{swim boys swim}

It's official. Despite his recently begun orthodontic treatment, Michael passed level six in swimming which means he qualified to try-out for the swim team. You might wonder what orthodontics has to do with any of this, but to Michael, it had a lot to do with it. You see, for almost 2 weeks, Michael claimed he was unable to do flip turns at the wall because of spacers between his molars. The flip turn was the only skill lacking in order to pass level six. His very patient teacher tried all sorts of tricks, but even with that, Michael continued to float to the wall like a limp fish :) Then, on the very last day of lessons, he did it! Not just once, but over and over again! The picture at the top is of Michael flashing a quick smile for the camera as he "passed off" treading water. He swam with the team the following week and officially begins swim team with Christian in August. He couldn't stop smiling the whole way home.

The bottom picture is of Christian at his last swim meet. He "jumped" a level with his recent birthday and is now swimming with the 11-12 year old boys. A bit more competition as is evident by Christian's serious expression in almost every photo I took that day. He hung in there and improved a couple of his personal best times by several seconds. He absolutely loves every minute of practice, and I love an excuse to sit by the pool every single morning :)