Soccer and Swimming

Today was James' first day at parent/tot soccer class. We have a little local soccer park which offers a 9 week summer program for kids 18 months and up. Because James is always on the go and he loves balls, we figured this would be a great class for him.

Owen and James hit the field while Matthew and I watched from the sidelines. It started with circle time and introductions. They asked to share the names and the child's favorite color. Do 18 month olds have a favorite color? Anyhow, James had chosen to sit on an orange pad, rather than a purple one that Owen had chosen, so we've decided orange is is favorite color. Plus he can say orange. After introductions they did a red light/green light activity running accross the field. Then they made little ball clowns out of pylons and had the kids practice kicking the ball.

I stopped paying attention at this point because it was quickly approaching 100 degrees (at 9am--YIKES!) and Matthew and I decided to move to a shaded area with the misters turned on.

The next thing I noticed was a big colorful parachute and all of the kids sitting on it as the parents were spinning them around. Next the kids ran under it while the parents held it up. Actually, James was the only one running underneath and all of the other kids were clinging to their parents pant legs. This is where we realized that the last year we've spent doing our weekly My Little Gym class has paid off. James really is learning skills because every few weeks they pull out the parachute and he obviously knew exactly what to do. All in all it was a typical toddler class and James and Owen had a good time. If this heat keeps up Owen and I will probably take turns on the field, so neither of us gets too burned out---or more likely too sunburned!

Ultimately, the temperature got up to 109 today, so around 6pm when it "cooled down" to a mere 90 degrees, we took the boys into the pool. This was Matthew's first time. He went in very easily and seemed to enjoy cooling off. I swooshed him around a bit and even dipped his head into the water like the teachers at James' swim class do with the little ones. He didn't seem to mind at all. It looks like we'll have 3 kids who love swimming!

You may have noticed that I didn't post yesterday. It was our saddest day of the year. The day Maddie leaves for her 5 week visit to her dad's house each summer. Owen, Maddie and I all find it very difficult to be apart, but by the grace of God we get through it each year. Many of our friends at home and down here are praying regularly for this situation and each year God has been faithful to answer those prayers by bringing our little girl home safely. We are trusting in Him as always.