Swimming lessons...

I bought a Groupon that allowed the kids to have four or five sessions of swimming lessons through an organization called Planet Swim.  Oh, that's funny:  The moment I typed the word organization in conjunction with this outfit I knew I needed to tell the story, because it was actually anything but organized.  I was told that the kids' former swim instructor, "Miz Liz," would be teaching the boys on Friday afternoons.  I showed up at a hotel swimming pool (yes, I already had my doubts about that), and there was a young woman in the pool TOTALLY clueless about our lessons.  So I ended up calling Mr. Stephan on his cell phone, the owner and lead swim instructor, who informed me that a.) he was "just around the corner" (which was interesting, considering that he was already supposed to be in the water with one of my sons) b.) Miz Liz no longer worked for them (though somehow her status with the "organization" had changed in the last couple of days since I had made these arrangements with Stephan on the phone) and c.) I needed to pay some sort of registration fee that was nearly equal to the Groupon itself.  Wow!  Needless to say, the deal was shady, though I have to say that everything was great once the kids and the instructors were actually in the water.  

Miss Heather loved Gage.  Bless her heart, she just always showed up and got paid (I hope), even when Mr. Stephan was nowhere to be found.  Despite the fiasco, the kids learned a lot of good stuff in their sessions, and we need to get them back to some more lessons soon.  If I had to sum up their emphasis at Planet Swim, it was on getting the kids to put their faces under water.  And their bellies up and, of course, "pillow arms," which Gage still likes to practice in the bath tub.