2014 Summer Swims

Carter & his Cannoball

Carter & his Cannoball

Ammon & her Cannonball

Ammon & her Cannonball

At the end of Summer 2013, I asked Carter and Ammon if they wanted to join a local swim team that has an awesome facility for year-round swimming (Olympic size pool with a retractable roof). They said they would consider it, and I asked the coach for a trial. Carter and Ammon did wonderfully considering they were 4 years old. However, they were the youngest, needed extra coaching, were always behind the group (they were practicing the WHOLE length of the pool….tired little fellers they were!), and by the time they were finishing, the group was starting their next thing to practice. Sean and I both walked up and down the pool giving instructions from what we had heard from the coach. Our last trial day the coach didn’t even get in the pool for half the instruction time. We decided that we wouldn’t continue with the team….maybe later.

This summer’s swimming at our house has been awesome! We’ve practiced several strokes, but not much. It’s purely fun and adventure. We have been so blessed to have a pool, been able to provide swimming lessons for Ammon and Carter, and been able to give them some of our own tips for jumping off the diving board, swimming, and diving to the bottom for pool toys.

Independence Day 2014

Every year during our holiday of Independence Day (July 4th),
I think of my Caylor ancestors. They had come to the colony of Pennsylvania in
the 1750s from Germany. They were Caylors (Kahler & Humbert were two of the families I know for sure) I am not an expert on the genealogy of that group, but
knowing linguistics like I do, I doubt those that came in the 1750s were very
good with the English language by the Revolutionary War; however, their teen-age children who were born in the colonies probably did quite well with English. The Caylors
must have been visionaries. They first came here to get away from over-population,
land shortages, and food shortages in Germany, and when they arrived, they
arrived to a group of disgruntled colonists who were tired of Great Britain’s
tyranny. In their vision of the future, they could see the importance of the
colonists (British, German, or French descendants) working together for freedom
and for making their own country, so they did it. They fought with all the
colonists, and they won the United States Revolutionary War. In a few years, the rest of the world looked upon
these rag-tag freedom lovers who ousted an empire and bestowed them the name “Americans”.

What an honor it must have been. They weren’t German -Americans, or
British-American, or French-Americans. They were AMERICANS equaling a group of
people of different nationalities, languages, and cultures that had come together to make the United States of America. My German ancestors knew they were doing something special, but they had no idea that they had laid the ground work for the
greatest country this world has ever seen or will ever see again. I am so proud
of my ancestors, my country, and my freedom. I am so looking forward to Carter
and Ammon knowing the love of freedom and of country and understanding their
proud heritage. God bless you all, and God bless the United States of America. Happy
Independence Day!