What a difference lessons (and goggles) make!

The girls have been taking swimming lessons for the last five weeks.  Melissa started with some skills, but she forgot a lot of what she learned last summer.  Megan and Lacie started with no skills.  Megan hated to put her face in the water, but Lacie didn't mind at all.

Here's what they looked like on their last day of the first session:

Lacie and Megan were in the same class.  They did a great job ignoring the teacher by playing together whenever it was not their turn with the teacher.  Lacie would put her face in the water, but not Megan.

Megan (the girl who still wouldn't put her face in the water) got to move to Level 2A, but Lacie had to stay in Level 1.  I thought Lacie was more ready to move on, but they said she was too little and needed to stay in Level 1.  I think they just wanted to separate the two girls, and it was a good thing they did!  (You'll see how well it worked in the next pics.)

It took Melissa until the last few days to catch up to her skill level from last year.  Once she caught up, she started moving fast.  They moved her from Level 2B to Level 3.

Here's what the girls looked like the last day of session 2:

Lacie stayed in Level 1.  She gave the teacher a run for her money.  She just wanted to swim!  She didn't want to sit on the wall and wait her turn to by pulled around on a float by the teacher.  She just kept diving in face first and floating around until she ran out of air.  (The water was only a foot deep, so it wasn't like she was diving into the deep end -- although, if she was near the deep end, she would've jumped in anyway!)  She passed the level!  They must've decided that heart is more important than size!

Megan decided to try goggles, and a whole new world opened to her!  There was no room in the 2A class, so Melissa's gymnastics coach (who was the 2B teacher) let her join the 2B class--as an almost non swimmer.  She was an awesome teacher and had Megan doing the back stroke by the second week!  She still struggles to move forward when she's on her stomach, but she's not afraid at all to put her face in the water.  She just hasn't quite figured out how to kick hard enough, I think.  The said she should sign up for 2B next time, so that must mean she passed 2A!  I would've never guessed.  I didn't think she'd ever enjoy going under water.

Melissa was put into a class of all boys, with a male teacher.  I thought she'd be upset, but she never even mentioned it.  Instead of the expected complaints, all I heard was boasting.  Apparently, she constantly beat the boys in the races!  I never knew she was so competitive.  She easily passed and moved up to Level 4.  Now she's experimenting with things like underwater cartwheels, handstands, and flips.  The teacher, who knew Melissa was a gymnast, challenged the kids to a push-up contest.  I don't think they ever decided who won, but Melissa did as many push-ups as the boys.  She may not have gone as low as the boys, but she definitely kept up.  I was impressed! 

Melissa and Lacie did a photo shoot for me while we waited for Megan to finish her lesson.

I have absolutely no idea where this crooked smile has come from.  It's showing up in all of Lacie's pictures lately.  She's so silly sometimes!

Now let's just hope the girls can keep up the skills for next year.  I guess that means we should go swimming once in a while!

Congratulations, girls.  You did great!