This Is How Our June Was Spent: Drawing, Exercising, And Swimming

Well, June is speeding fast to its close, and our family is about to leave town and (finally!) take a trip to Colorado. We're going for a Nash family reunion, and we are pretty darn excited about it. But first, maybe I should churn out a quick blog post or two to let everyone know what we've been doing for summer thus far.

We may have had a nicer-than-normal spring, but unfortunately, Mother Nature seems to have remembered that we live in Arizona, and it's supposed to be HOT down here. For most of June, it's been pretty miserable. We've spent most of the last three weeks well north of 100 degrees, and some days we've wanted nothing more than to stay indoors, trying not to sweat too much.

So, of course, I enrolled my kids in a bunch of activities to ensure that we all spent lots of time outdoors! That's logical.

I actually managed to keep the kids pretty busy during June. Reasoning that idle hands are the devil's playthings, I enrolled each girl in multiple activities. Much of our time was spent driving to and fro, dropping people off at one event or the other. Luckily, nothing ended up being too expensive, and the kids all enjoyed themselves.

First of all, I got all the girls to participate in the free fitness and wellness camps offered at our local clubhouse. My two older girls participated in these camps last year and loved them, so we wanted to give them another shot. This year, Aurora participated in the first week of camp (for the 4-6 age group), and Celeste and Lorelai participated the following week (for the 7-12 age group). Even though many of the activities took place outside, it started fairly early in the morning, so the kids wouldn't roast. The kids took nature walks, played soccer, dodge-ball, Red Rover, and volleyball; they also did some kid-friendly aerobics, ate some healthy snacks, and played hard at the community pool. All three girls had a blast. We love that our clubhouse offers these camps; it is an easy way to get kids out and moving a bit more in the summertime.

But that's not all! This year, each girl got to try their hand at a new activity as well. Lorelai and Celeste, for example, both took a weekly two-hour drawing class, taught by the art teacher of their charter school! A friend of mine approached "Ms. Sophie" and asked her if she wouldn't mind teaching an extra class over the summer, and my girls were eager to try it out. As a bonus, Ms. Sophie only lives a short bike ride away from our home, so both Lorelai and Celeste were able to get themselves to and from the class without any problems.

 

Confession time: I have almost no artistic ability whatsoever. I still draw stick figures to this day! I fear I have passed along my anti-art genes to my girls; I definitely saw improvement in their sketches from week to week, but something tells me their paintings will never be hanging in any major galleries.

But that doesn't matter, because they had a lot of fun chatting with the other students at the class, and trying out something new! It was a  good chance for the girls to get a little outside their comfort zone and have fun doing it.

Speaking of "getting outside a comfort zone"...

 

...Aurora had her first-ever swim lessons in June as well! She was overdue for these lessons; earlier this year, she was still wearing her life jacket and was terrified of swimming. I knew it was time for her to get more confident and independent in the water.

We signed up for private lessons with one of the clubhouse's lifeguards. Aurora's teacher was a cute girl named Marissa, and she was a wonderful teacher. I was impressed every day at how quickly Aurora progressed. She went from tentative to confident to fearless, all in a two-week span! Plus, since I wasn't supposed to be interfering with the lessons, I often spent the time poolside, getting caught up on my huge summer reading list:

I still have a ways to go!

But back to Aurora: on her last day of lessons, Marissa congratulated her on her progress, and invited her to test out her new skills by taking a trip down one of the clubhouse's water slides. This surprised me a little, and made me a little nervous. She still looked too tiny to be going down the water slides! But Marissa's encouragement was all she needed; she barely hesitated and went down the slide almost immediately! I was so impressed. In fact, after her lesson was done, she went down the slide over and over again, without any problems.

In just two weeks, my little girl suddenly looked so much bigger! But that was a good thing; I am so happy that she is getting better able to take care of herself. She was super excited to get her "certificate" (a free pizza from Papa Murphy's!) and a celebratory popsicle. Just a few days later, she tried out another one of the clubhouse's water slides, and handled it without difficulty. It's like a new door has been opened for her, and she' taking full advantage of the opportunity.

Mainly because of the swim lessons, our whole family spent a lot of extra time at the pool for the middle weeks of June. It wore us out pretty well! However, it was worth it to see all the progress Aurora made. So far, all three girls have had some great opportunities to exercise, play, and learn.