Magic Sissies

Hello, my name is Dayna Palmer and I lie to children. I lie to the children that I teach swimming lessons to but worrisome of all I lie to my own children. See, I often have new "swimmers" in my classes who do not like to put their face in the water. Worse than that task would be for the children to open their eyes up while under water!! It is torture...or at least you would think so by the tears and screams that come from the pool when I am teaching.

My dear little Hayden is one of those children that I torture. He has not been in swimming lessons all winter with me because he has been sick with colds and after colds come ear infections. His torture has only been able to come in the form of a bath. So, I figured that a week in Florida would be the start of a wonderful relationship between Hayden and the water. He was a little reluctant at first but after about a day and a half he wanted to "Yump!!" into the pool, he would float back to the wall if I gave him a push but best of all he was going under water and keeping his eyes WIDE open.

This is where the big lie comes in. In order to get the kids - Hayden included - to open their eyes in the pool I tell them that I have put fishies in the pool. The only way that they can see them is under water. They won't see them if they look for them on the top of the water....because they are MAGIC fishies.

A first born child will usually look at you with skepticism and then maybe give it a try. They often bounce right back up and say "There are NO fishies in there!!" A second born or later has a bit more imagination than us first borns so they will go and give it a try (with a bit more drama) and stand up and announce "I saw a BLUE (or their favorite color) fishy!!" After those first moments the task of opening their eyes is not so bad and finding different color fish can be very exciting.

So, without any prompting after the first time he tried to open his eyes Hayden went under water and when he came back up he ammounced (as loud as his voice could be) "Mama, I saw the MAGIC SISSIES!!" Hayden has a bit of a problem pronouncing "F's. So, while I was so proud of how brave he was I had to laugh (along with all the other people at the pool). Maybe Hayden will learn to love the water just as I do
So, the following picture is proof that Hayden loves to look for MAGIC SISSIES!!! Hopefully little Landen won't be too far behind :-)

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Fun in St. Augustine

Well, after 3 months I am finally getting around to "blogging" again. Life has been busy with the kids and with swimming and being on the computer when I don't have to be doesn't appeal :-) So, when Jim agreed that it was in the best interest of our family to get away for a week or so I quickly planned a trip.

We went to St. Augustine, Fl which incidently is the oldest city in the United States. I have to be honest though...we drove through the city...but other than that I didn't do one "touristy" thing. I spent the week reconnecting with my husband and the kids. We did alot of swimming in the pool (can't we do that at home :-) and in the ocean. We built many a sand castle and chased many waves. It was relaxing and stress-free...well, as stress-free as a vacation with 3 little ones could be!!

So, here are some pictures of everyone. I promise to post some more in the coming days. I have to catch everyone up on the kids and tell a funny story for each of them :-)