Laraway Family

Yesterday we celebrated with our friend, Jacob, his graduating Kindergarten and being out of school for the summer! Yeah! We went to Bonfante Gardens, a great theme park for young kids, and had an awesome time riding the rides and being with friends. Amy is a whirling master and went on the Spinning Garlic TWICE in a row with the four older boys;

Mommy would not have survived. However, Mommy DID get to ride the roller coasters with Anthony- including "Quicksilver" twice in a row. Everyone had a great time, and afterwards, we headed straight to Amy's for dinner. It was a wonderful surprise for the boys to spend the coveted Pizza Night at their friends' house, but it was even more awesome to see them all playing in the backyard until sundown. That's what summer is all about. What a great day!



To explain the pictures, Adam, two months older than Starks, is Starks' friend. These two actually play TOGETHER. It's so cute to watch them follow each other, sit with each other and play, talk to each other, and just geneally enjoy each other. They are so fun to watch. Chas was a trooper yesterday playing all the way until 4! He napped for two hours in the car, so all was well.

Starks had his first swim class on Saturday, June 3rd. Though we know he generally enjoys the water in the tub, friend's pool, his kiddie pool, etc., he was surprisingly subdued in his first outing.

He sang some songs, floated on his back, kicked his feet, dipped his chin in the water, climbed up on the wall (elbow, elbow, tummy, thigh), and entered the pool to the idyllic rhythms of Humpty Dumpty. He went through the motions and didn't fuss, which is certainly something to be thankful for; I guess we were just a bit surprised at how unimpressed he seemed to be given his unmitigated affinity for the water.

Meanwhile, Anthony and Chas very much enjoyed their first class in over a year. It's a shame, though... Anthony was really getting bold in the pool last year, able to jump in and swim around without flotation, but he reallyhas taken a major step backward without having practiced in so long. It was good to seem them really enjoy their first class back. Hopefully, they'll both return to form and get comfortable in the water again very soon.