First Time "Pond" Swimmers

We went on a little trek to the Minnetonka Swimming Pond this past Monday. I was a little skeptical at first about driving 40 minutes to go swimming, but I wanted to see what all the hype was about regarding these swimming "ponds". (There is another one just like it in Maple Grove that alot of our friends frequent). What I liked about this one was the scenic drive to get there, winding through farms and countryside, no highways to be found. It is a man-made lake that is very slowly graded out to a deep area with oh, so much room to swim and, oh so much sandy beach the ENTIRE way around the pool. It was quite nice!

I have no idea what is going on with Mitchell and Jonathon here...

One of the things that struck me most about this trip was Joel, making friends with strangers a couple different times. First, when we first got there, he walked right in the water, right up to a group of boys and started playing catch with them with his torpedo, and then again, later (in this picture above), found another friend to play with. He had a blast. It was the most fun I had ever seen him have in the water.


My friend Kate's son, Sam... he just turned one, but is pretty close to Grant's size!


Grant and my friend Daina's son, Andrew. They are exactly a year apart in age.

Grant ended up wearing Ava's life jacket by the end of the day, due to the fact that he was totally out of control in the water! He was literally throwing himself under the water and barely able to find his feet to stand up after all his jumping around. He was making me WAY too nervous, as I was trying to watch Joel as well and they were not next to each other in the water.
My friend Kate and Sam.

Kate's daughter, Ava. She is turning 4 in August and taught Joel how to swim around using the floaty around the waste. Joel loved it!... when Ava tried to take a break, Joel came over and whispered to me, asking me, if I would ask Ava, if she wanted to keep swimming with him:)