My twins, who are now 15, asked at the start of the summer, whether we were doing swim lessons with the cousins.
Mind you, my twins can swim.
But, their younger brother is still mastering his water skills so we take advantage of the Free Swim Week that the Portland Parks and Recreation offers at local pools. It is a summer tradition that my sister and I have shared with our children since my daughter was 3-years-old and her oldest son was 5. Rachel is now 23 and married and Stephen is 25.
As each of my sister and my kids have arrived at swim lesson age, about 3, we’ve met during this free swim week at the Wilson Pool to talk and watched our kids swim. My youngest son, who is now 10, finally got past the penguin stage of swim lessons last year. My sister and I chuckle. It is truly so sweet to watch our kids learn this skill in the water. It has been a rite of passage in the lives of our children. And now these are our last children to go through the lessons. 
Her two youngest and my youngest.
My twins continue to like to go to the swim lessons as well, not to watch their baby brother master the skill of swimming, but rather to meet the cousins to walk to Starbucks then to the library, all in that area of SW Portland. The last two years, they have specifically asked me about whether we were going to do swim lessons with the cousins and whether the older cousins would be there.
“It’s so much fun,” says my 15-year-old twin Mickael Josef. He’s randomly brought it up to me the last two summers.
When I ask him what makes it fun he just says, 
“I don’t know, just hanging out with the cousins, getting Starbucks, or Subway, and going to the library.” I think it is just something they get to do alone and independently and it is relaxing and easy-going.
It’s the small things in life. The little traditions that take on so much meaning for my kids.
So, I christen this the first adventure with kids for the Summer of 2013. Because, even though it is familiar, it is indeed an adventure, because sometimes the adventure is right in front of you.
Portland Parks Free Swim Week Info
