Matt's office held their summer picnic last night after work. It was actually more fun than I was expecting.

They even had a band, which was... Okay, I'll be honest. When I first heard them, I thought someone had set up a karaoke machine, because the music rocked, but the singer was... mediocre. And they were way too loud; we had to shout to hear each other. But at a company picnic, where most of the people only have work in common, it's not necessarily a bad thing that conversations are sort of limited.

And there was a swimming pool! Matt and Penny and I started out in the pool, because it was too hot to want to do anything else.

We weren't sure how Penny would react. She loves her backyard pool, but this is the first time we've tried to put her in water deeper than her knees. Matt went out and bought her a set of floaties, and she was excited when she saw the huge (to her) pool.

But when she got down to the third step and was up to her chest in water, she suddenly wasn't so sure about the whole prospect. She backed up to the top stair and refused to budge. I tried to show her how I could float in the water, and she sounded a bit panicked when she told me to put my feet back down.

But once Matt joined us, he did a little swimming, and she decided it would be all right if I picked her up and carried her out into the water a bit. And then a bit further. And then she wanted to go look at the lane dividers. And then she wanted to go under them. (We lifted them up over our heads, we didn't actually take her under water. Until the tubes are out of her ears for good, we're supposed to avoid submersion.)

She clung to me like a burr the whole time, and got slightly frantic if I even tried to loosen or shift my grip. But we weren't in any hurry. It was nice to just be in the water, and between the floaties and the bouyancy of baby fat, she hardly weighed anything.

We made a game out of dunking Matt -- she'd put her hand on his head and push him under the water (totally under his control, obviously), and he'd blow bubbles to tickle her feet, which she thought was hysterical. And then I spun around with her, and though she clung even tighter for a moment, she soon decided that was fun, too.

After a bit, she unbent enough to let me pass her to Matt to hold, and he "swam" around with her a little.

When I got out of the pool to get the camera, Penny was fascinated by the ladder I used, and she wanted to climb it, too. So Matt helped her climb up, and then get back into the water while I took pictures. When I came back from putting the camera away, I jumped into the water to make a big splash, which Penny loved (I knew she would).

So then for a while, we did a game where I'd set her up on the side of the pool, and she would count to ten and then jump back in. At first, she'd just bend her knees and make sure my hands were only a couple of inches from her before she'd jump, and I'd just dunk her butt into the water to make a little splash.

But after a half-dozen or so repetitions, she was flinging herself into my arms (or Matt's) with abandon and having a fantastic time.

So, lots of progress for what was probably no more than about 45 minutes in the water. It probably would have gone even longer, but the lifeguards called break, and when Penny got out of the pool, she spotted the playground and wanted to go swing.

So we changed clothes and went to join the rest of the party. We ate hamburgers and hot dogs and other picnic-type food. I think Penny's dinner consisted of a large handful of chips (I'd intended for her to share them with me, haha!), half a deviled egg, and the ketchup off the top of her hot dog. Honestly, I think she was more entranced by the band's guitars than the food.

But the Brandts were there -- Penny was beyond thrilled to see Braz, and she spent half the night trying to keep track of Emma. Naturally, she had to try to do everything Emma did.

There were a bunch of other kids, too, and they all had fun running around on the very nice playground.

There were even organized games for the kids -- a beanbag toss, fire-extinguisher, and "fishing." (There were games for the grownups, too -- a water-balloon toss and an egg race -- but we were too busy with the kids to play.)

So all in all, we had a really good time, and Penny had a great time. And she's been introduced to deeper water. The world just got a little bit bigger.

--Liz