2017 Life Logs, Day 194: Swim Lessons and Back to Wood Neck . . . Again
Date: Thursday, July 13, 2017
Weather: Partly Sunny AM, Overcast PM with Rain; High 81, 60 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
The tide has been perfect this week for afternoon trips down Lazy River at Wood Neck. So today, at the request of all three Goldpebbles, we had a repeat of yesterday performance. In fact, we have spent three days this week going to swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach in the morning and then going to Wood Neck Beach and adjacent marsh in the afternoon. The Goldpebbles have decided that the perfect time to ride the outgoing current down Lazy River is mid-way between high and low tide. The outgoing water is running at just the right speed to give this flow of water its name, Lazy River. You can ride on a boogie board, do a deadman’s float, or just swim your way from the marsh down Lazy River to the outlet into Buzzards Bay. Today, all three boys were able to do this without any assistance from me. I just stood on the beach and watched. And that is a huge step from last summer and even earlier this week. So, the repeat performances were perfect for building the skills to do this. I loved watching the boys do this, especially Sam’s deadman’s float, Jonah’s gained confidence in the water, and Ollie’s enthusiasm to ride Lazy River over and over without adult help. The weather this afternoon wasn’t great, and it finally got just too cold and windy to continue. At that point, we headed back to the marsh, but even then, the overcast sky and chilly wind shortened our stay. When the rain started, we finally left, but we were so glad we braved the weather to have this wonderful experience.
But now let me back up to the morning. We went to swim lessons at Falmouth Heights Beach. Sam continues to build his skills, Jonah is working very hard to conquer his fears of the water,
and Ollie practiced his kicking skills for almost an hour today using a swim board. For 30 minutes of that time, Jonah and I were playing a beach football passing game. I lost both games, but we had a great time. And then after their lessons, Sam and Jonah took the ball and organized a group of kids to play beach football. While they did that Ollie used his green towel to fly around the beach. He looked like a Luna moth as he spread his ‘wings’ to fly.
I didn’t have my camera with me this morning, but I used my phone to get a couple of photos of the flight of the Luna moth. I promised earlier in the week to start using my GoPro with an underwater housing to capture our beach experiences. But after making that promise, I realized I didn’t have an underwater housing. I borrowed Jed’s for my trip to the Bahamas, but I have now ordered my own and will hope to have better waterside photos next week.
Our plan is to change gears tomorrow and do something other than go to the beach. There are no Friday swim lessons, and weather permitting, we are hoping for a bike path bike ride.
