Annika went swimming in a big pool for the first time Friday night, courtesy of Robyn, Gavin and Jessica. They had a guest pass for the local Lifetime Fitness and invited Annika and I out to play. Annika had a great time splashing and "swimming" in the pool. The pool was a "graded" pool meaning it was like a beach in that the water started from nothing and got deeper and deeper. We started out sitting in the very shallow end where Annika could sit in the water and splash and play and get acquainted. Then we moved to a little bit deeper so the water came up to Annika's chest. Annika even let me put her face in the water. Usually, she doesn't like getting her face wet in the bathtub, but Robyn showed me how they get the babies used to going under in Jessica's infant swimming class. Basically, you hold the baby parallel to the water and them "zoom" them through it and back out again. At first Annika had this look on her face like "What just happened?" but as soon as Robyn and I cheered her on, she was OK with it and smiled. A little later I set her on the edge of the pool and she would fall into my arms. She thought that was great fun. Not only did she get to fall back into mommy's arms but she got to splash and play at the same time. She started getting pretty brave towards the end and would just start walking away from me in the shallow end. A couple times she would walk to the shallow end and then crawl out of the pool. Little miss independent was done with us and wanted to go do something else now so she did. Silly little thing.

Saturday morning we went to watch the Vixen practice. It was a gorgeous sunny day if a bit on the warm side. Annika and I spent most of the time in the shade while Daddy stood on the sidelines and got some coaching in. I think he enjoyed himself even if he did grumble about this and that afterwards. He needs to be in charge so things get done his way. :) Kris sunburned the back of his neck and the tops of his feet that showed through his sandals. Poor guy. And because Kris and I are terrible parents, Annika's shoulders got a tad bit pink. We had forgotten the baby sunbscreen at home that morning, which is why we spent most of the time in the shade. Bad parents, Bad! It didn't seem to bother her one bit though and it's all gone already. After running some errands we went home so Annika could get a good lone nap in. That evening Auntie Krystle came over to babysit. Kris and I went to a really good new restaurant called Tria. You can check it out at www.triarestaurant.com. Then we went to see Batman Begins. We had a great evening together. When we got home after midnight, we found Krystle in the rocking chair rocking a wide awake Annika. Annika had woken up about a half hour earlier and didn't want to go back to sleep. After Krystle went home, Annika and I went to bed, but Annika didn't fall asleep until 2am! She then woke up at 6am (which did give me a nice 4 hour stretch of sleep) and then was still sleeping at 8:15am when I had to wake her up so we could leave.

We had breakfast yesterday morning with Grandpa Dan, Marcia, Auntie Krystle and Uncle Mathias. Then we went to Grandpa Dan's house to play for a while. Daddy stayed home and spent most of his first Father's Day alone, which is just how he wanted it. He relaxed and played computer games most of the day. When Annika and I got home yesterday, we took a nice long nap together. When we woke up it was time to go to Uncle Dusty and Aunt Kim's house. Grandma Lona and Grandpa Dale joined us there for more Father's Day celebrations. Annika had a fun evening playing with everyone, especially Babe the dog. She was still wide awake past 9pm! She finally started getting sleepy about 9:15pm or so and then we headed for the door.

It was a perfect weekend. I like having a day where we can just be a family. Since I only get to see Kris for 15-30 minutes each week day, it's important to me that we spend lots of time together, just the 3 of us, on weekends. I then like having the other weekend day to spend with our extended family. However, there are 3 sets of grandparents so it can get tricky seeing them and spending enough time with them all! I think they know that we looooove seeing them though. :)