"Did it!"

One of Oliver's new sayings is "Did it." This usually follows him doing something like opening the backdoor to the house by himself and running outside, or unlocking my mom's iPhone and sending a text message, or scaling something he's been told is a bit too dangerous and/or high for him to climb. Davis borrowed Oliver's saying and yelled "Did it!" when his feet touched the French shoreline after his swim across the Channel, and today I am going to borrow it - "Did it!" Our little family happily managed close to two years of training for Davis' swim, Davis successfully swam across the English Channel, Oliver was a wonderful traveler to, from and during our stay in England, and #2 stayed put while we were away - things are pretty good.

The English Channel has been a huge focus for us over the past two years. Not being able to be on the boat and be a part of the swim was really really tough for me. Then came the decision of whether or not to drive to France and meet Davis and give him a big celebratory hug. After talking with Tim I decided not to make the trek. Again, I was devastated. While I still wish I had been able to either be on the boat or meet Davis in France, after talking with Davis I am glad I made the decisions I did. The boat ride was essentially 16 hours of rough seas and cold weather. Tim and Andrew were both seasick (multiple times) and the crew (of three) chain smoked the entire trip. As for meeting Davis, I learned I would have had to somehow find a random spot on the rural French coast where it looked as though Davis might land, then, last minute, I would have had to run three miles up the coast to a new spot to see him (because of a shift in the tide). Once there I would have had to take up base jumping to actually get to the beach to see Davis and then would have had to have figured out some way to scale the cliffs to get back to the car. So, although I am still disappointed I could not have been more of an active participant in the swim itself, I am glad I made the decisions I did.

Oliver is very much used to "Daddy is swimming." He'll roll over in the morning and notice Davis is no longer in bed and will ask where Daddy is. If I respond that Davis is swimming Oliver will roll back over and go to sleep. Oliver was asleep when Davis left for the swim. He rolled over in the morning and asked where Davis was, I responded that he was swimming and Oliver went back to sleep. After Oliver got up and the day went on he kept asking where Daddy was. I kept responding "Swimming." For about eight hours this was an acceptable response. At about hour eight though Oliver looked at me after I responded, yet again, with "swimming," and said "Daddy should stop." Even a two year old understands swimming for as long as Davis did is crazy.

While the focus of our trip was the swim, we did manage to do some exploring as well. We visited quite a few castles and some Roman ruins. The castles and ruins were great because they gave Oliver the opportunity to run around, splash in puddles, chase birds, and climb on lions.

(No idea why, but Oliver decided it would be best to splash in the puddles at Walmer Castle shirtless.)
I do think Oliver's favorite part of our time in and around Deal was the playground at Leed's Castle. I have to admit the playground was quite impressive.

Another favorite part of the trip - Le Le. A huge thank you to my mom for taking off work and coming to England with us. She played endlessly with Oliver, cooked, cleaned, gave Oliver baths, put up with craziness, and carried Oliver for hours on end. She was a huge help and lots of fun. Thank you!