Swim Time

In an effort to beat the never-ending cold weather, we took Tory swimming three times last week. Tory likes the pool and it's a good way to burn off some toddler energy. Plus, it's a warm place for Andi and I to seek refuge if we can't find the same outdoors.

Tory is currently enrolled in swimming lessons on Wednesdays, so that's a nice retreat every week for us. Our class is at 11:00am and the whole process burns through a good chunk of our day, which I love. There's a Panera Bread across the hallway from the class, so I've made it a special treat to grab lunch to-go after our class. If I don't, we've both starving and Tory's in full melt down mode by the time we get home and I have a chance to pull something together for lunch. Now when we leave class, Tory points toward Panera and ok, fine, twist my arm! I'll buy us yummy warm bread and soup and salad and macaroni and cheese for lunch.

On Thursday last week, Andi came home from work early and we visited a community center in the next suburb over from us. It was a little pricey to get in ($7 a person - even for Tory!) but worth it for a  warm place to play for the evening. Andi volunteered to swim with Tory so I vegged out on the sidelines for an hour which was glorious.

Tory was a maniac swimmer in the pool. Once she learned there was a zero-entry place where she could stand up in the water and go down a kiddie slide, she was in heaven. She gave Andi a run for his money! They were all over the pool, swimming and splashing and doing "Humpty Dumpties" off the side.

On Saturday at the cabin, we were going stir-crazy from the dreary winter weather (it snowed there the entire weekend - ugh!) so Andi called around and found a pool in the nearby town of Cumberland. It cost about $6/per person again to use one of the hotel pools, but it was worth it for something to do. Andi and Tory swam in the pool again and I watched from the side. We had the entire pool area to ourselves so we tried out Tory's new summer life jacket and the pool toys that most community centers don't allow.

True kid-style, Tory's lips were purple by the time we left the pool. Girlfriend loves the water, and threw a fit when it was time to get out. She'd swim forever if we let her.