Grasping at (Summer) Straws

(P.S. I’m obsessed with the hooded bathing suit. Genius, babygap!)

I’m not a huge beach or pool person. Sure, they’re fine every once in a while, but I’d be just as happy spending my vacations in the mountains. (I blame childhood summers spent at camp in North Carolina instead of at the Gulf Shore.) HOWEVER, Emma Vance is a total water baby, meaning that this summer has been mostly about trying to figure out how to indulge her, whether it’s the big pool, baby pool, tub, sprinkler…or, heck, even traipsing outside in a good rain storm considering we’ve had a million this season!

We were happy doing our typical water activities for a while, then something hit me mid-July–it was this internal panic that the end of summer (and thus the end of happiness for my water baby) was racing toward us. All of those water activities I lazily pushed off, saying, “Oh, we’ll do that when it gets really hot,” all of a sudden flashed before my eyes. Truthfully, in the South, the heat can last straight up until Halloween, but since the “feel” of summer wanes with the coming of school, my water-baby-to-do-list moved up in my priorities. Among the half dozen things to check off of that list before the leaves start falling was visiting our gym’s pool, which is phenomenal. I don’t know why I’ve delayed so long on this particular one; it’s designed for family fun, it’s free and we’re there often anyway…so boo on me for not taking advantage of it!

Thus, this week, as we returned from D.C., Ryan and I decided to take the proverbial plunge and visit the gym pool, and although Emma Vance was so terrified of the gushing mushroom that she planted herself in about six inches of water and refused to get any closer to it, it was FUN. We played with her toys, interacted with other kids, had lunch poolside and lazed around until nap time. The whole time I was kicking myself that we’ve missed out on this activity all summer–especially when she took three+ hour nap that afternoon! No wonder moms are so pool-obsessed when kids are home for the summer! ;)

Mmmm…grilled cheese by the pool!

Aaaaand she’d done for the day…