July 28
There was some nice cloud-cover today, so Thorin took the kids swimming – and this was the first time that he let Frodo do it without a life vest on. Thorin stayed right next to him the whole time, of course, but still I worried! Frodo is just too fearless, and I kept thinking that he would go too deep, or get caught up in a riptide or some such thing! So, I was a shaking, babbling, nervous mess; but Frodo did manage to swim a couple yards between Thorin and Fili a few times!
And while Fíli and Thorin were helping Frodo to swim, Gimli and Kíli were digging out a "wading pool" in the sand – so when Frodo needed a break (and I couldn't take the stress anymore), I watched him play in that while the rest of them had a great time splashing each other in the surf! Gimli can swim quite well, apparently. He said that his parents take him often to a pool in the city, and he even had lessons at a youth center! I suppose it might do me good to have some lessons, as well – but, really, I am not very comfortable in the ocean. The thought of seaweed wrapped around my leg still makes me shudder!
It was nice to see Gimli out and about, in any case. Except for the whole not-a-giant-mosquito incident, he seems to be getting a bit more comfortable with the whole bug thing. He hasn't gone too overboard in chasing flies in the last week, at least. In fact, yesterday Kíli rescued a drowning bee from a cup of iced tea that was left on the picnic table, and when he showed it to us, Gimli didn't even flinch at all (though he also declined to pet it).
And speaking of iced tea, I made more sun tea today, and it turned out much better! Though tonight is another one for a simple meal, since I am just too hot and tired to do any "real" cooking. Honestly, I haven't made anything nice in a long, long while, despite all the plans I had for coming up with some "travel food" to collect into a book. Seems all we really ever have these days are hot dogs, tuna sandwiches, and freezer pops. Thorin and the kids say they don't mind, but I feel as if I am somehow losing my touch!