Yes, Chinese people CAN learn to swim!!

Grace had never been in water except to bathe before, so being immersed in water was a completely new concept. At the first of the summer, she would grab ahold of me and dig her fingernails into my arms because it was so frightening to feel the buoyancy of being in water. Well, after watching her for weeks hanging out on the "baby bench", we decided to push her a bit. Mike especially helped her to get out of her comfort zone and amazingly, she wanted to keep having "swimming lessons" every time we got in the pool.

We'd heard the difficulty that some Asian people have learning to swim, which isn't surprising considering a lack of facilities or opportunities to learn as we do in the States. I don't know if this is the same in other areas of China, but she definitely had no experience at 10 years of age.

She went from clinging to us for dear life, to hopping carefully from the side of the pool to our arms and learning to pick up her feet and kick. After she got good at those skills, Mike had her go a little further each time. She would barely clear the wall and stayed as close to it as she could but then she gained some confidence and started enjoying herself.

This last month, she actually jumped off the diving board, with me right there helping her in, and I gave her a push to swim down to the deep end. She actually wanted to go again! It didn't take one or two tries until she wanted to do it all by herself. Although she would swim like she was scared out of her wits, she made it! We made sure she would jump in and swim down to the shallow end each time we swam and soon she was very comfortable and enjoying herself. The last test was going of the slide. Just last week, I told her she should try it and she did and loved it! That is her new favorite thing to do in the pool.

It's amazing to see the progress she makes and how fast she can learn something. Now that is a real miracle! Here's a clip of Grace on the slide, notice Eliza, my little fish, following her. (I just love the way Eliza walks like a bodybuilder!)

Isaac returns home from the Middle East!

The girls LOVE the beautiful gifts their cousin Isaac brought them!
Isaac went to BYU 2 years ago for the Arabic StarTalk program. Last summer he went to Cairo, Egypt to continue his studies and this summer he went to Jordan and also Israel while he was there. He's amazing at Arabic and is the "poster child" of the Arabic program (he's the student they highlight in the brochures for the program). We were all glad to have him back, especially his mom Cheryl!

School starts...already!

Grace has on her new favorite outfit...Ariel of course.

I can't believe summer is over! At least that is what the kids think when school starts. Kirk and Eliza started last Monday. He's at a new charter High School and Eliza is at the same pre-school she went to last year that she absolutely loves. Zach went on Wednesday for 7th grade day, jr. high! Olivia and Grace started on Thursday and are so happy to be back at school. Here we go again!

Kirk returns from Startalk Chinese camp!

Kirk with his teacher
Kirk with his good friends from camp

I couldn't get the whole group. This is mostly the level 3 students singing the farewell song.

Kirk had an amazing time at the language camp! He worked very hard but made good friends and had fun. This camp covers so much (they get a years high school credit for Chinese class) that they are studying for hours every day, except on the weekends. It's intense but these are the kids who want to learn Chinese and really want to be there.

Besides learning to speak Chinese, they work on arts and crafts, make a music video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_rw3p5Et98), and learn songs, poetry, etc. It's a very well-rounded course.

Kirk loved the instructors. Many are young, some are even college students themselves, so they have lots of energy and excitement. Most are native speakers as well. I just can't say enough good things about this program!

We are glad Kirk did so well and are glad to have him home.

Children's Gardens at Thanksgiving Point

Eliza is scowling because Zachary made her sit there...it's so frustrating to be four!

Walking with dad to see the "big" gardens. A storm had just passed through, leaving the walks wet and a bit windy still. A perfect time for a stroll through the gardens!

Climbing rocks and finding treasures

Splashing around Noah's Ark

We decided it was time to do something fun, so off we headed to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. It's just about 20 minutes away and we have a pass to the gardens and the dinosaur museum and farm country. This place is huge and has so many fun things for the family. If you come to Utah County, it's one of the best places to take the children for an afternoon of fun.

Chinese Night Market at Kirk's StarTalk Camp

Last night we were able to attend the night market at BYU. It was our chance to see how Kirk is doing and to have some fun! He has learned so much and has some nice friends. He's having a great time.

The girls were so happy to see Kirk. Eliza didn't want to let go of him for most of the party! She loves her biggest brother.

I thought Eliza might fall asleep while she sat still to have her face painted.

Olivia came up with the idea of a Panda and bambool. Turned out pretty cute!

Eliza with her butterflies. (Doesn't Grace have georgous hair? I think it grows a half inch every week!)

The boys are trying to blow ping-pong balls from cups of water to the next cup (a game from Taiwan). The last 2 are filled with flour, so it gets really messy! Zach ended up beating not only Kirk, but the person in charge of the game too!

More Yellowstone photos...

"Dragon's Mouth Spring"

This was one of my favorites.

I hadn't seen these, and I love this picture of Kirk with cousin Andrew and Zach especially.