Summer Firsts

Yesterday was a pretty busy day. I worked part of the day, left early to take Olivia to her hearing test and then the girls and I had the afternoon stretching ahead of us.

Alyssa has asked to play miniature golf for the past few summers and it was just something we hadn’t made the time to do so I thought yesterday would be a great day for it.

We got our clubs and our golf balls. I went first just because Alyssa wasn’t clear on exactly what she was supposed to do. After that first hole, she was fine and wanted to go first every hole after. Olivia…well, she was bored after the second hold. She hated the way the putter felt in her hand and she was hot. By the third hold, she was asking when we could go swimming. By the fifth, she was asking when we would be done.

She tried to hand me her putter on the ninth hole and when we got to the thirteenth, she was using her hand to just push her ball along.

I’m going to call it a tie in that miniature golf was a hit with Alyssa and a major miss with Olivia. I think she needs a couple more years before we try it again. Though Alyssa and I might take an afternoon and do it again on our own.

When we got home at around 3:30 Olivia started in with the questions about when we were going to go swimming. I told her she and her sister had to eat something first and that the pool didn’t even open until 6:00. I’d already told them I’d take them to the late open swim hours, which are from 6pm to 8pm. It only costs a dollar a person to get in and swim at that time of day.

But two and a half hours feels like an eternity when you’re six. She sighed and asked again when it would be time. I told her if she didn’t leave me alone about it, she could stay home with her dad while Alyssa and I went swimming.

Olivia responded with her usual, “What the heck?”

And that made me laugh so all was well.

I made them dinner, they ate, we changed into our suits and hit the road.

We made it to the pool two minutes after it opened. The girls were thrilled. This was our first journey to the community pool this year. They’ve been clamoring to go for about a month but damn, June started out cold (okay, cooler than usual) and I didn’t relish the idea of putting myself into chilly water.

But this past week it’s been in the high 80s and even the 90s so I had hope that the pool water had warmed to a bearable temperature.

The first dip of my big toe told me I might have been wrong. But I took a deep breath and descended the ladder. Once I’d put myself in up to my shoulders, it was fine.

Olivia, on the other hand, needed a bit of coaxing. Yes, the one who’d been talking about swimming all freaking day was the one who stood on the ladder like a big baby, saying, “It’s kind of cold, isn’t it?”

I managed to convince her that once she was all the way in the water, it would feel fine. And I was right. She swam for 40 minutes before asking to go to the baby pool.

As she and I left the big pool, the one where O can now stand on the tips of her toes and have her head above water, I reminded her that next year she’ll be too old for the baby pool because it’s for kids who are six and under. She shrugged at that one. I think she figures she’ll find a way around that silly rule when the time comes. That’s my girl.

She lounged in the pee-warmed water of the baby pool for the next hour and a half while Alyssa went up the stairs and down the water slide at least twenty times. That’s how that girl stays so slim and still eats like a sixteen year old boy. She moves all the time. I could learn a few things from her.

By the time we got home, Olivia was ready for jammies, a snack and a back rub. She was asleep twenty minutes after we walked in the door. Alyssa? She didn’t go to sleep until I made her go to bed at 10:00. And yes, she snacked the entire last hour and a half she was awake.

By the time I went to bed myself, I could honestly say we’d had a wonderful day filled with a few firsts that might also be our lasts (I’m looking at Olivia and mini golf.)