I Spoke Too Early... (Hello Again, Ridiculously Prolonged Winter)

As I sit here sipping a cup of hot camomile tea, in my warm pants and hoodie, occasionally glancing out the window at the snow covered ground, remembering the last time the school bus was cancelled for our kids due to snow and ice - wait a second, that was this past WEDNESDAY! - I thought it would be the perfect time to share some more photos of our Florida trip.

Our favourite family activity of the week was definitely swimming.

We had a pool at the villa where we stayed, and it was heated for the week, so that we could swim outside anytime, day or night, and it felt like a warm bath.

Our kids haven't been in swimming lessons for a few years now, but it was very encouraging to see their progress in one short week.

Samantha has always loved the water is a pretty good swimmer.

Brett and JD went from slightly apprehensive to deep end divers of golf balls in a matter of days.

Nathan is the one that worried Scott and I the most because he became nearly fearless in his swimming abilities pretty early in the week. He would go under the water and try to swim across the pool to us, or from us back to the steps. By the end of the week we had to keep him in a life jacket at all times.

Clara refused to even step foot into her swim suit for the first couple of days. She would sit in her towel and watch the rest of us swim from a lounge chair.

Next she started running around the pool, throwing the golf balls in for the big kids.

Then she decided Boots needed to swim, so she threw him in too.

Finally she decided she would go in the hot tub end of the pool, where she could stand up around the edge. She called it her "bath".

Our last night in Florida we went to Heather & Pete's for a final swim and BBQ with the cousins and Kim & Patrick.

Uncle Peter had the kids jumping off his shoulders, and even Clara decided to leave her "bath" and try out the big pool.