grass stains: Our newest thing: gymnastics

The week before we went to the beach -- so, late June -- the boys attended their first gymnastics class. They're now a couple of months into once-a-week classes, and they LOVE them.

I took these pictures during their second or third class, I think, and Nick had already learned how to pop up into a handstand. Not perfect form, but at least he was up there.

Nathaniel and Jake are still working on it. Which is totally fine.

When I registered our boys, all of a sudden they had enough to form an all-boys 5:30 class on Mondays, which is great.

I mean, if you'd ASKED me if I felt good about a coach who was wearing an orthopaedic boot, I might have said "No" -- but you didn't ask.

The kids rotate around to different stations during the hour, all under close supervision.

They're in a Trampoline & Tumbling class, so they do a LOT of trampoline work -- which is their favorite.

It's funny how something like just jumping in one spot with your hands over your head can be so hard on a trampoline.

Once they've done that correctly enough times in a row, they start tucking their knees and doing toe-touches, then going right back to the hands-above-heads jumping form in between.

It's exhausting to watch. They reward themselves by taking a massive leap onto the cushy mats on the sides.

When they don't get it exactly right, one of the coaches -- okay, the one who isn't wearing THE BOOT -- hops on the trampoline and shows them how it's done.

And then they try again, with varying degrees of success.

Toward the end of class, they usually move over to the foam pit.

THE FOAM PIT. It's the kids' favorite part of the entire hour.

On this day, they were holding foam blocks up high and practicing falling back into the pit with their hands held in perfect form over their heads.

They couldn't look backward as they fell, and they couldn't let go of their blocks.

They did well -- well enough to move on, at any rate! -- and then they were able to get to The Real Fun: free-styling into the foam pit.

They love to be as daring as possible, without getting into trouble with their coaches.

Quite frankly, I'm not even sure what the rules ARE. So far they haven't broken any, which is good.

They end each class with a group prayer, and each week the coaches ask one of the kids to volunteer to lead it.

From what I can tell way up in the Parent Gallery, sometimes they get a volunteer and sometimes they don't. Ha!

Last Monday, Jake volunteered, which I thought was adorable. I asked him what he prayed, and he said, "Low-ered, thank you fow-uh this day."

I asked, "Was that it?" And he said, "Yes, everyone sat there for a minute with their eyes still closed, and then finally Coach said, 'Amen,' and I wealized I forgot that paht."