Relaxing at the Pool

Ella was off school today and that gave us a little taste of what is to come this summer.  Just a small taste, since the weather certainly was not summer-like, but it was so nice to be free of schedules and running and waiting in after-school pick-up lines and homework battles.

Mondays are swim lesson days for Lucas, so Ella got to tag along and play in the other half of the pool during his 30 minute session.  But after that several of her friends joined us and we got to have our own private pool party since every other school in the area was in session today.  We never get to stick around after lessons due to the aforementioned schedules, so we took full advantage and I even took Joseph into the pool and let him play in the fountains.  Oh, how I wish I'd had my camera because there were so many good photo ops and the kids had so much fun and played HARD for nearly 3 hours in the pool.

But the biggest thing to come out of today was relaxation.  How on earth, you might ask, were you able to relax while at the pool alone with 3 children?!  (Another reason for the lack of pictures.)  Physically there was absolutely no relaxation.  I think I was more exhausted than the kids when we got home.  But for the first afternoon in quite some time my mind was able to relax.  I feel like I spend the majority of my day planning and preparing for whatever we are doing next.  Today I was able to let go of all the planning and all the things that needed to be done around the house and all the work I needed to get done and just live in the moment.  Today I just got to swim and play with my kids and not worry about anything else.  They were happy and so was I. 

Of course once I got home there was a sink full of dishes and 3 baskets of clean clothes that needed to be put away, plus dinner, baths and work.  But I still didn't swing into panic mode.  A complete sense of calm came over me today and it was such a wonderful feeling.  I don't know what brought it on but I sure do hope it comes again soon and often!  And bring on summer vacation because I have a feeling my babies and I will have an endless amount of FUN.