Down Time at the Hotel

I think I have touched on the four places that we visited while on vacation in St. Louis.
For my last post about our vacation, I have to share pool fun.
Not nearly as exciting, but actually very fun for us.

This was our first time where Noah officially didn't need a life jacket anymore. He took swimming lessons for two sessions last year. He didn't really love them, but when you live in West Michigan, there is NO OPTION. You just HAVE to learn to swim.

The swimming lessons the boys take are taught mostly by teenagers and they have the kids in the deep end and off the diving board by the second day of classes. Here he was last summer jumping in for the first time at lessons.














Up until now, Noah could swim a short distance, but when he came up for breath, he couldn't get going again and then would freak out.

This vacation saw a change in him. By the third day in the pool, he was popping his head up, catching a breath, and continuing on. I hope it continues when he starts swimming lessons up again in July. I don't want to put him in before then because he still has self-defense for 4 more weeks and Aaron has gymnastics for the same time. Then they will take lessons together this year. Here he is just doing his own thing in the pool at the hotel. He won't swim without the goggles.














Odin did a great job just paddling around the pool in his life jacket. He seemed to really enjoy himself. He just started swimming lessons a few weeks ago and is finding his proverbial "flippers"














Aaron was a little more adventurous. Constantly jumping in, I had to keep reminding him not to jump from the side; only from the ladder. He just doesn't jump out far enough and I was afraid he was going to hit his head.














Kira's life jacket was a little bit large and she mostly wanted to float on her back hanging onto the rail. She was very cute. Here she is with Aunt Jenny.














Even Baby Ronin got into the fun in his little floatie and dangling his feet. I think he was a bit shell shocked at first but he got over it.














It was a good thing the kids got pretty independent. Because Steve, Uncle Matt, myself, and once in awhile Aunt Jenny kept getting some volleyball games going while the kids were all floating around.














On one day, there were a bunch of other kids there who joined in on the fun until their moms made them leave us alone.

I think this may just conclude the vacation pictures for awhile.

What was that? A whoop of cheering across the blog lines from my dedicated readers?

Thanks again for putting up with it. I will return to my regular life next week.

Unfortunately, I will have to share my hydrangea down slide. It is NOT looking good:(

Have a great weekend.