Biking!

Last week, Gavin decided that he likes his bike (a hand-me-down from his cousin Luke).  Up to this point, our spring and summer have been heavily weighted toward the scooter.  No interest in the bike.  I came home from work last week to find Gavin cruising all around our new neighborhood.  And now he is unstoppable (literally, sometimes).  We're even investigating a new bike from him.  He needs something a little bigger. He gave a couple bikes a test drive while visiting the local bike shop this week with Brad.  Apparently, he was tearing it up test driving at high speeds in the store.  I'm pretty sure we have a future triathlete on our hands.  He mastered running very early on, now swimming and biking.  Like father, like son.

Here's a little snapshot of his riding skills...

Swimming

We've been doing a lot of swimming this summer in the unseasonably, unbearably HOT weather.  I thought I'd let the videos do most of the talking for this post.  Gavin's skills in the pool are advancing by the day.  I've put these videos in chronologic order, but all five or so of them were taken within about three weeks of each other.  He started out the swimming season doing really well with his swimmies, took on the diving board and slide, and most recently is swimming independently for up to 20ish feet.  It's amazing to watch him advance!  We started him in lessons a few weeks ago, but really the course is focused on toddler basics, so he is much more advanced than what he's learning in class (but those skills are still important too, so we're not bumping him up).

It's been a blast!

Diving board with swimmies: Slide with swimmies: Shallow end with no swimmies: Diving board with no swimmies: And just this week, swimming independently in the deep end: Sorry, I know this is excessive, but I love to document these milestones!

Remembering Mark

One year ago today, the Lord took this great man from us.  Mark, I hope you are up in heaven playing golf, riding your bike, and enjoying a nice cold Sam Adams on this very hot day!  We miss you immensely and love you even more.