Pioneer Day - July 24, 2014

We spent Pioneer day with Steve's family, starting with the parade. We also went to lunch together in the late afternoon. Here are some pictures at the parade:

Our little family

 

Steve's family

 

Watching the parade with daddy

 

Fun at the Lake July 5, 2014

After spending time with Steve's family on Independence day, Alissa and I drove to a lake to meet my family. Here we are having a wonderful time together.

Alissa was amazing on waterski's. She stayed up for 15 minutes and even learned to turn.

 But, she hit a wave and did a back flip into the water, which scared her. This is her after she swam to the ski's and patiently waited for us to turn the boat around and pick her up. She was amazing. 

Next, it was my turn to waterski

 and knee board. Here, I am doing a three sixty (360) on the knee board... 

 I also love to cross the wake... 

Then, my brave girl begged me to let her knee board as well. Here I am helping her.

 Alissa's cousin Mykin knee boarded too

 and so did Uncle Dick

 Later that day, I took Alissa to the beach with her cousins

July 4, 2014 Independence Day

As per tradition, we spent the holiday with Steve's family, starting with breakfast in the park and a visit to the zoo. Alissa's favorite part of the day was spending time with her cousins.

Here is Alissa with her youngest cousin. 

 Grandpa and V.

 Buddies

 Alissa posing with the animals

 Our little family

 Peak-a-boo

 Riding the train

 Dancing with the giraffe's

July 3, 2014 Waterslides and Diving Boards

In 2012 and 2013, we enrolled Alissa in Saturday swimming lessons, but she did not seem to progress much. She would never put her head in the water and certain things terrified her such as going down a slide or jumping into the water, even while you were holding her. This year, we enrolled Alissa in weekday classes to ensure that she received more exposure to the water. It worked. By the end of four weeks of lessons, she was putting her head in the water and floating on her back, with the help of the teacher. In addition, she went down the waterslide all by herself with a life jacket on and she braved the diving board as well. While she did not jump off the diving board alone, she allowed a teacher to hand her down to another teacher, who was in the water. We are very proud of the progress our beautiful daughter has made.

Here is Alissa on the waterslide

 Here is Alissa with an Instructor on the diving board

 Here is Alissa in the water after she was handed down to another instructor

 This shot is amazing to me because two weeks before this, she would not even climb one stair of the diving board let alone get on the board. The fact that she walked down the board and stood at the end, by herself, was amazing. She never did jump, but the progress she made was fabulous. We were very proud. 

 This instructor helped her out, by handing her down to another instructor, once again.