Our Star Swimmer!

When you live in the land of Arizona, swimming for kids is a MUST. Too many pool parties/activities to take any chances.

Our only goal this summer was: get Emma to swim. And uh, lose all my baby weight, but I knew more than likely we'd only accomplish the easier of the two. :)

After two weeks of the MOST INCREDIBLE and INEXPENSIVE swimming class in Phoenix, our little Emma accomplished the goal and is swimming!

She was super brave the first day and I was so excited that I wouldn't have to deal with ear piercing screams...

until the second (and third) day.

When I had to deal with ear piercing screams. (She figured out the teacher would let go of her.)

By the fourth day she had her confidence back and she was doing swimmingly (tee hee) well.

It was blazing hot, so Grant and I did our best to stay cool. We were frequent visitors to the nice misters on the teachers' back patio.

I can NOT say enough wonderful things about Emma's swim teacher Mrs. Parker. She is seriously the most amazing teacher I have ever seen. So patient, kind and no-nonsense. She was constantly praising the children and giving them positive feedback and courage to swim. She teaches pre-K during the school year and then teaches swim lessons each summer. AMAZING!

Her family is also very religious (I think they attend Grace Community Church). Each day she would tell the children that she prayed for them that morning. It was so sweet.

Emma was in a class with 4 other children (ages 2-4). For the first 3 days all 5 of them were crying and Mrs. Parker appeared unfazed.

The kids would jump off the diving board and then swim the length of the pool each day. Emma was nervous at first, but this soon became her favorite part of class.

Mrs. Parker also has 4 wonderful children who help with the classes. One is in the pool. One is sitting on the sidelines helping keep the kids safe while they are waiting their turn. And this little angel Kendra would spend her time playing with Grant. She seriously took him almost every day. Would take him inside to keep him cool and feed him his bottles when he was hungry. She even rocked him to sleep a few times. Free babysitting with swim lessons? Fantastic.

The swim lessons by Mrs. Parker are over for the summer - but if you live in the Phoenix area - you simply must remember to talk to me next summer about these lessons!! Her cross streets are Rural and Southern in Tempe. Only charged $115 total for 10 hour-long lessons (two consecutive weeks). Some of the swim classes I checked out were $300-$400, so I was super pleased with the price.

And to have Emma swimming at the end of them?

Priceless.

At the end of the classes - we are instructed to bring our children fully clothed. Mrs. Parker throws them in and teaches them the concept of survival if they are ever to fall in.

If you have a spare 25 seconds... you can see why we sleep a little easier at night now.