I'm so proud of my kids!

Yesterday we went to the swimming pool.  It was the last day of summer break for the local kids, so the pool would be closing the next day (today).  And since Robin is in the US until Wednesday, I felt like we needed to have a fun "Daddy Day" together.

We had a great time.  The weather was clear, but a bit cool.  And because it was cool, there weren't many people there.  Luckily, this pool is semi-heated, meaning it's not as cold as other pools.  We threw a football around, played a bit of "keep away", survived the circular float pool (definitely not a lazy river -- more like a raging rapids), and went down the big slide... all except for Emma.

The big slide scares her since she's not a good swimmer and it dumps you into deeper water than she's comfortable with.  At first one of us stayed with Emma while the others went down the slide so she wouldn't be lonely.  But in the end, Emma just waited for us in the shallower end.  Ryan, Ashton and I had a lot of fun trying out different sliding methods to achieve maximum speed and splash, etc.  And Emma cheered us on.

Ryan and Ashton kept encouraging Emma to try it out, since she wouldn't get another chance for an entire year. (That's "a whole 'nother year" for all the Texans out there!)  But she wouldn't budge.  After I informed them that we would be leaving in a few minutes, Ryan and Ashton really worked on her.  In the end, she said she'd try, but only if I went down with her.

We did it, and I held onto the side every now and then to slow our descent, but going underwater -- even for a split-second -- was a bit much for her.  She said, "I didn't like that very much."

But she had faced her fears. And the other two did a great job at encouraging her rather than ridiculing her for her fears.  I was so proud of all of them.  It was an awesome day!