squeezing out the last ounces of summer

this has been on cool (as in cold) summer!  except for madelyn's birthday, of course, were it was around 100 degrees.  but in a cruel twist of fate, it has gotten pretty hot the past two weeks.  you know, now that the kids are back in school.  sigh.

matt has had a few evenings where he wasn't able to be home this week so the kids and i have been hitting up the pool after school.  and i am so glad because the kids have had a breakthrough in the swimming department!  madelyn, who has by far been the most cautious in the pool, swims without her floaties all of the time (we even leave them at home now) and she dives under to swim without holding her nose.  she has just turned into a little fish!

mason is getting braver too.  he just started swimming with his face in the water and float on his back with feet up ("when you see my feet up, i am floating, mom!").

it was a really big day for mason.  because not only was he swimming with his face in the water but he decided that he would ride his bike to the pool!  this was such a super big deal!  a few weeks after he got his bike, he took a nasty fall and has not been willing to get back on it - until this week.  i ask him periodically, but he has just been too scared.  i don't know what changed but for the past two days he has been riding his bike all of the time and has ridden to the pool twice.  he still needs me to help hold the bike steady for his first two petal rotations while he gets going, but then he is fine.  he can even stop without falling.  i think he must have grown and inch or two since his birthday (i do know that he grew an inch in the first month) and it has made a huge difference.  here he is in his triumphant return to riding.

he rode his bike on thursday and friday but matt wasn't home before bedtime either day.  so this morning the first thing mason told matt about was swimming and riding his bike.  he has been so excited to tell him and mason tried to stay up late enough last night to see daddy but he couldn't wait long enough.

we have been doing more than i can possibly post.  matt took the kids putt-putting last weekend (no pictures) and daddy has been doing a lot with the big kids on the weekends.  i am so thankful for this last little pop of warm weather before the pool closes for the winter this weekend.

love.