The first 3 days of lessons were torture! By the first Friday, I was at my wits end. Luke had lost the priviledge of the Wii for the weekend and his sisters weren't going to be allowed to come back and watch him until he could pull himself together. Every time it was his turn to work with Mrs. Amy he would panic. He kept telling Mrs. Amy that he didn't want her to 'dunk him.' Telling may be too gentle of a term...perhaps yelling would be a more accurate discriptive word!Things slowly began to turn around last Monday. Luke had a rough start. He hid behind one of Mrs. Amy's outdoor chairs...I guess hoping that we would all just forget why we were sitting out in the hot sun at 11:40 a.m.?? Anyways, Amy just walked over to him...grabbed his hand...and led him over to the pool. I forgot to mention that on day 2 of lessons she had to pry him off of me and carry him into the pool...ugh. I was pleased that he followed her over this day with very little fuss and he proceeded to earn back his Wii and his sister's company for the next lesson. Things were looking up!
Slowly Luke began to make progress. The above pictures were taken on Wednesday...when he finally began to put his head in the water VOLUNTARILY! He had such a good swim lesson, I decided we should go to the pool and practice some more. Before we left the pool that day, he was attempting to swim in the shallow end of the pool every time I turned around. It was as if the idea of swimming just clicked and he was no longer afraid to put his head under water. As a matter of fact, he was going under water all the time...for no real reason...it was AWESOME!At his lesson on Thursday, Luke swam from one side of the pool to the other with no assistance. Now when I say swim, it is important to realize that I am not talking about a perfect technique - ha! I'm just saying the boy had his head in the water...he was kicking his legs...he was moving those arms...and moving forward across the pool! The pictures below were taken on Friday. I think that Mrs. Amy had a real sense of accomplishment with this student - and she should! If it weren't for her patience and persistence, Luke would NOT have begun to learn to swim this summer!
Luke is NO longer afraid of Mrs. Amy...and he is PROUD of that certificate and pencil!
Luke is NO longer afraid of Mrs. Amy...and he is PROUD of that certificate and pencil!
I wanted to share a few pictures with you of our July 4th Festivities here in Schertz. I love living in a town that has a July 4th parade (even though we haven't ever been) :/ and a July 4th Carnival (even though we haven't ever been) :/ and a July 4th fireworks display (to THAT we HAVE been). The city shoots fireworks off at Pickerel Park and we chose to enjoy them from our parking place at the baseball field just down the road. This year, Kyle even went so far as to park his truck earlier in the day so that he could just drop the lot of us off at the truck just before dusk and go park the van. It is sooo crowded, you have to show up pretty early for a good parking space...he had to park the van several blocks away and just walk to us. It reminded us of all of those years he and his dad would go and park the truck along Elk River Mills Road so that we could watch the Sportsman's Park fireworks! I miss those Sportsman's Park fireworks!! However, the Schertz fireworks are the next best thing! 
Granny & PopPop came over for dinner...Kyle grilled corn and ribs - YUM!...and then we headed out. 
Luke's ready to see some fireworks from the back of Kyle's truck.
Kyla's ready to see some fireworks too!
I think this means that Summer is ready for the fireworks! :)
