Swim Team

This year I'm the "unofficial" team photographer for Swim Team.  It's been fun, and I'm enjoying a break from being a timer.  I'm learning a lot (by trial and error) about sports photography.  It's exhausting... I'm constantly running from one side of the pool to the end and back again... I'll be glad when it's not 100+ degrees at the pool during the meets.  Here's some random photos I got of the kids at our Intersquad Meet (code for Varsity vs. JV or Practice Meet).  We didn't have the team suits yet, so they are all just wearing a suit they wear for practice.  

Note to the Grandmas:  I emailed these photos to your kodak frames... did they come through?  My email kept freezing up while it was sending, so I never knew if they made it or not.  

Heat Wave

Yesterday we had record heat.  97 degrees on April 1st.  Very uncool April Fool’s Joke by Mother Nature. UGH… I’m not ready for summer!  This has been the first real hot spell this year.  Two weeks ago we were pushing it at 90 a couple days, but it didn’t last long and it still got cold at night.  (Cold at night here translates into the 50’s.)   When the boys got off their bus, they were so hot and miserable.  They decided today would be the first swim day of the year.  Here’s the problem… the pool is only 68 degrees right now.  They didn’t’ let that deter them.

As soon as they went outside I had the thought… GRAB THE CAMERA!  As I rustled around for the camera, I heard the splashes of their cannonballs, but grabbed the camera and ran out the door.  I didn’t know how long they would last in the freezing cold water and I wanted to grab a couple pics.  I was worried that the lens that was on my camera wouldn’t be the right one, it was the 70-300 zoom that Eric got me for Christmas.  But look at the results!  I am in LOVE with these two photos.  In love.  It’s rare I can get Ian to genuinely smile at me.  He is very self conscious of his teeth, and so it tends to affect how he smiles.  You can tell by his eyes that he’s smiling, but he gets to keep his teeth hidden.

And this is the epitome of cuteness.  I know I shouldn’t brag, but I can’t help it sometimes.  And I am so thrilled with how that drop of water is dripping off his chin.  (Taylor thought it was drool.  It’s NOT. It’s pool water.)  Turns out they were shivering after about 5 minutes, so they came inside, wrapped up in jumbo towels, sat down to watch a movie and begged me to make them some hot chocolate.  Not bad for a Friday afternoon. 

Most Improved...

 Taylor had a great swim season this year.  He dropped his time in the 500 a full 30 seconds!  This is him before his last invitational meet. 

This is it... his last chance to qualify for state.

He took 3rd in his heat, but unfortunately, he took 11th overall.  And his time wasn't low enough to qualify for state.

He's tired, but he did get his personal best.   We are hopeful he'll be at state next year. 

And last week at the swim banquet, his coaches agreed... Most Improved Men's Swimmer!  What a shock to hear his name called, but how exciting!  He was beaming from ear to ear!  I love how our coaches take time to give praise and encouragement to each swimmer on our team.  And Taylor got double kudos, which caused me to have one of those proud mama moments!

Way to go Taylor!  We are super proud of your hard work. 

Swimmers, take your mark...

Taylor's new life... involves lots of sun, water and good goggles...

I volunteered to be a timer at swim meets which is awesome because if I'm not timing another race, I can be right at the blocks to cheer for my guy...

This race, I even grabbed my camera and snuck a few shots...

Being a timer has it's downsides, too... it gets incredibly HOT and the parents aren't invited to jump in to cool down...

Will he letter as a freshman? Will his relay team for the freestyle relay get past regionals? Only time (and lots of laps) will tell...

Monsoon Madness

Here's a couple of videos from Saturday....

Just 24 hours later...

Turns out this storm was the single biggest monsoon storm in terms of rainfall since 1995! We needed the water, but some places got flooded like Tempe, which logged over 3" in one hour!

Survival Swimming

This was the best money I have ever spent. I've never had a child who could swim at age 3 before. I think some of my kids have a fish gene somewhere in their DNA makeup. Brayden is one of those! He has absolutely no fear of the water and thinks he has superman-like powers or something. The entire goal of this class is to teach the kids to swim to the side and climb out (without the help of stairs or ladders.)

Here's some pictures from his last couple days of class. I have the video of him getting tossed in with clothes on, but it's too big for blogger to upload, and quite frankly, it's not a happy moment for him. He knew that "street clothes" weren't supposed to be in the pool, and try as she might, Miss Michelle couldn't convince him for anything to jump in with clothes and shoes on. (Secretly, I was rejoicing at this moment, because it gave me some hope that he won't ever willingly jump in with his regular clothes on.) She eventually just gave him a push into the water (9 feet deep). He did struggle more than normal to get to the side, but he did it. He was angry, too... came out of the pool screaming like I'd never seen before. But we stripped off the wet clothes, threw on his swimsuit and he was more than happy to finish his lesson with all smiles. That's my boy! (And yes, he is grinning at me under the water!)

Today we went to a pool party out in Queen Creek. Wow, that's the sticks! Anyway, there were a bunch of neighborhood friends at this party with probably a dozen toddlers. EVERYONE was amazed at Brayden's new skills and I enjoyed bragging about this class we just finished. Halfway through the afternoon, one of the other three year olds fell in sans water wings (not sure if he fell or jumped). Two adults saw it at the same time and jumped in after him. He was okay, shaken, but fine. It made me so grateful we did this class. And the poor dad who jumped in the water had his garage door remote in his pocket (yeah, it was in a swimsuit, weird, huh?) That was their only means to get back inside their house after the party, so in the end, they finally called AAA to help them out!

Brave Brayden

This week Brayden has been taking swimming lessons. These are not the typical 3 year old, "let's blow bubbles in the water" type lessons. These are survival swimming lessons. He's half way through his session and by the end of next week, his teacher will toss him in the pool (with clothes and shoes on) to make sure he can get out on his own if this happens at home. Anyone who has seen my backyard setup knows that I worry about this constantly. Our pool was designed (by a single guy, not me) to be right outside the back door. Beautiful, yes... safe for kids? No. We gone over a million different options on how to make the pool situation safer. The bottom line is that I need to make my "toddler" safer. So, we got wind of a class that was affordable and available (not easy to come by around here) and signed up right away! Our teacher is Michelle and we LOVE her. Ours is the last class for her after 3 hours of swim instruction and she still has amazing patience and dedication. She's amazing... she can make the kids do what she wants even when they are screaming back at her and she still calls them "sweetie" through the whole thing! Brayden is unique among her students. He is not afraid of the pool but doesn't understand that he can't really swim yet. He loves swimming and isn't afraid of any of it. He can now swim 15 feet across her pool all by himself and can pull himself out of the side of the pool without the help of a ladder or stairs! I'll post pictures next weekend of how our "big finale" goes!!!

There's Nothing Like...

Having a swim party for Family Night...

especially when it was 107 degrees today and the pool was a cool 82 degrees (we've warmed up 4 deg since Friday....)

Ian showing off....

Megan meditating....

Brayden scaling the rocks....

And then.....

Smores for dessert!

I made the bottom one... Brayden made the top one and then stacked them to create this ooey gooey masterpiece!

A New Solution...

Not to the computer problem... but we may have that worked out tonight.... maybe.... I'm borrowing Eric's laptop right now to get online, but still can't access my email... I'm apparently typing in the wrong password for online access and so I still haven't seen my email!

Over the last 6-7 months, my workout routine has been sporadic at best. I've been suffering from chronic allergies and asthma and it seems that I get one head cold after another. I'm not sure why I've been suffering so much lately, but I've had a really hard time exercising on a regular basis when I feel so crummy all the time. This week, I've had no computer and lots of motivation (my upcoming weekend away....) so I've been to the gym all 3 days this week. That's a miracle for me! I've also started in on a new head cold complete with some nasty sinus headaches. I'm dreading getting on a plane tomorrow with my current sinus situation. So, I remembered that my mom told me that swimming helps to clear her sinuses out when they are clogged up. So yesterday, I headed for the lap pool and swam for almost half an hour. I logged three quarters of a mile. It felt really good and my head felt clear (for at least a couple hours). So today, I decided to do exactly what I did yesterday... again. I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to go... I've never swam like that two days in a row and I was worried I'd be sore. The first 5 minutes were hard, but after that it was much easier. I ended up swimming one mile (64 laps in a 25 meter pool) in exactly 40 minutes. Yes, I was darn happy about it and my sinuses once again were clear! I wish I had time in the morning to work in a swim session before I head to the airport, but I don't think I do! I'm definately packing my suit, and goggles, just in case I need to spend some time in the hotel pool clearing out my sinuses this weekend!