Swimming Lessons

Reagan has been taking swimming lessons from a sweet friend of mine, Kendra Orozco. I have know her family for about 6 years now. I got to know them well when I taught Kendra's brothers, Cole and Chase, in 4th grade about 6 years ago. Their mom, Beverly, and I just connected. I can see her once or twice a year and we can talk like we have seen each other every single day. The conversation and the fellowship is just easy. Don't you love friends like that? I love the family and have stayed in contact with them and discovered at the beginning of the summer that Kendra teaches swimming lessons at her house. Of course, I signed Reagan up.

We started in June and Reagan took her last one yesterday. I am amazed at how much she has grown as a swimmer in such a short time. At the beginning of the summer she was a little skittish of the water, had to wear arm bands, and held her nose when she went under. Yesterday, she was diving off the diving board in a dive formation, without holding her nose. She also picked up dive sticks from the bottom of the DEEP END and swam all the way to the shallow end under water...without holding her nose or coming up for air. I was blown away by that. She was like a little fish, swimming in the proper formation under the water and doing frontward and backward flips under the water...all without holding her nose.

Can you tell I am a proud Momma?

I was watching her swim yesterday and I was just blown away by how much she has grown. She is turning into a little girl right before my eyes. I kept looking at Reagan, looking at Gracen, and then looking back at Reagan just amazed at how quickly the time has passed. It seems like Reagan was just a baby yesterday and now she is diving off the diving board into the deep end... and I'm letting her. I am so thankful for the every day moments....so thankful that I am with my girls everyday. I don't want to miss a moment...good or bad! As hard and long and tiring as some days are, I know that their childhood will be like a blink, and I'll never regret being their Momma or all the sacrifices that I make for them.

Gene and I are taking the girls to my brother-n-law's pool tomorrow morning so Reagan can show her Daddy her new skills. Gene is eager to go....which probably means that he doesn't really believe us. But, we'll show him!

Beverly took some pictures of Reagan's last day and gave them to me on CD. Thanks Bev! I wanted to share a few with you.

Here is Miss Kendra with Reagan. Isn't Kendra so pretty? Reagan loved her and told her she wanted to continue swimming lessons for 30 years. LOL!

Here she is diving off the diving board in her dive formation. Her dives were so pretty yesterday, while just a week or so ago she would do a belly buster every time. And Beverly has one of those nice, continuous action camera so you can see Reagan in motion. I only posted a few pics though. There were probably 10 shots of this one dive. My camera would have missed the whole dive with its delay.

Here she is coming down the slide. She would come down feet first, head first, on her stomach, on her back....just whatever she was in the mood to do! I love that she has a lot more confidence in the water.

Look at those pretty arms stretched out as she enters the water.

At the end of the lesson, Kendra and Carrie, another beauty that I taught in 4th grade years ago, taught Reagan a few cheerleader "throws"......I have no idea what the official term would be. Reagan had a blast with this and would have let them throw her up all day long. Again, this is a few shots out of about 40.

And of course Miss Gracen was there too. She ended up getting in the water towards the end of the lesson. I was not prepared to put her in, but she was determined to get in. That is why she is not in a swimsuit and her diaper is FULL of water.

We had a great time taking the lessons.

Thank you Kendra for teaching Reagan so much in such a short period of time, for going over the allotted time more than once, and for making Reagan feel so special and so loved.

Thank you Beverly for opening your home...inside and out...., for all the great fellowship time, and the wonderful pictures.

And Cole and Chase...it was wonderful to see you guys again. I cannot believe how tall and handsome you two have become.