growing up

I don't know why the white water trip story is so long and why I have so much to talk about from swimming, but I had a lot of realizations at white water.....there was a lot of growing up!

We get passes to White Water every year. We love it. We didn't get to go a whole lot this year, but we did swim a lot at other places. We went today, probably for the last time this summer. We had a great time, but it was kind of sad. But, for you to understand why it made me sad, you need a little glimpse into our previous trips to white water or other pools.

The first summer with kids, we had M and another girl in our home. M was 6 and did great in the water. She wore her life jacket in the deep ends, but wanted it off in the shallow ends. If she was afraid, she wanted to be by herself. Yep, this feisty fireball wanted no one touching her if she was nervous. Having no one touch her gave her a sense of control and security. We had a great time at any pool we went to, and she naturally learned to swim. She swam with her life jacket, and when possible, she just gradually and naturally learned to swim. Before we knew it, she was a pro. Actually, we were with our friends at a hotel pool, and we wanted a picture of them all jumping into the pool together, but we couldn't get the picture fast enough, so we had them jump in, swim to the side, get out, and jump back in. After they had done this a couple of times, we realized that M was SWIMMING all by herself over and over in the DEEP end! And that was it....off she went.

The next summer we had M, H and A with us. H was very similar to M except that she did NOT want to keep her life jacket on. Every chance she got, that jacket was off and she was trying her best to swim. She, like M, just gradually and naturally became a swimmer. H is a quiet girl, but she is definitely determined and strong willed. She follows the rules, for the most part, so we weren't to nervous with her.

A, on the other hand, did NOT like the water. I am not just talking about kind of not having a great time. I am talking screaming and climbing up our legs afraid of the water that barely covers her TOES in the beach entry pool! Oh my!!!!!! We were thinking that if we just held her , she would be just fine, so we went straight to the lazy river and tried holding her in it.....surely that would work! Umm.....NOPE. That did not work. She clung so hard to us that it hurt. She was very afraid. We finally figured out what worked best......we put a small floaty ring around her waist, she sat on a bigger floaty ring, and then sat on an inflated boat. We held on to that boat as well. She STILL did not feel safe. She did float down the lazy river in it, but her face was tense and strained, not relaxed. I would not say she had fun, but she eventually tolerated it. Really, what kid cries when you announce, "We are going to white water today!"? We tried. We tried hard. She acted like that every time we went to a pool. We figured that the next year would be better.

Well, the next year we had S too. A was NOT better about the water, well, not really. S took after A, not H and M. S did NOT enjoy the water either. So, gradually and eventually, they took baby steps. They would just sit on the stairs at hotel pools, and we would just put on those life jackets and floaties and more floaties and take them in the deep end and endure the grunting, groaning, screaming, crying and clawing. Hmmm.....and I wonder why people don't want to go to white water with us......sounds so pleasant! Just kidding!

Fast forward to this year........we went to White Water, and while there have been gradual steps and small victories in the pool adventures, it just kind of hit both Autumn and I all at once. It just seemed like one day we had to force them into water covered in flotation devices, then the next day they were just swimming away!

Yes, folks, our babies swim! Let me tell you about our day at white water with our 4 grown up children. They put on sunscreen. Let me rephrase that.....they put on their OWN sunscreen. They have kind of been doing that for a while, but it just seemed so grown up on this particular trip. We went directly in the wave pool. No whining, no grumbling or crying about how deep it was. There was no crying about sharks in the pool (yes, that has been an issue in the past). They just happily got on their life jackets and splashed on into that pool right to the deep end. The two big girls went out with little floatie rings and hung onto them, then swam around and came back to the rings.

We got out of the wave pool, and they wanted to go to the big huge tower of slides. Yes, they have all gone down these slides before, but this time seemed different because they ALL wanted to go and we didn't have to talk anyone into it or bribe anyone to go on it! The two big girls decided they would go down the big huge straight down slide. I don't even or haven't ever gone down that slide! We asked if they were really really really sure like a hundred times, and they said they were, so off we went up the huge tower. The two little girls and myself got a tube and went down the twisty slides, and the two big girls and Autumn went down the slide of death (that's what I call it, not them....and I only call it that in my head not to them, just so you know). I was just sure M would have to come walking down the stairs because she chickened out of it, but nope. They all three came down with smiles on and loved it!

We then headed over to the lilly pads. If you do not know what this is, it is big lilly pads that float in the water and are attached to a rope from the bottom. It requires a lot of balance to get across those pads, and there is a rope above you to help pull yourself across. My first memory of the lilly pads was from when I was a little girl. My mother and my aunt Nancy were DETERMINED to get across those things. It seems like we stayed for hours while they tried time and time again to get across, falling in the water every time. It could be that they fell because they were laughing so hard! I remember my mom being so amazed at all the little kids who could get across, but these two grown women couldn't. So I had two things in my mind with the lilly pads: 1-grown women should never try because I remember feeling so sorry for them when they kept falling off. 2- they are pretty much impossible to cross.

M and H have been able to cross those lilly pads since we first started bringing them. It was a struggle at first, but they are so determined, that even if they were just barely hanging on, and it took forever, they did NOT let go. They made it to the end. Every time they cross those silly lilly pads, I think about how proud and amazed my would have been! I know it is silly, but I do think of that every time! So this time A wanted to try. Really? Yep, she wanted to try. Let me tell you that she is just as determined as the oldest two and she crossed those lilly pads! Watch out world because these girls WILL do what they set out to do!

Then we went on to the yellow slide. This isn't the tallest slide, but it is enclosed, and you do not go down it with a tube. You go down this slide on your own and end up in the deep end....yes the dreaded deep end. Earlier this year, we decided to all go on it, instead of one of us staying with the little girls. They were kind of excited, but VERY scared. And they did have on life jackets, so we weren't expecting them to swim by themselves in the deep end. While standing in line, we got a million questions, as well as very wide eyes. When we got to the top, Autumn went first, then M, then H.....then S. She was scared, but she went. Then A........the lifeguard looked at me and gave me the head nod. I then proceeded to sit A in the blasting water and shove her down the slide.....easy right? Ummmm......not so much. She wouldn't sit. I lifted her up, but she put her feet down to stand instead of sit. With everyone behind me getting a little irritated, I had to do something. So I lifted her little screaming self up, kicked her feet out from under her, and sat her down in a hurry before she could get back up. All that was left was to shove her down, but oh man, she latched on to the bar above the slide. So what do I do? After I kicked her feet out from under her, I scraped one hand off, then the other as she screamed like crazy, then shoved her on down! The lifeguard looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and said, "Oh she'll like it, don't worry!" I went down the slide and caught up with the rest of the family where A informed that the slide was "so cool" and she will go back next time! That is when I brought out the lecture about trust. "You just have to trust us A. Sometimes we know things you don't and we want what is best for you. You just need to trust us." In that split second, I thought about how true that statement is with our heavenly father and us. A did not appreciate my profound thoughts in the middle of white water and only cared about getting to the next thing.

This time, however, the "yellow slide" experience was much different. We said we were going on the yellow slide, everyone got out of the pool and came, we got in line, everyone went down the slide on their own, and a good time was had by all. Wow they are so grown up!

The last thing we did was the lazy river. It was almost closing time, so there wasn't a lot of people at all in the lazy river. After we were in it for a while, Autumn and I talked about how different this experience was. Autumn and I had all of the floaties and we were being lazy on them in the lazy river. The girls (all of them can touch in the lazy river) were ahead of us being "dolphins" in the water. All four of them were "diving" in and out of the water, swimming and having a great time. On one hand, it was so fun to not have to watch them as closely and to relax a little and to not have to hold them. On the other hand, it was so sad to see how much they are growing up! How does this go so fast?