January 22- Swimming…in January?

That’s right! Living on a secluded Army base in the mountains of South Korea isn’t always perfect. There are a lot of frustrations, inconveniences and drawbacks, but there is one really big plus. Our year round access to a fantastic indoor swimming pool! Remember that swimming pool we went to last spring? I’m not sure why we haven’t been back since the weather turned cooler? I guess because when you look out the window at the snow and ice the first thing that pops in your mind isn't “geeze, I think I’d like to go swimming today!” But today we went back to the indoor pool at Camp Eagle for an afternoon swim. It’s nice and heated, so it was more like swimming in a chlorinated bathtub. Neither Sarah nor myself were sure what the kids would think of the pool. It’s been several months since any of these babies went swimming, but they took to it like ducks to water! They all had such an incredible time! We couldn’t believe how much they all enjoyed floating, kicking, blowing bubbles and of course splashing! I think we have found our new favorite winter’s afternoon past time! We totally lost track of time and ended up spending a couple of hours splashing around the pool. We kept marveling over how much older the kids are now and remembering the first time she and I took our kids to the pool... http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-KGg_0loyeanfadEHOtbJFU4-?cq=1&p=1112 They were all so much littler then! And all so unsure of the water still! Not anymore!
The steps proved to be just as wonderful as any water float or toy we could’ve brought along with us. And of course they totally egg each other on!
There’s that little tongue again…concentrating so hard on holding onto the railing while stepping into the water.
Just a cute picture of my little swimmer boy.
Please excuse the funky bed head. I literally woke these babies up from their naps and put them directly in the car to head to the pool. No need to comb that crazy hair if it was just going to get wet anyway!
And a cute picture of my swimmer girl, too.
I have to give an endorsement for this float. I’m not even sure where Grand-Mère picked it up, but it’s the best float ever! She got it for us to take out on the boat with us when we were home last summer. Back when we had a boat. Too bad we don’t have one of those anymore! But hey, at least we still have the stinkin’ float, right? No, I’m not bitter or anything…I swear. Anyhow, back to the float. So, it twists up into this little disk for storage, then pops right out to become a float. Ella loves it! I think she likes it because the seat is a mesh netting, so there aren’t any plastic seams scratching at her legs. Plus, she just sort of sits right down in the water in it. She spent the whole time shouting “weeee!” and practicing her kicking while sitting in this float. It’s great, and we give it two toddler thumbs up!
This little goof ball was so funny. He took a little bit longer to warm up to the water than the girls, but once he did there was no stopping him. I had to run from one side of the pool to the other after him. I’d be on one side of the pool when all the sudden he’d decide he wanted to jump into the pool at the other side. Figures.
Mama duck and her ducklings.