Ellen's Swim Lessons

We were lucky enough to get Ellen signed up for swim lessons this year. Actually, I had Trevor signed up to, but the only class they had available for him was a Parent/Child class. Landon took him the first day and we decided it was better suited for someone Levi's age, so we pulled him out.

Ellen on the other hand was soooo excited for her lessons this year. Ella likes doing her activities, but really I have never seen her get as excited about anything else as she does about swim lessons. We put her in Level 1 again because we weren't sure where she would match up between the different swim complexes in Pocatello and here. It was a perfect fit for her.

Her lessons were 45 minutes long, so most days the boys and I just waited for her. The Aquatics Complex here in Tooele is actually really, really nice. They have two different pools and supposedly Tooele has a great swim team. They have meets here regularly, so there is a viewing area above the pools. That is where the boys and I would hang.

The pictures are from far away so they are hard to see, but it was the best I could do. Ellen ended up being the only girl in her class. She didn't mind that. Ellen is usually a baby about getting her head in the water. She usually plugs her nose in the shower because she is afraid that she will get water up her nose. So I was completely impressed that on her first day of class she was dunking her face in the water and opening her eyes to look around no problem.

In fact, her favorite thing to practice was underwater swimming. In this picture she is the one face down practicing swimming on her own. She can do about 5 or 6 strokes all by herself.

Another totally fun part about our swim complex is the slide. That's right, we have an indoor waterslide and current river that the kids can play on. Kids of any age can go down our waterslide as long as they have a parent. Ellen was just barely tall enough to go down by herself. Normally at the end of their swim lessons they would give them about 10 minutes to play in the water and practice. They usually didn't turn on the slide, but on the last day of the week for the two weeks she had lessons they would turn on the slide so that the kids could go down.

We went swimming as a family the week before she started lessons and Landon and I could barely talk her into going down the slide with he or me then, but when it came to going on the slide at lessons she could not wait! She loved it and did it over and over again as many times as she could during free time.

At the end of her two weeks she was given a certificate telling all the things that she can now do and a sucker.

The pool is taking a month long break before they start fall lessons, but we have already signed up all three kids for the next session. Ellen will move on to level 2, Trevor will be in a preschool class, and Landon and I get to battle it out over who gets to do the parent/child class with Levi. We are excited to have this aquatic complex at our disposal (and it is cheap, by the way). We are hoping that swimming can become a big part of our family. Yipee for swim lessons!