Weekend Water Fun

You would think that moving off the boat would mean less time spent in the water. That hasn´t been the case. Our lives still revolve around beaches, snorkelling, cyclones and storms; our focus is just a little different. Instead of wondering: "Do we need to reef the main before that squall hits?" now we ask: "Do the girls need to take an umbrella to school today?"

Saturday dawned on our second swim meet of this term. The girls do Swim Squad every Tuesday after school. They were good swimmers before, but now that they are mastering the actual strokes, they are amazing. It is a strict-but-fair program run on the official Australian rules for the sport, and the girls are eating it with a spoon.

The swim meets of my youth were a sad affair in comparison. No humid indoor rec centre, no chlorine stench, no grey walls and the echos of overeager parents. Instead, we have a lovely 25 m outdoor pool with the tropical breezes blowing and a view of the neighbouring islands. (Someday my girls are going to give me grief about their upbringing, because we have clearly spoiled them rotten.)

For two and a half hours, they raced. Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Even the littlest kids did the 100 m medley. Erik and I filled our regular roles as timekeepers, and the whole town cheered the kids on.

Come on, let´s get started!

Get set...

To do some obligatory parental bragging, the girls were awesome. They are like darts in the water. Stylish won a special award for her work over the term, and came home with a pair of the fastest times for the year. Once Indy gets a little more length in her limbs, she is going to give her sister some serious competition.

But that was not the end of our water weekend. The next day was Waterslide Day. Every December, the town erects a souped-up slip-n-slide in the park. The kids bring their own dish soap, a parent stands by with a hose, and off they go. On Sunday afternoon, the slide opened for business.

See that house in the background of the first photo? That is my house. You can guess where we have been every free moment since the slide opened.

Erik´s fine videography shows it best.

I am treasuring these water moments. Soon the closest I´ll get to warm water will be hiding in a bathtub, trying to pretend there isn´t a snowstorm going on outside. Sigh. Although, come to think of it, not much beats a hot bath and a book on a cold day.

We´ll see if the girls think so, too.