Splash!

We went to the pool today, it's not our closest public pool, there's one at Hornsby too but this one at West Pymble is in such a lovely setting that it's well worth a few extra minutes drive to go there instead.

You can see what I mean from the Google satellite image

This is the pool I used to come to for swimming lessons in the summer holidays when I was a kid, I have vivid memories of doing water safety and having to jump into the olympic pool fully dressed, tread water for a while and then swim to the side and climb out.

David and Caitlin also had a couple of summer's worth of lessons here when they were first learning. Once, when Dave and Cait were being taught in one half of the pool in the top right corner of that photo and I was watching and dividing my attention between them and Tom who was still in floaties and swimming in the other half of the same pool, I looked back from the lessons to check on Tom and he was no-where to be seen. I found him a couple of minutes later blithely climbing out of the deep end of the olympic pool and jumping back in again - he was 3 years old. I think he discarded the floaties for good the next time we went.

Today when we were almost ready to head for home (Caitlin's lips were blue - this is always our sign that it's time to leave) I was trying to persuade David to come and swim a lap or two with me, I'd done 5 but I thought I had at least 2 more in me. Dave was not showing much enthusiasm but Tom announced he wanted to do it.

Now Tom is a natural floater but hasn't been much for actually moving through the water. He deeply resented having lessons and being made to do what someone told him to and it was no good dragging him away from the side of a pool and using the sink or swim tactic, he'd just do the passive resistance thing and lie back and refuse to move, drove his swimming teachers nuts! We persevered, but when dance and soccer ended up clashing with swimming half-way through last year I gave up and he quit lessons just as he was starting to get the hang of doing the breathing.

When we first got in the pool today I asked if he could show me breathe and bubble and he was all over the place. I gave a demonstration and he did manage to get the arms and breathing co-ordinated but wasn't interested in doing more than a few strokes. So I really didn't think he'd be able to do two 50m laps...but he did. Slowly yes, but with great determination and astonishingly good style (until he was getting tired at which point he was rolling almost all the way over and practically turning into a submarine). I was amazed and very, very proud of him.

He was pretty pleased with himself too, when we got home he was desperate to ring Grandma and tell her all about it. Mum was suitably excited and impressed, she's an awesome grandma :)

We went out for dinner tonight, my mum came too, had a very nice meal at the restaurant that's attached to the Manly Fish Markets Cafe, a seafood platter for two plus a seafood basket main fed all six of us and it's BYO so we took a bottle of Grant Burge 2006 Kraft Sauvignon Blanc which we bought at the cellar door the last time we were in the Barossa Valley (we chose well - it was yum).

Then I took the dog for a walk when we got home, don't know where the energy for that came from.