With big sister away my son decided that he would love to go swimming with me today. We live 5 minutes from the pool so we ought to go a lot more than we do! Last night he had a couple of friends around for a "sleep" over so it took me until lunch time to wake him up to get there..
Of course before going we had the usual palaver of getting ourselves ready. I am not sure how the goggles vanish after previous swims but we can never seem to find them when we want to go! Luckily we found his pair in time to get to the pool for the last of the general swim session.
With my son being 9 he now has to head into the male changing room on his own so we have to meet in the water. He was diving to the bottom of the deep end picking up hoops so I squeezed in 4 lengths in the Medium speed lane. After a couple of these I noticed I had left my bra on under my swimming costume... oops!
Then I was throwing the hoops for my son to dive to the bottom for. He just loves being under the water. If I had got my goggles on I would have joined him as I love .
After that I decided to work on his diving technique. I can dive fairly well but I have found it hard to pass on the technique to my children. They have both been able to dive in from seated but not standing up. A dad was on a similar mission and he used a hoop to get his children to dive straight. My son finally mastered diving from standing with lovely straight legs, he was so pleased with himself. Its lovely to see my children mastering these skills.
We spent the rest of the session trying out floating, catching balls and tricks like swimming under each others legs. I am so glad he loves being in the water as much as I do.
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimming. Show all posts
Sunday, 7 February 2016
Friday, 7 November 2014
#CountryKids Big Swim
There is nothing like simple and free activities on holiday to keep everyone happy. In our case being in the sea and making the most of the waves and shallow waters was fantastic:
It was a contrast in so many ways to our Pembrokeshire holiday as the water was warmer and the waves less fierce. By the last day they were tempted to do a long distance swim and did about a mile in a stop start fashion along the beach:
They were very tired but proud afterwards:
Here is a little video of more water fun:
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Reasons to be Cheerful Week 13 #R2BC
I can't believe its my last week as host and that next week its back to the lovely Jo at Ojosworld I love sharing all the positive things people have blogged about! I will be back hosting in May but meanwhile here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) My big girl
This weekend I had half of it just with my daughter whilst her brother went to stay with granddad. We watched Sport Relief together on the Friday night and she said that when she is grown up she would love to help in some of the situations we saw. She is growing up a caring and compassionate child. On the Saturday afternoon we went swimming together and she really tried hard to make up for the long gap since we last went.
Then she went to stay with granddad for a night and day. I got back a lovely report of how well behaved she had been and what a delight it was to have her. They even baked a cake together! A lot of her day was spent constructing her Playmobil castle that we don't have room for in our house:
Tonight she learned another recipe and cooked us tea of grilled bacon and scrambled eggs - yummy!
2) My boy
He maybe testing the boundaries at the minute but there were some great moments this week. When he was with granddad he swam a whole 10 lengths of the 25 m pool which is pretty impressive at 7! Apparently he has passed his level 4 swimming badge but don't tell him that..
When back with me on Sunday he did the Sport Relief mile helping to do his bit to raise money. As a reward he and I had a lovely afternoon at Brockhole on Windermere. He very quickly made some new friends and was very happily playing with them for ages in the adventure playground which shows how good natured he can be. Here he is being adventurous:
3) Me
Well I was very pleased with myself for managing to complete Sport Relief albeit not too fast and then yesterday I had my most satisfying run for weeks. I was just about non stop for 5 km and although it was by no means my fastest ever it felt good. With a month to go until my big 10 km race its onwards and upwards for me!
So what do you have to smile about this week?
Thursday, 23 January 2014
Reasons to be Cheerful Week 4 - 2014 #R2BC
Gosh where has this week gone it doesn't seem 7 days since I wrote last week's post! So why am I smiling this week as January goes whizzing by...
1) People joining in
Last week was one of the busiest one yet for me on the linky. Just wonderful to read so many positive things that people were finding in the lives. I know how much thinking positively helped turn my outlook around so I'm glad so many other people are able to get the same boost.
2) My daughter's health
This time last week my daughter was very poorly and running a fever which was very distressing. Thanks to a speedy appointment at our out of hours doctor service and some antibiotics she is now fully restored to her normal self:
We are so lucky to have a free health care service and access to medicines that help our children when they are unwell. To prove how well she felt she baked a couple of batches of yummy cakes:
3) Operation House
Not huge progress but things like getting my daughter's Christmas present decal on her bedroom wall after she and I did some more sorting of her room felt great:
4) Proud mummy
My son loves his swimming lessons and always wants to be first when they do their turn at lengths. Tonight he was learning butterfly arms for the first time aged only 7! He as also asked to demonstrate to the rest of the class how to turn a mushroom float in to a submarine by blowing out bubbles. So glad he loves swimming as much as I did when I was a child, long may it continue.
Why are you smiling this week?
Saturday, 5 October 2013
#CountryKids Carnac Megaliths and La Grande Metairie
Time to have a sneaky peek back at our last full day in Brittany this summer. It was a grey day but we headed to the famous megaliths as on one day a week they had a tour in English:
In summer months the megaliths are fenced in to help protect the vegetation from too many people trampling it down. This means you can only go on tours. I can remember doing one at my children's age where the guide only spoke French but did it slowly!
One thing you aren't supposed to do is pretend to push the stones over but I only got told that after this shot:
Its such an incredible place and hard to imagine how neolithic people managed to construct all the straight lines with such huge rocks:
The tour guide told us plenty of fascinating things about how the stones such as the stones being bigger on the ridges and shorter in the bottom of the valley:
And they haven't come from very far away and you can see which side of the rock was underground and which one was on the surface if you look close:
Afterwards my son decided to join me to run back to the campsite alongside the standing stones and through the woods:
It was well signposted and we weren't super speedy:
He was treated afterwards to another go in the lazy river at the pool complex (please not many other people braving the chilly air!):
Then we retreated to the warmer indoor/outdoor pool with its retractable roof. It was 1.5 m deep all round so perfect for jumping into:
Plenty of room for water play:
Then the kids tried pony trekking (shortly after this shot my son asked to get off as the pony kept shaking and he didn't like it!):
Big sister actually managed the full ride and loved it even if her pony didn't always agree with the direction we wanted to go:
In the evening the kids had a brief dip into the junior disco before rounding off the evening with air hockey:
All in all a great way to end our week in Brittany - more to come from our second week in France...
Saturday, 20 July 2013
#CountryKids in the River Kent
With the end of term approaching there weren't going to be many opportunities for after school swimming in the river at Staveley so on Tuesday I made sure that the children's swimming things were in the car. It was another hot day so they were very pleased to get in and cool off:
There a couple of tempting rope swings that others have put above the river:
My son hasn't yet had the confidence to have a proper go:
Big sister has no such fear:
He did get brave enough to get this far into the water:
Big sister went further and actually swam:
We are very lucky to have a safe swimming spot that the children can use in hot weather under adult supervision. There are plenty of stories in the news about people dying when swimming in unsafe places but hopefully my children know to watch out for warning signs.
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Reasons to be Cheerful: Smiling in face of adversity! ( #R2BC )
1) Family Fun
We all went swimming on Sunday after church. It was good fun for all of us diving to the bottom of the pool for weighted rings. Not a huge amount of proper swimming but we all had a great time. So glad my 2 are confident and getting competent in the water.
2) New Teeth
Having a tooth out didn't make me smile but the fact they coloured coordinated the replacement with my existing teeth means that they look the same! Before I had a sparkly white crown which really stood out and a gap from a previous extraction. Now I can smile again without showing a weird combination!
3) Autumn
This is my favourite season and I am loving the colours and the whole autumnal feel. A brilliant time for photography:
Join in and tell us what are your reasons to be cheerful this week.
Saturday, 20 October 2012
Saturday what do you do with yours?
Being a working mum I breathe a sigh of relief when Saturday comes round. No one has to get up for work or school so the alarms are off and we can lie in longer (shame for some reason my children actually wake earlier!).
At the moment there are no out of school activities for either child so the day is ours. Generally this means we pootle about at home in the morning and hit the swimming pool at lunch time. We did get caught out this week with the pool being closed for a training course. Apparently posters have been up in leisure centre for weeks about it but I missed them amongst the tonnes of adverts...
Saturday afternoons are quite often spent catching up on the housework that doesn't get done during the week. Today I offered the children small bits of extra pocket money to tidy their rooms and it was a success! My children do play out in our cul de sac too if weather is good.
By the early evening it's time to watch a DVD and maybe eat popcorn (and if its been pay day a pizza delivery!). By then we are all ready to just chill out. I'm sure soon we will have more energy on Saturdays but for now I am happy with a mix of chilling and being active!
How do you spend yours?
At the moment there are no out of school activities for either child so the day is ours. Generally this means we pootle about at home in the morning and hit the swimming pool at lunch time. We did get caught out this week with the pool being closed for a training course. Apparently posters have been up in leisure centre for weeks about it but I missed them amongst the tonnes of adverts...
Saturday afternoons are quite often spent catching up on the housework that doesn't get done during the week. Today I offered the children small bits of extra pocket money to tidy their rooms and it was a success! My children do play out in our cul de sac too if weather is good.
By the early evening it's time to watch a DVD and maybe eat popcorn (and if its been pay day a pizza delivery!). By then we are all ready to just chill out. I'm sure soon we will have more energy on Saturdays but for now I am happy with a mix of chilling and being active!
How do you spend yours?
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Reasons to be Cheerful XXVI ( #R2BC )
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| One of the lovely stained glass windows |
Thursday, 21 July 2011
Reasons to be Cheerful XVIII (#R2BC)
After my son's report last week I was hoping that my daughter would get as good a one. A quick look at her KS1 SAT's results was a great start:
- Speaking and listening 2
- Reading 3
- Writing 2A
- Mathematics 3
- Science 3
On the whole the rest of her report was also good though her teacher was trying to find nice ways to admit my daughter is "bossy"! She came across as an enthusiastic pupil who has done really well despite all the upheavals in her life over the last 2 years.
2) Son finishing nursery
This had the potential to be a tear jerker as its the end of an era! However we had a lovely farewell party at his nursery this week for all the children leaving this month. There were bouncy castles and a magician as well as free ice creams (supplied by my church!).
3) Kids' swimming
At the end of term both my children passed their assessments to move on up a group. They have come on so much since starting at Troutbeck in January. Their confidence has increased and its a joy to watch them. We will see how things are after the school holidays and we must practice over the summer!
4) Slimmer of the Week!
What a great way to get back on track with the diet - a 5 lb weight loss and slimmer of the week! It may well be that listening to my Thinking Slimmer slimpod is finally working. Let's hope it continues to stop me feeling hungry so I can stick with my Rosemary Conley low fat and lots exercise regime.
Thursday, 19 May 2011
Reasons to be Cheerful X (#R2BC)
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| So keen she wore her hat and goggles to watch TV! |
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| My son the day he was born |
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