Three's Company!: Let Freedom Swim!

4 Years, 12 Weeks.

This past weekend and week have been chock full of events and activities (again, no surprise here) that time has flown by so quickly I can't believe it's time to recap and post on the blog again, so here goes:

Friday was 4th of July. We started with our annual tradition of participating in the Winter Garden All American Kid's Parade, inviting friends the Bergs, Z's, Cochrans, and Ottati's this year. It was a great turnout and a lot of fun to see everyone, although it was incredibly muggy and hot at the start of the parade, you can only imagine how drenched we were after walking/running after our kids on their bikes who had decided to go way ahead of us and follow the police car at the front! We joined Jennifer and the boys for lunch in Winter Park, originally planning to attend another festival for kids on Park Ave, but was rained out while we were eating and they eventually tore down just as we got there. Ah well. We went back home for some naps and the Brazil vs. Colombia World Cup match, and then joined the Bergs and others at Lake Apopka to see some fireworks over the water.

Face painting during breakfast!

With Mommy getting decorations for their bikes.

Selfie with Uncle Sam!

Bikes decorated, ready to go!

The group at the start of the parade.

Always a lot of fun walking the cobblestones through town.

The dads bringing up the rear.

Enjoying a cool lemonade afterwards!

The paparazzi shooting photos of the group.

Maddy and Daddy at Newton Park in Winter Garden for the fireworks.

At our sitting area patiently waiting for the show to begin.

Sabbath we attended church, and were joined by Lolo and Lala there. The twins were attending their first Sabbath School class upstairs, and we were able to leave them and attend service for a bit, although with the grandparents there it was a lot easier for them to be dropped off. After lunch Tangie and I headed over to the Hyatt Recency on I-Drive, to take advantage of the gift certificate we had won at silent auction from the Beta Center Gala last year. We were celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary and had 24 hours of kid free bliss, thanks again to the grandparents for staying with them! We just relaxed and took advantage of the spa amenities, keeping a clear distance of any area that had lots of kids and noise, what have you, although there was a huge gathering of people from India there over the weekend, which we referred to as the "curry convention". We enjoyed supper at the Italian steakhouse, and sauntered, and talked, and made plans for the next year. It was just nice to spend time together, totally different from our hustle and bustle trip to New York just 3 weeks ago.

They Hyatt Regency was formerly The Peabody before being bought out last summer.

Gorgeous chandelier and marble entryway.

Tangie's favorite part of the room, a built in TV in the bathroom mirror!

Enjoying the serenity of the spa lounge, sipping on mango water, as a storm rolls through outside.

Tangie and her petite filet mignon at dinner!

The view of one of the pools from our balcony at night.

Omelets for breakfast on Sunday!

Back to the spa, which we had to ourselves all morning.

Checking out the waterfall feature, cascading from the spa pools.

Thai lunch in Celebration.

How we found the crew Sunday afternoon upon returning home!

Arriving home after picking up the Grodacks at the airport from their trip to Maine late Sunday night.

Can you tell she was tired??

This week started swim lessons for all 3 kids, the twins in Level 1 (beginners) and Brae in Level 3. The Bergs/Z's kids are doing them as well, just before our time slot, so it's been nice to see them everyday and even hang out for lunch and play a couple of times this week. The kids have been enjoying it, and the twins are starting to gain confidence in their floating ability, more Kohl than Maddy, although she has a stronger ability in the fundamental swim motion than he does. Maddy also tends to panic more when water goes over her face while learning to float on her back, and there have been a couple of times she became adamant about not doing it, which resulted in a back and forth coaxing game between the instructor and myself. Hopefully she'll get over her fear and join Kohl, as he's really made a big splash with his lessons, no pun intended! We have the weekend off and then the second round of swim lessons begin next week.