Diving fool

After 257 belly flops during the last session of swimming lessons, Eli has become a diver. The breakthrough actually happened 5 minutes (and 7 flops) after the end of his last lesson, but he was determined to get it. And now he can't be stopped. Today at the Highland pool he was happily diving off the edge and I was encouraging him to try the board. He was having nothing to do with it until I (misguidedly) said, "If you dive off the board, I will too." He took one look at me sitting in my as-usual dry suit on the side of the pool and started for the diving board. Luckily for me the lifeguards called a safety break. We got to retire to lounge chairs and read our books for 15 minutes. As soon as the whistle blew to resume swimming, Eli stood up, marched to the board, went right to the end of it and executed a sweet little dive into the pool. No hesitation. The same can not be said for me. But let the record show that I did get in.

Jon has Theo up on the north shore for a night of backpacking/camping and Eli and I have about 36 hours together, just the two of us. We started the day with an eye-popping visit to the farmers' market - the flowers are amazing right now- then joined some friends for a 12 mile bike ride. Eli was the only one on a one-speed, but I swear that the rest of us had to work to keep up with him....those legs were flying. We went back to Crosby Farm, the locale of the 'snake that rattled' sighting from last week, and we saw it again! It is a biggy! We saw a sign that identified such snakes as Fox snakes, and they do indeed rattle, but they are not rattlesnakes, and more importantly, not poisonous. We still gave it a wide berth and did not poke it with any sticks. After the ride we ate a quick lunch and then hit the pool before any more storms blew in. We are now enjoying a nice little rest hour after a day full of fun. If today is any indicator, this is going to be a sweet summer.