New Family Swim Champ

I received a great surprise today when Wingman sent a text that included a video of the FBR in a pool. I figured it was just another episode of the FBR and Wingman dealing with the scorching heat of summer in Pandemia. The surprise was seeing the FBR launch across the pool with her head under water and swimming! I always held the family championship for learning to swim the earliest but the FBR is now challenging that title. The last I saw her she was terrified of putting her head under water but this speaks the hard work she and Wingman have put in.

FBR Emerging from her Swim

The Swimmer in Action!

With her Coach

Swimming has always been a huge part of my life. I started swimming just after I turned four and have been fairly aquatic ever since. I grew up in the YMCA first on the swim team and then as a lifeguard and camp counselor. As a child our family vacations were always set around swimming, be it Lake George, York Beach, or Harrisville Pond. I swam Division 1 in college and played water polo. In my later years I’ve returned to the pool and the YMCA and it was like finding a lost relative. I am therefore prouder than usual (a seemingly impossible task) of the FBR. I can’t wait to swim together.

The Family Shot

Sisters!!

Proud Dad

Lucky Girls

I’m still basking in the afterglow of the weekend spent with my Favorite Son’s family to celebrate his birthday. They recently had a professional photographer take some shots of the family and I was astounded by the results. The BRS looks like a child model with none of her well documented mischievous side in evidence. I especially like the photo of the entire family. You can see the happiness and love in the faces. The BRS and BR3 are incredibly lucky in the parent department. My wife also sent me some pictures she took over the weekend, including the one where I donned her sun hat while the BRS and I negotiated her playground. I think I dominated the chapeau!

BRS Wears the Flower almost as well as Abuela

Riggins Still Gets his Love Despite the 2 Girls

Like I said - Complete and Utter Domination!

BRS and I Headed to Playground

Besson Watch Continues

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; PanaGals – female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn