Water Bugs

I had no idea when we left for our trip how much our girls would love the water. And I mean LOVE the water. I had expected that Lilly would like the pool, and warm up to the ocean eventually, and thought that Clara would be scared of both but maybe by the end of the week tolerate it. Boy was I wrong! From the very beginning both of them wanted to be in the ocean and the pool almost constantly. I have to say that they were really good and didn't argue too much when we told them that for whatever reason we were taking a break from one or the other, but man did they love swimming.

They got a huge kick out of us taking them into the surf and letting the waves splash over us...they even didn't mind the saltwater in their faces...they actually wanted to splash in it. They also enjoyed just sitting in the sand and letting the water wash up to them at the edge of the ocean. Steve dug them some ditches a couple of times and they got a kick out of it filling up with water as the surf came in.

The pool at the condo was really nice, too and they couldn't get enough of it. The first day I held Lilly in the pool and Steve held Clara as we played and splashed around. The next time we went, I'd gotten Lilly some 'water wings' (at least that's what we called them) and once she realized she could kick her feet and swim on her own, she was all for it. If you tried to help her, she'd say 'No Mommy...I swim myself!' Alrighty then...don't let me interfere too much with your independence, darling! We did get Clara some water wings as well, and though she didn't take to them as much, she liked wearing them (to be like her sister) and she really enjoyed sitting on the steps and playing with her toys in the water. Really, Clara's favorite game involved jumping off the wall to Steve in the pool. (Thanks for teaching that one to us, Carson!) There is a little rhyme that we would sing and at the end of it the kiddos would 'jump' off the wall to us in the water. They really weren't jumping...more stepping, or leaning in...but it was fun nonetheless.

Carson had some water wings, too but he wasn't feeling them very much...he didn't want them at all! Papa tried to convince him that it was 'cool' to wear water wings by putting them on himself (very funny...see photo below), but Carson was not convinced. The next day, when given the choice of wearing the water wings, or staying in the condo while the girls swam, he reluctantly opted for the wings. Good choice, Buddy! After a bit I think he forgot he even had them on he was having such a good time playing with his boats and balls in the water.