Swimming is done

The pool we worked out of closed two weeks ago. My master instructor is opening a pool here in town in January and that's where I'll work out of. In the meantime, she's trying to get me in a city pool that is really, really beautiful and unused because it's in the middle of cracktown. Our clientele say they will continue lessons there so we'll see.
Have I heard the words,"You're finished" after 4 months of in-water training? Nope. I have been told to submit a headshot and bio for Nadyne's instructor website and told to expect to be slam busy come January.
Samantha's mom agreed to let me use her daughter in my headshot. Samantha is 3. We had some trouble - she likes to be in control and, in lessons, she was very much not in control. She swims like a goldfish now.

Having a little talk ...

This putting my finger on my face seems to be a nervous tick (see previous posts about swim training with Nadyne). A lot of my pictures have my finger on my face.

Putting on her princess crown to get in the water:

Yay!

Summer visit to Riverbanks Zoo with Great MawMaw

Back in July, the kids and I went to Columbia to see my grandmother and we went to Riverbanks Zoo.
(yes, I know I'm way behind in blogging about this. Blogging has lost most of its fun without the kids around.)
This is my MawMaw. She turned 86 this past September.

The koalas had just had a baby. When we were in the exhibit, some yahoo asked the docent if he could "pet the koala."

This is a statue of Happy the Tiger. Happy is the reason Riverbanks even began. She was in a cage at the Exxon station near 5 Points in Columbia (Pat Conroy refers to this loosely in "The Prince of Tides"). Whenever I went to see MawMaw when I was very little, we'd make a special trip to the Exxon car wash just to see Happy. Happy eventually got moved to the zoo where people could only look at her behind glass and, dramatically told, she died of loneliness.

There is something about the statues the kids love!

Creepy looking geckos!

 It was purdy hot there in Columbia in July. Here is a misting thingy the kids hung around in.

We love the gorillas. One is always up against the glass. Look carefully at the photo and you can see the reflection of The Boo's face.

I annoyed everyone by standing here to get the perfect elephant picture.

Here, turtle turle turtle!

Reachable!

Now, you'll see we loved the giraffe exhibit! Anything where you can interact with the animals is a hit with people.

This is the first time The Boo ever fed or touched a giraffe.

The Boo and Great MawMaw

King of the boulder!

I love these kids! They are so much fun!