Little Fish, Little Fish

Micah took his first set of swimming lessons this summer. He was very nervous at first, since he's barely spent any time in pools or water deeper than four inches. I was really proud of him, because he really improved throughout the two weeks that he took lessons - by the end he was very excited to get into the pool. When we were in the water he would kick his legs, gulp down a few drinks and splash a little bit.

These pictures were from our last day of lessons, and you can tell he's excited to get in - as long as his head didn't get wet!

Yes, his shirt is very small on him... it's not supposed to be a belly shirt. I figured it was better than nothing, and it was the last lesson, so he'll never wear it again!

Funny story about this picture... Notice that Micah's sitting IN the pool, and I'm in front of him - also IN the pool. I had a feeling of doubt about even trying to take this picture, because I know how wonderfully coordinated I tend to be - but I did it anyway. Well, I took this picture and a few more, then promptly dunked the corner of my camera into the water. Luckily it was only a little bit of the camera and I dried it off and reached to set the camera on the edge of the pool - Micah was only 8 inches away from me and as I dried the camera off, I was watching him.

It's important to know that Micah has been learning to 'jump' off the wall of the pool. He can't stand up on his own, so his jumping is a little modified - he leans forward until he falls off, and then I catch him before his head goes under the water.

Well, he decided that the best time to try his new trick was right as I reached over to set my camera on the side. Thank God, I saw him tip forward and I was able to catch him just after his face went into the water - but he jumped into water two feet deep! Yikes! (I will never bring my camera into the pool again - I should have known better!) As I grabbed him, most of my camera went into the pool, since it was dangling from my wrist, which was in the pool. Luckily it was fine, and even more important - Micah was fine!

Here is a little song that we sang at each lesson:

Little fish, little fish, kick your legs!

(Your baby kicks his legs for a few seconds)

Little fish, little fish, blow bubbles!

(Your baby gulps down some big drinks of pool water while you show him how to blow bubbles)

Little fish, little fish, splash the water!

(Your baby watches the other babies splashing in the water)

Little fish, little fish, see the sea!

(Your baby does NOT get dunked, because he will cry and be mad at you for the rest of the night.)

This boy loved to swim - can you tell? We're planning to do more lessons next summer, maybe for two different sessions so Micah can spend a lot more time in the pool! Needless to say, I'll bring along a photographer.

No Stinking Way It's Almost August

Where has our summer gone? I can't believe that today is July 27 ~ and I can't seem to keep up on the date... I just looked at the date on the computer thinking it was the 26th at the latest. Time is just flying by, whizzing away into the past. We've been keeping very busy, to the point that it feels like we haven't had any time to rest and relax, much less spend time writing on this blog!

Micah's growing fast - about to turn 1 in just a little over two weeks! He's starting to talk - saying dog and sometimes ma-ma or da-da - and he can bark like a professional dog impersonator. He's crawling all over the place, and starting to pull up and climb onto things. Last week he climbed up stairs for the first time. It's amazing how quickly he's changing and how much he's growing up!

Here are some pictures to keep you caught up on our lives - warning - there are a lot of them! Actually there are so many that I'm going to do multiple summer update posts... so, here are some of my pictures!


He loves food! And having it on his face...

He's also all about making faces right now, especially if it gets a laugh from someone.
He's a little comedian - not sure where he got that from...

He's standing up! Just after I took this picture, he pulled himself over this toy box
and crawled away into the hall - right to his Daddy.

This boy loves books! One of his favorite things to do is to crawl to his tubs of books and take out each one, looking at it as he pulls it out. He'll just sit and look at them for an hour!



Anna got to come to our house for the first time last week! She's already a month old,
which is difficult to believe. Micah seems to be liking her pretty well; he's a little curious about her
but he is pretty gentle if he gets close to her - soon they'll be running around together.



We borrowed some friends' tent (thanks Whitney!!) for a couple of weekends and took Micah on his first two camping trips!  Here he's helping me pack up our bags while the rain poured down in Lebanon. He wore his pajamas all day. I'm super impressed with Micah - he slept great, all night, on both of our camping trips! That was great for him AND for me and David!

After our tent was packed, Micah and I sat in the car while David (or Da-Da, which is his new name) packed up our tent in the downpour. Thank goodness I have such a kind and generous husband!

Micah got a snack to keep him happy while we waited.

Our little family while camping in Lebanon with our friends. This was during the two hours or so that it wasn't raining. Even though the weather didn't really cooperate for us, we had a great time with our college friends, and enjoyed every minute we had with them!

I warned you there were a lot of pictures! There are still more to come - probably tomorrow, but I won't promise - my days seem to fly by lately. Thanks for looking, hopefully soon I'll be able to be back on a regular blogging schedule, with more frequent pictures and updates on what we're doing and how Micah is growing.

End of the School Year - On To Summer!

Each year (in the two we've worked at our school), we take an end-of-the-year field trip with all of the students. Last year we spent a very full day at Multnomah Falls and the Oregon Zoo in Portland - you can look at some pictures of it here.

This year we decided to stay a little closer to home, so we took a much shorter (only one hour) drive over to Walla Walla. We visited and had a tour of both the Whitman Mission and Fort Walla Walla Museum. Then we really got wild and took all of the students and the ten parents who were along for the trip for a very fun finale - bowling! Most of the kids hadn't been bowling before, and some of the moms hadn't either.

It can be a little stressful takign a group of kids into a public place, but we really had a great day and enjoyed the time with our students. It's such a blessing to work for a group of people that we really enjoy and like spending time with! The kids aren't perfect - they're kids, after all - but they really are very good and fun to be around.

One of the best parts of this field trip (and most challenging too!) is that we took Micah along with us. It was fun pushing him along in his stroller, but it really was difficult to get him to take a nap with so much going on. He was very ready for bed when we got home!

Here are some pictures from our trip - or at least the Whitman Mission. I guess I forgot to take any pictures after we were finished with our tour:


Wynell and Kayla finding answers to Mr. Wattenburger's worksheets



Sweet little Jasmine, sitting by the creek



I have a thing for pictures of us in a teepee!



Seriously, he's the cutest... I took about 35 pictures of him wearing this hat.