Lake Sundog 2012 (1 week in)

One of the draws of heading to Lake Sundog and Carl's family cabin in Michigan is that there is no cell and no internet access. This means when I head into town every couple of days I catch up on email on my iphone or any texts or voicemails I missed. Then I snuggle back into the communicationless cocoon of Sundog.

This is my romantic vision of it, but I think most of the Johnsons are annoyed at being unable to access their phone calls or be on more than dial up. As a result, as technology improves every couple of years, Carl comes up with a gadget to bring here and try to see if our internet can get faster and if we can improve our cell reception. As I am typing this you can see this is the first time it worked so instead of embracing my cocoon, I will embrace change and having internet at the cabin. I might only log on once or twice a day which is a switch, but I won't be completely gone for the two weeks I planned.

Since I am going for it, I thought I would post a few pictures of our trip since I know how much my family and some friends love looking at my pictures and the life of the boys. My first images are for me alone though.

This is the first time I have been to Sundog in June and its a wet mess here. I am not sure if we have gone more than a day without rain. Honestly since I am looking at months of rainless days in Southern California I will take the rain today. Besides it never a full day and we can usually spend a morning or afternoon tromping through the forest.

The second day we were here though it was 100% rain. My poor boys, they got brand new bikes and couldn't hardly use them because the dirt road was too muddy. As they napped or played quietly inside, I can't remember, I was reading a book on my usual spot on the couch facing the window looking out at the lake. I knew the minute I looked up this was a rare moment that I have never before captured of the lake and I have many beautiful moments captured. So I pulled out my newest 16-24 mm lens and walked down the hill to shoot. This day was so unique because the lake was still as glass and the cloud reflecting on the lake were gorgeous. Definitely one for that book I make one of these years of lake pictures.

Here are some of our other shenanigans we have gotten into while it wasn't raining. Mostly we have quietly kept to ourself at the cabin, but have come up with some ways to cause trouble.

We took the training wheels off of Erik's bike and let him try to learn. He quickly realized it was going to be hard and has only tried twice. I have a feeling it might be a while before we take training wheels off again. I had to though because has been asking me for months to do this.

Elliot has gotten to ride on roads with no cars in sight. Love the country and how few people there are out here.

We've played with "cousin" Erik since it was a rainy day and he was home from daycare. He is only 5 months younger than Elliot and all the boys really got along.

We've counted all the animals we've encountered in the woods while driving. So far we have seen 14 deer, 1 wolf, and 4 wild turkeys.

We've gone to a model A show and even saw one on ski's that plowed snow.

Mostly the boys have come up with many creative ways to keep themselves entertained. Jumping off the table was torturous for grandma and she swore they would break a leg. Just as a parently side note, they were totally safe in my opinion. My kids have jumped off far worse than that table.

 

Parks & Rec Swim Lessons

This is one of those blogs for prosperity sake, and the pictures are mostly for their photobook, but its still fun to write it.

I decided since Elliot was finally 3 to take a different route with swim lessons. In the past Elliot could only do a parent class with me in the pool which left me with Erik hanging around so an impossible prospect. Instead I just turned to Lucile Cowle because its 15 minutes private lessons and I could just have the kids go in the pool with an instructor. Them being comfortable in the pool and swim ready is very important to me because their grandparents have a pool and as I proved a month ago just the little bit Elliot got last year from swim lessons really saved him during his big fall in the deep end.

So this year I decided instead of doing two sessions through Lucile Cowle I would just spend $30 on the parks and rec class and then do a followup with the more expensive swim school. My theory is that it took a session for my kids to wam up and get comfortable with the water so better to spend $30 and waste that session and save the more expensive lessons for later in the summer. Also I was curious how Erik would do in a group lessons. He is a show off and spurred by competition so I thought it would be interesting to see how he did with other kids in his class.

My first impressions of the parks and rec class is that they are probably not going to swim by the end. They have the teacher using too many aides and not enough pushing to do it on their own, but I like the class. They have an instructor for about every 6 kids and my boys are really doing well in the class. Erik has made friends and is constantly showing off. While waiting for his turn he runs around the pool dunking his head and trying to swim and just showing great confidence in the water. Elliot on the other hand never leaves the wall and is a little intimdated. He follows instructions, but he is struggling a bit. The purpose of this exercise is for him to be comfortable in the water so he can maybe move onto the next step later this summer. My prediction is only Erik will be swimming by the end of the summer, maybe Elliot if he likes his teacher at Lucile Cowle.

Here's a run down of what they do for every class. There is class ahead of them so they have to wait on the yellow line for class to start and for the instructors to tell them they are ready.

Once they are called in the kids are expected to climb into the pool themselves. Elliot needs help getting to the wall, Erik has no problem walking there himself.

They warm up playing red light, green light each session and practicing their kicks and bubbles along the wall. My kids totally love this game.

Today they split the class into two groups and practiced individual skills. Erik plays around instead of listening most of the time which is frustrating, but I can't control him very well while he is in the pool.

First they work on floating, first their stomach and backs. Erik can almost float by himself, but is showing some fear when the instructor lets go, Elliot can barely get his arms and legs straight.

Then they practice superman glides in the water. Both of the kids do well with this and like the exercise.

Erik's "mom take a picture of me shot." He does this constantly in class, dunking his head. Its such an improvement over last year when he absolute refused to dunk his head or put his face in the water.

Then back glides, which is like super man glides but on their back. No kicking just straight arms and legs.

 

Then they kick using a board, but the instructor will let go if the kids ask. He has not let go for either of my kids.

 

Then they end class with a big jump. Erik is still a little afraid of jumping, he was all of last year too. Elliot who jumped like a champ last year isn't do it as well this year. Since jumping is a HUGE part of Luicle Cowle I am not too worried. They'll get it by the end of the summer.

I was wondering what it was going to like since Parks and Rec instructors can be a bit unpredictable, but I am impressed by the caliber of teachers and they really choose the right instructors who relate to kids well. I would recommend the parks & rec program for anyone looking for inexpensive swim lessons.

{Sneak Preview} Molly's 5th Birthday

A friend of mine decided to make her daughter's 5th birthday a very special day and hired a company to do a fairy tea party. Since she was going to so much effort she also hired me to capture images from that day. So a shout out to Molly who turned 5 yesterday and what a fun way to celebrate her 5th birthday. Here are just a few images I captured from yesterday of the birthday girl and all her friends. It definitely was a fun day for the kids, I know my boys enjoyed it even though the day was all about fairies.