the bottom, and she learned how to crocodile. She even got to go in the big pool and go down the water slide.

It was basically an introduction to water so that she wouldn't be scared of it. It also served as something for Cassie to do and it got her out of the house for at least a few hours a day. I don't know what I am going to do with her now that swimming lessons are over.

I got some good pics and some that are not so great. I hope you enjoy them.

Posing in her new bathing suit before leaving for the pool. 

Cassie is all excited about starting swimming lessons! 

We get to the Leeds swimming pool and my first thought is, "Geeze, there are a lot of kids in this swimming class." Then I take a good look at the kids and I am thinking, "Holy, they look a little old to be starting a preschool/kindergarten swimming class." I was right. Besides Cassie, there was only one other kid. His name was Kurtis and is pictured sitting far left. 

Cassie and Coach Ali meet for the first time. 

Cassie starts her lessons off by learning to how belly float. Cassie wasn't very fond of this the first time. She isn't fond of her face being wet and was worried about her head going under the water. 

A very happy Cassie taking a break during her swimming lesson. 

Coach Ali and Coach John are trying to round up the kids to play ring-around-the-rosey. For some reason, both Cassie and Kurtis didn't want John to play with them. I thought that was extremely odd for Cassie because Cassie is actually a huge flirt. 

After outcasting Coach John ring-around-the-rosey went really well. 

Close to the end of the lesson, Cassie and Kurtis were given noodles to swim with. They both instantly started playing with them and Cassie became very possesive of hers and didn't want anyone touching her noodle. 

Cassie is all smiles about her noodle. 

Cassie is in the big pool for the very first time with Coach Ali. Cassie wasn't sure of it at first. She liked to get out and then have Ali catch her as she jumped in.  

All happy and geared up for todays final swimming lesson. After today she will have completed the kindergarten/preschool swimming program certified by The Red Cross. 

Cassie was being goofy and was she kept trying to hide her face as I was taking her picture. 

I just thought that this was a very cute picture even though the color is terrible. 

She loves to ride the noodle like a horsey. 

Here is Cassie doing the crocodile. The first day that the coaches showed her how to crocodile, Cassie did it continuously. She can even crocodile in the deep end of the baby pool too. 

The belly float was something that Cassie liked to do after she did it the first time. She wants to belly float all the time now and is really good at kicking her legs while you move her around the water. 

Cassie was very curious about what Coach John was writing down. John was actually marking off all of the things that Cassie was able to do in the pool and all the things she had learned so far. 

The Ring-around-the-Rosey game has got a lot better since they are getting more used to their faces being wet. 

There is a fish painted on the bottom of the pool in the northeast corner. For some reason Cassie likes to sit on the fish. Today while she was waiting for the other child to finish his lesson, she sat on the fish and started to laughing really hard and was kicking her feet. 

Once again, after finishing her lesson, Ali took Cassie into the big pool. Cassie really likes the big pool and spends most of her time jumping in and having someone catch her. 

After an extremely long, agonizing twenty minutes, we finally got Cassie talked into going down the water slide. Cassie said she would go down but only if Ali helped her.