The End of Another Summer of "Calvin Days"

I've posted before about K & O's Swimming Teacher, Calvin (click here). Well, today was the last swim lesson of the summer for 2009. Sad, but true. Calvin has been coming once a week since June and I can say without any doubt that "Calvin Days" (as the boys came to call them) were a major highlight of this summer for K & O (I'd say "Calvin Days" have ranked right up there-- probably tying for first place with "Lawn Mower Days" as their favorite weekly day/activity of the summer). Kyle and Owen truly adore Calvin. On 'Calvin Days' they'd start waiting at the end of the driveway long in advance of his arrival (sometimes literally hours in advance of his arrival). I took this picture on one of many 'Calvin Days' this summer--
Off to the pool they'd go for an hour of Swim Lessons (which, in addition to actual swimming-education always included much 'extra-curricular'-activities too --- i.e., Calvin throwing them wildly into the pool, Calvin showing them his underwater swimming prowess, Calvin "racing" them from one end of the pool to the other, etc., etc., etc.). Their swimming got better by the week, and their bond with Calvin grew stronger by the week too.

For their last lesson of the season we planned for the swimming lesson to start late in the day today so that Calvin could stay for dinner afterward. It was a real special night, and K & O were in heaven. After presenting Calvin with a special gift (framed pictures the boys made for him --- pictures of "Calvin in the water," of course, with "big splashes, bubbles, and huge waves!"), we had a lovely late-summer dinner together. The evening ended with a drumming performance put on especially for Calvin (always an experience).
I just have to reiterate-- the boys adore Calvin. And he is really just about the most perfect Swim Teacher/Role Model that I can imagine for my boys.

P.S. Just because I can't help but brag on him a little... (come on, indulge me, Calvin was my student, after all!), the choice of framed "artwork" as a gift was deliberate because our Calvin needs things for his new apartment in Harlem where he is currently beginning his first semester in the PhD program in Sociology at CUNY. That's right. PhD. Sociology. CUNY. So, uh, yeah, like I said, pretty dang good Role Model (capital 'R' 'M') for my boys. ;)