Aaron on the Waterslide

Aaron loved the kid-sized waterslide and with his new swimming skills, he didn't need a parent at the bottom to catch him. We stood at the exit (where I'm taking this video from) and watch as he made circuit after circuit down the waterslide, out the exit, then back up the stairs to the slide again. He even met a little girl there that he slid with several times while holding hands.

Fall 2008 Swim Meet

Today the boys participated in their first joint swim meet.  Aaron is not on the swim team yet, but had progressed in his private lessons to the point where he could swim the entire 25m pool with both a freestyle stroke and the back stroke.  There was another little girl there his age and so they swam the heats together.  Aaron came in second and earned his first 2 swim meet ribbons for finishing second in both heats.  Alex swam in 7 events and earned ribbons for each of them.  Since there are kids of different ages and skill levels on the swim team, everyone who swims in the heat gets a a ribbon.  The top three finishers get 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in "Division I", the next three get their respective ribbons in "Division II", and so forth.  Alex's best finish was 3rd place in Division I in the individual 100m medley where he had to do one length of the pool with each stroke (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, and breast stroke) one after the other.  They got pizza afterwards which all the kids loved.  Way to go guys!

Aaron Qualifies for the Swim Meet

I just found out that Aaron has qualified for the swim team's swim meet coming up in a couple of weeks.  He's been getting private lessons but has not been practicing with the swim team like Alex has.  He qualified by swimming the length of the pool (25m) doing the freestyle and then back the other way using the backstroke.  He'll compete against the othe beginning swimmers in those 2 events in 2 weeks. Congratulations Aaron!

Aaron Underwater

We love our waterproof camera, about as much as Aaron loves swimming.

Aaron Flipping Over

Becky took this video during swim lessons today.  We've been trying to get him to flip over for weeks in the pool.  He has a good freestyle stroke, but wouldn't come up for air and keep going.  He would exhaust himself trying to swim as far as he could without taking a breath.  OK for short distances in the pool, but potentially dangerous if trying to swim to safety. His swim teacher, Monica, has been trying to get him to take some forward strokes, flip over into a back float to catch his breath, then flip over to a freestyle stroke again.  She told him to take as long as he needed to catch his breath before flipping back over, which is why you see him staying in that back float for a minute or so, gathering his nerve.  He does even better when he swims back from her to the steps, doing the flip over routine twice.

Cannonball!

Red Eyed Tree Frog, Jumping in the Pond

This shot of Aaron launching into the pool from the edge, ready to faceplant and then freestyle his way to Becky reminded us of a red-eyed tree frog jumping into a pond.  His swim teacher posted this on their bulletin board at the pool.

Montana Vacation - Day 7 - Swimming, BBQ, and Wolves

While I spent the morning in the conference and the afternoon learning practical improvisation of medical skills and equipment in a workshop, Becky and the boys swam in the heated pool under the shadow of Mount Andesite.  The pool was so warm that they had to take breaks to avoid getting overheated.

That evening we had a BBQ dinner at a nearby restaurant and then went on a hayride around the resort.  It was misting a little, but it was still fun.  Our horses were John & Wayne.


 That night we attended a special presentation by Bob Landis who has made several documentary films based out of Yellowstone.  The one he is working on now will be called Wolves - A Legend Returns to Yellowstone.  We got to see raw footage from it and he narrated the footage for us - kind of like the behind the scenes commentary on a DVD, except live.  This was such a treat, especially since we had not seen any wolves there the other day.  As we found out tonight, wolves are rather secretive and don't like to come near areas that people frequent.

Camping at Grand Lake at St. Mary's

Today we launched our summer camping trip, this time at Grand Lake at St. Mary's state park.  Technically we left the house last night, but it was raining with the threat of severe weather later.  We had a break from the rain long enough to set up our tent last night. We spent the night in a nearby motel and headed back to the campsite today under much clearer skies. After eggs and bacon, we geared up for swimming.  Grand Lake is Ohio's largest inland lake.  When it was built in the 1800's, it was the largest man-made lake in the world at the time.  We really didn't explore the lake, just the beach near the campgrounds.  The cove floor was a little mucky, but the boys had fun.  The beach itself smelled fishy, and when we were leaving we realized that it was due to the sand-covered dead fish about 20 feet from our towels.



The campground let us rent bikes - actually chopper-style trikes that Alex tooled around in for an hour. 



Tonight we built a fire and roasted hot dogs for our dinner.  Later we roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  A group of people set up a soccer game in a field behind our tent and the boys watched the match until bedtime.  After we put them down Becky and I engaged in our favorite camping activity.  Sitting by the fire and talking until we burned up all of the wood by about 1 in the morning.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 1 - Volcano Pool & Ohana

We finally made it to Orlando after months of planning. Grammy and Grandpa Hardage brought us and we've really been looking forward to this day. We took the Disney shuttle from the airport and it brought us to the Polynesian Resort. It is one of the original resorts that rings the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom. It is themed around Polynesian longhouses which look great with all of the palm trees on the property. The boys posed in front of the rainforest garden they have growing in the lobby while we checked in.
Once we got settled, we threw on our swimsuits from our carry-on bags and walked over to the Volcano Pool, named for the steaming volcano that had sprouted next to the pool, allowing the Disney Imagineers to build a waterslide right through it. We played there for a couple of hours until they brought our bags over from the shuttle, so we could change for dinner. We had adjoining rooms on the first floor near the entrance of one of the centrally located longhouses, which put us near about anything we needed to get to. The other advantage of our location was its proximity to the ferry dock, the monorail station, the bus stop and the Ticket and Transportation Center which got us to anywhere we needed to get on the the entire resort property.
Tonight we just had to walk to 'Ohana (which means "Family") in the main building, the Great Ceremonial House. The meal was served family style in courses, culminating in them bringing by skewers of meat that had been cooked on a grill in the center of the restaurant and dispensing turkey, pork, or beef medallions right onto our plates. The entertainment was provided by a hula singer who involved the crowd, especially the kids in the songs and dances. Once of the dances they encouraged the kids to go a grab a parent to dance with and so Becky got the privilege.

Winter Swim Meet 2008

After winning all three of his events in his last swim meet, he was bumped up to the next division and competed in 6 events this year. He has been practicing hard at Swim Team and it shows.
Using a variety of strokes - the forward crawl, the breaststroke, the butterfly, and his favorite, the backstroke - Alex swam very hard in his division.
He did well enough to place in all six events - 2 first place ribbons, 2 second place, and 2 third place. He had a great time and wants to keep up with his swimming skills, so this will likely not be his last meet.

So Glad the Pool is Indoors

After breakfast at Kalahari we got this rhinocerous to hold still long enough for us to snap a picture in front of him. Good thing that stick fence was there to protect us in case he decided to stampede.
Today we swam until we were waterlogged. This pool was a favorite for the boys because there was enough room to practice their swimming moves from their swimming lessons.
There were also basketball goals set up to slam dunk some water basketballs. The favorite was still the wave pool and we spent much of our day in there.
We picked a good day to come to an indoor water park as it was one of the most bitterly cold days of the year, especially since the wind was blowing hard, creating below zero wind chills. I've dressed for colder weather in warmer clothes and done fine in the past, but today was different. Because we checked out of our hotel room, I hauled almost all of our gear into the van, but since we had to cram our day's necessities into a pool locker, I was wearing sweatpants and a windbreaker instead of my heavy winter coat. Because it was a popular weekend and the parking lot was far from the entrance, I think that was the closest I've ever come to frostbite. I warmed up quickly when I got out of the wind (the hot tub helped also). Day 2 of Aaron's birthday was a lot of fun.

Kalahari Celebration

Today we began the 1st day of a 3-day weekend celbration of Aaron's birthday. He was so happy to get to go to Kalahari Indoor Resort and Waterpark for his "birthday weekend". Kalahari is also in Sandusky along with the Great Wolf Lodge and Castaway Bay (Where we spent his 1st birthday). As you'd expect it had an African theme. Many of the waterpark activities were made for older kids with lots of big slides and 2 separate "Flowrider" attractions that pushes water up a hill allowing you to attempt to surf on the effective wave. Instead we enjoyed the Climbing Fort, the Lazy River, the Wave pool, and the Hot Tub. (These all had cute African names, but I've since forgotten them all.)
After we dried off and had dinner we burned off a few calories playing in the arcade, including an exhilirating run of Mario kart which the kids expectedly ate up.
Before bed we let Aaron open a "monkey box" full of small presents for his Birthday and played with a few of those before bedtime. Then we had to get a good night's rest so we could do it all again in the morning.

Alex The Torpedo

Alex has been swimming faster and faster and Becky caught it on video.

Talking While Swimming

Aaron likes to talk while swimming. Becky caught it on video.

Three Blue Ribbons

Alex has been working hard on the swim team at the gym, learning the freestyle stroke, the backstroke, the breast stroke, and the butterfly stroke. Since this was Alex's first time on swim team he got to compete in Division 1. He won blue ribbons for coming in 1st place in his division in 100 yard freestyle, 50 yard breast stroke, and the 50 yard butterfly and got a certificate for most improved swimmer. He was very proud and wants to continue in swim team, even though he know it means he'll be moving up a division.

Our New Fish

Aaron took group swimming lessons this summer, but had trouble taking turns and was a bit flustered by the group setting. In stead of repeating that this session, we decided to enroll him in private swimming lessons. He has really taken off. Today he swam underwater with his face fully in and kicking and using his"big ice cream scoop" hands and arms to swim 8 feet or so to the pool steps. He is very proud of himself. Alex is enrolled in group lessons again and is also doing well.

P.J. Hoffmaster Beach

After the disappointing, mucky beaches of Saginaw Bay, we decided that we wanted to check out the nicer beaches on the west side of the state. We booked a hotel at Grand Rapids, about 50 minutes from Grand Haven State Park. Grand Haven, MI is a popular summer resort town, so we expected it to be busy. What we didn’t expect was that this town, that calls itself Coast Guard City, USA, was holding a festival celebrating the 217th anniversary of the Coast Guard this weekend. It was fun driving through this quaint resort town and seeing the festivities, until it became obvious that we were going to have to park MILES away from the beach and walk with our gear. No thanks. We were in luck however, because western Michigan is dotted with public beaches, and 10 miles north lay P.J. Hoffmaster State Park. The beach was everything that we had hoped for.
The only downside was that the water was a little cold for this overcast day. After being in it for a while, you got numb used to it enough to enjoy it. Alex is doing so well with his swimming that he swam out to the edge of the swimming zone with confidence and a small kickboard. Becky and Aaron played for a while, but they preferred the sandy beach, which had some of the nicest, finest sand we had ever seen.
As a matter of fact, this beach was on the other side of a fabulous set of dunes that boys and I explored like we were climbing a mountain.
Alex wanted me to bury him up to his face, and then let Aaron dig him up like buried treasure, knocking some into his face accidently. We reluctantly packed up just as the sun broke through so we could scrounge up some dinner and get back to the hotel to wash of the sand.

Saginaw Bay

After last summer's side trip to the Jersey Shore, we wanted to get back to a beach this summer as well. We thought we'd combine it with a camping trip, so we looked for an open campsite in a state park near a beach. We found what we wanted at Bay City State Recreation Area in Michigan, or so we thought. As we pulled into the parking lot, the attendant told us that we should be careful of the muck on the shore. The what? Apparently Saginaw Bay has been plagued by a mysterious ooze that creeps onto the shore and harbors E. coli. They built a pier to let us climb out over the muck and into the Bay. The Bay at this beach was shallow so we could get quite a ways away from the shore, but we didn't really feel comfortable.
We spent a lot of time on the beach, hunting shells and playing in the sand. It was nice - except for the smell of the muck.
Alex wanted to take a picture of us. It occurs to me now that we have many pictures of the kids or shots of one of us with one or more of the kids, but very few of the two of us. Now that Alex is learning, we'll give him the camera more often to try to even the score.

OK Vacation - Whitewater Bay

Today we set out on another cloudy day to try to have some fun in the water. I hadn't been to Whitewater (now Whitewater Bay) since I was a kid. They've added a few new features, but it is mostly how I remembered it. These fun things from my childhood are so much more fun now experiencing them with the kids. We all took a trip around on the lazy river to get wet and get our bearings for the place. The kids wanted some time in the kids' play area that had slides and fountains and structures to climb on.
Then we made our way to the innertube slides. I love this picture for the symmetry of their legs and the look on Alex's face upon splashdown.
Similarly, I love the look on Dad's face and I can hear the noise he's making in this picture when the cold water went up his back.


This is 4 of the 6 Evans boys as we came down the Big Kahuna - the kids loved it, as did Mark and I. After lunch, Melinda challenged Mark and I to go down the, I kid you not, Mega-Wedgie. This is a 64 foot slide nearly straight down. Ever since Melinda's battle with cancer, I resolved to make sure that I would try to be at least as tough as Melinda, so we did it. From the top of the tower, we noticed a storm coming in fast, so we raced down - easy to do on the Mega-Wedgie - and gathered our family into the minivans just as the lightning storm started rolling in. We had 5 good hours there, and that was about enough.