A Birthday Trip without a Birthday - 2/16: Conclusion and Bonus Birthday Tea

[Poolrat]

You know, you could charge her like $30 bucks an hour for stuff like this. Call it therapy or counseling and charge $100!!!

Swimming lessons for older kids and adults are just that 1/2 lesson and 1/2 therapy session. They are physically capable of the skill but something is preventing them from mastering the skill.

I approach lesson with older kids and adults as a what works for them as opposed to starting at step 1 and going forward as outlined in all our manuals. At the older kid and Adult level they wasnt to learn how to survivie and to get across the water, they really don't care how. So i work with what they are comfortable with, face out, on their back, modified strokes to make it easy and successful. After that is comfortable, then we can get "style points" and learn more strokes and "clean up" what they know.

I'll try that!!! so far I only tried to prolong the time under water, because I can exhale for a very short time, but then get stuck. But under the shower might work. And friend of mine, a neuro-psychologist (crazy guy, he actually wrote his thesis about joke reception in the brain...),

oooohh what would he say about that?

:
told me as well that with the right training I should be able to learn it. But he had no hints how to work on it... I personally don't know anyone with the same problem and none of my former PE teachers realized what my problem was. So you must be a real good swimming instructor!!!

With young kids ( ages 3-10) we start from the beginning and blowing bubbles is first.
Anyone older has most likely learned to "make it work" but usually start with arm and leg movements and forget the whole breath control issue. With sports on land there is also a right way to breathe but it most likely won't interfere too much with actually being able to participate. In swimming, you don't breathe right and you are going to have a difficult time mastering the arms and legs. When you get panicky, you stiffen up and don't float as well and then you start to be lower in the water and then you panic all over again.

Thanks for the compliment! I feel I am experienced and have learned over the last almost 30 years mostly from my students and solving their problems. The breath control issue is what I zone in first becuase it really is popular, you just need to look for it.

Try the shower thing and see if it starts to make you a bit more comfortable letting out your air. You can always step to the side and get more air so you are safe.

No, I'm...cautious.

Cautious is OK. It should be on the bucket list- just once. The waiting and the first 2 seconds are worse than the next 30 seconds.

 

[englishrose47]

I am beyond help !!!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Well then by all means you and Katharina should come to Wisconsin! I'll take you to Wisconsin Dells! Another nice area of Wisconsin you two would probably like is Door County Wisconsin. One of my favorite places in Wisconsin! It reminds me of out East. Then of course there is Iowa!

http://www.doorcounty.com/


http://www.cityofdubuque.org/

http://www.bellevueia.com/

Enjoy!

Thanks for the links! I am sure I will make it to Wisconsin at some point!

Thanks for posting the DLP pictures! It's fascinating to look at them and compare to WDW here.

I hope you enjoy the waterparks! I really like BB and have never been to TL--that's on the Disney bucket list as well. I don't blame you for not waiting to do the extremely high, fast slides at BB. Besides my dislike of big drops, it seemed ridiculous to wait in line for an hour to do a slide that lasts 4 seconds!

You are welcome, I am planning on getting the next installment up soon!

I did the large slide at TL and it was actually a lot of fun. So it will depend on what the lines are like, I kind of want to try every "ride" that is designed by Disney, but just as you said the wait time/ride time ratio must be sensible.

 

[Flossbolna]

drag?????

I wasn't sure whether you might not chicken out of this ride, so I wanted to make clear that there won't be any chickening happening on this ride. All the others are up to you whether you come along or not.

Why not? Is there some hidden nasty secret?

I don't have any special plans for the waterparks, what Magdalene wrote sounds great, so I will just tag along

The wave pool has really huge waves. Not the small bobbing ones, but they really crush you down. You end being thrown around in the deep water and in the flat water you end up with bruises from the floor. Can't really see you enjoying this if I didn't like it that much. But you should give it a try, especially if you now start training blowing bubbles under the shower every morning!

 

[Flossbolna]

Very common actually. You can slowly get over it by slowly exhaling ( blowing bubbles) while in the shower, work up to doing it in the shower with the water running down over your face. That is the "homework" I give all my student with the same face in the water issue- children and adults alike.

Pat, I am very fascinated by what you are writing about how to teach how to swim (also your following post).

I had always been a strong swimmer, learned swimming when I was five, even was in the diving group of the local swim club when I was 8 (but then we moved away and today I am scared to even jump head first from the starting block). But the one thing I never really tackled was swimming front crawl (here in Germany everyone learns breast stroke first). I just was out of breath all the time.

Then a few years ago I signed up for a course on front crawl at the local adult evening education center. And there our teacher had us practising breathing for the first session only, nearly no swimming. It was such a revelation. I never had had Katharina's problem, but neither had I figured out that I had to breath out all the air in my lungs before getting new air in. I am still getting out of breath when I use front crawl, but now it is because of the exercise. I am so much looking forward to my local open air pool with its 50m adult pool being reopened (it is being totally rebuilt at the moment) to practise again, it substitutes for running on very hot days!

 

[Flossbolna]

Aww we LOVE Schlitterbahn. It's about 45 minutes South of us, so we go about once a year. I will tell you, it ruined Typhoon Lagoon for us though. After Schlitterbahn, nothing else compares.

I checked out their website and I think it is much bigger now than when we visited in 1992. But it was a fun place and in my memory I would put it about equal with TL and BB. So if they have improved since then, I can understand why you might have been disappointed with TL.

I am beyond help !!!!!

Don't worry, Rosie, we still love you anyway!!

 

[notaprincess]

Aww, thanks- I'm quite safe here in Jordan the King is rather sensible to the arising issues...I think

I love, love love your plans for the water parks and also would not go on Gushmore (once was enough).
Plus Dinner at Jikos- amazing. I loved it there!

Can't wait to hear more of the other planning

Liebe Gruesse!

Simone

 

[englishrose47]

Just checking in Happy May Day!!!

 

[nodnol]

someone promised me three updates over the weekend....

 

[englishrose47]

someone promised me three updates over the weekend....

Was it anyone I know ???

 

[podsnel]

Loved all of your pictures!! I haven't been to the waterparks, either!! My kids have been to Blizzard Beach, I stayed behind with Sean. And TL is always closed when we are there in November. I did go to River Country, though, way back when- with Pods when we were dating. i hope you have a wonderful time!!

 

[All7OfUs]

someone promised me three updates over the weekend....

Well, this is certainly news!

 

[Flossbolna]

Aww, thanks- I'm quite safe here in Jordan the King is rather sensible to the arising issues...I think

I love, love love your plans for the water parks and also would not go on Gushmore (once was enough).
Plus Dinner at Jikos- amazing. I loved it there!

Can't wait to hear more of the other planning

Liebe Gruesse!

Simone

That sounds good! More planning news will be up shortly!

Just checking in Happy May Day!!!

Thanks Rosie! May 1st is a public holiday, but since it fell on a Sunday this year, we did not get any time off from work...

someone promised me three updates over the weekend....

Who was that???

Was it anyone I know ???

No, I don't think so....

Well, this is certainly news!

 

[Flossbolna]

Loved all of your pictures!! I haven't been to the waterparks, either!! My kids have been to Blizzard Beach, I stayed behind with Sean. And TL is always closed when we are there in November. I did go to River Country, though, way back when- with Pods when we were dating. i hope you have a wonderful time!!

River Country looks like a magical place, I would have loved to experience it... I hope you get to go to TL or BB one day, they are both wonderful parks, but I understand that they might not be the right place for Sean.

 

[Flossbolna]

Ok, some of you might have already picked up on that one... Even though I really tried not to mention it in our plans. But then, when you think about it, I am sure nobody will be surprised that the next special feature for our trip will be:

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Halloween wasn't celebrated in Germany at all. We have All Saints Day on November 1, which is a catholic holiday when everyone visits the graves of their family. And October 31 is Reformation Day. The day when supposedly Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the curch door in Wittenberg.

A few years ago the German decoration and costume industry decided that they needed to launch new products: Halloween decorations and costumes. Germans normally wear costumes only in January/February for carnival/Mardi Gras. The way they got it started is that they lobbied German TV stations and got written into the storylines for several German soap operas. Now there is soem Halloween stuff going on - mainly parties for kids and even some trick or treating, but nobody really knows what this is and I very much feel that it does not really have a basis in our culture at all. So I am not a fan of Halloween in Germany... BUT the great thing is: it belongs to American culture, so I am really excited about experiencing the "true" stuff!

A little bit about our plans: We were torn between a few dates and finally settled on Sunday, October 16. I did some research here on the DIS and it seems that reports for Sundays are quite favourable. Tuesday might have been even better. But we really like it that the party will be at the half-way point in our trip. By then we should be over the jet-lag enough to be able to party in the evening. But we will still have a nice portion of the trip to look forward to. And also, we have other plans for that Tuesday... The day will a more relaxing day. We will start the morning in Epcot, so even rope drop means that we don't have to get up too early since it is a nice 10 minutes walk to the entrance. The next day will be our Typhoon Lagoon day, so we will be able to relax as well.

I am really excited and what is even better is that party dates are now officially announced! We won't be buying tickets yet, I don't expect that day to sell out now already. But I will be able to get the tickets for us with a discount thanks to being a DVC member, so that's a nice perk!

Sorry that this was a picture-free update, but the next one will be lots of DLP pictures, so I am sure it will make up for the lack in this one!

 

[swwake]

You will LOVE MNSSHP! We really enjoyed it last year. Be sure to catch the parade.

 

[lovealldisney]

Hi Magdalene!

Yes Halloween is a very American holiday! One of my favorites! Where we live Halloween is rarely celebrated on the 31st (as it should be!) this is because there's school. Most communities have it on a weekend with trick or treating during the day. But the suburb my Mother-in-law lives in they have Halloween on the 31st and night time trick or treating! My kids loved this and still do, I have one girl inparticular that is almost 15 that still goes to grandmas to trick or treat.....


Even a certain DH dresses up and passes out treats..... He makes a great scary clown.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I think you should dress up as Martin Luther for MNSSHP, and nail a list of demands to the door of the castle. See what happens!

 

[englishrose47]

You are right Halloween is NOT a European Holiday !! One year shortly after I cane to the States , my mother had 2 little American kids who were renting in the area, knock at her door all dressed up as goblins as she put it !!Having no idea what they were she chased them with a broomA day or so later she got a letter from me talking about Halloween and Trick or Treating and felt sooo bad !!!I can only imagine the tales those kids have told about the WITCH who chased them with a Broom!!~!

 

[Kleese]

I was catching up on your thread and then I read this

A few years ago the German decoration and costume industry decided that they needed to launch new products: Halloween decorations and costumes. Germans normally wear costumes only in January/February for carnival/Mardi Gras. The way they got it started is that they lobbied German TV stations and got written into the storylines for several German soap operas. Now there is soem Halloween stuff going on - mainly parties for kids and even some trick or treating, but nobody really knows what this is and I very much feel that it does not really have a basis in our culture at all. So I am not a fan of Halloween in Germany... BUT the great thing is: it belongs to American culture, so I am really excited about experiencing the "true" stuff!

It was a shock to hear that you celebrate Mardi Gras! I'm from New Orleans so it would be quite intresting for me to hear more about that. Do you have parades,throw beads and have kings and queens? Ours last for about three weeks. I just love when you give bits of history and let us know about Germany