I am so proud of my three kiddos! For two months we spent 2 hours a day at the pool except on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was more like 8 hours and Sunday was off. The discipline and exercise were both wonderful for all three. As was the lesson in persistence. David and Elizabeth came in way behind--swimming with people who had been swimming for years longer than D and E. I had to remind myself that just the summer before, E had flunked out of two swim lesson classes.... :) And Abigail had never swum a pool length before in her life (and since they didn't make her do it at tryouts, I wasn't even sure she could...) But lap after lap, the kids grew stronger, faster, and built up endurance. And our neighborhood pool is 50 meters (a lot longer than the other pools). Abigail learned to do backstroke and freestyle and her last meet even showed us short little flutter kicks. Elizabeth learned all four major strokes: backstroke, freestyle, breathstroke, and butterfly. And had the opportunity to compete in all four during meets and even was legal in all four! Wow! David, my most adept swimmer going in, came out the most adept as well. He learned all four strokes and had the opportunity to swim all but fly in meets. And even got himself legal in breathstroke. His 50 free (complete with flipturn) was also looking quite nice at the end. And you know what? Each child scored personal best after personal best. By the district meet, all but one event cumulatively they all swam, was a personal best for them. Way to go! Our first goal had been met.
And as for the relationships--we got to know almost the whole swim team, thanks to our friend Anne. We were surprised to learn there were several other homeschool families on the swim team. We built and have maintained some sweet friendships through swim. The kids even had two different sets of friends from swim who went with them to VBS this year. A year ago, we had no idea what God would be doing in the upcoming months. How we would end up in this neighborhood that has been such a gift from the Lord. And how He would place us in our new area of ministry. What a joy to see Him at work!
5/4/18, 5:00 pm, Practice meet, freezing cold
Theme: Star Wars-- kids dressed up but quickly shed clothes when discovered they were the only ones in costume
best buds--Emily G and E
5/19/2018, vs Tomball, away
First swim meet
yes, that is Abigail stopping during her backstroke to wave "hi" to mom.
the decision to put the tattoo on the face was regretted the next morning when soap and water did not take it off before church.
5/17/2018, Swim pictures
5/19/2018, vs Wimbledon, home meet
Ring pops work well for bribes...
5/26/2018, vs Oak Ridge, home
Theme: Mardi Gras--Abigail even swam in her beads--before I could stop her
A with best bud Danae L.
06/01/2018, Swimathon
The kids swam lots and lots of laps (like 31 for the girls and 50something for David-- in our 50 m pool)...They got sponsors and raised money for both the swim team and a local autism group, in honor of a boy in the Little Dolphins program who has autism. There were also fun activities like bubbles for the little ones and water balloons for all the 9-10 boys (speaking of which there are like 40 boys in that age and maybe 6 girls).
The team asked the kids to design a tshirt for the swimathon. David and E undertook to design tshirts. David's design won!!! Congrats, David!
06/02/2018, vs Forest Oaks, away
Love this picture...check out the background!
Abigail was once again looking at mom while doing backstroke.
06/09/2018, vs Woodlands, home
and we learn the results of ring pops...
You might think A is taking her side breaths, but no...she doesn't side breathe yet. This is her looking at Mommy again.
There was swimming, a photo booth, swimming races, a greased watermelon race with boys vs girls (David's 9-10 boys were over the top with joy when they won), a blow up water slide, cream the coaches (our kids were one of the five winners with the most money in swimathon pledges so they got to "whipped cream" and "chocolate syrup" the coaches), and a whipped cream fight for all followed by a hose down by the local fire department. What fun!
(and taken the next day)
06/16/2018, District Meet, Klein Collins HS
4:15 pm. I was amazed at how quickly they kept it going. With all the teams swimming, I expected it to last all night but we were done by 9:30...the meet was over shortly after that. Such a different feel. The meet was indoors. Our tent area was in a common area. It was quite chilly in there. Upstairs in the peanut gallery where we watched the races, it was super humid and quite warm. There was a lot more going back and forth which helped regulate the extremes.
my German au pair friend, Nici
06/18/18, Awards Ceremony
The kids each received a first year plaque and a year emblem to put on it. David was also commended for winning the swimathon tshirt design. He proudly sported his design on the tshirt he earned with pledges...as did A and E.
And now we have our Saturdays back...but we miss it a bit. It was our whole life for two months!
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